*Input sought for proposed Exchange District bike lane project *

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/public-gets-chance-to-preview-propos...

WINNIPEGGERS will get their chance today to weigh in on a proposed bike lane project in the Exchange District.

The project, if approved, will result in a new protected bike lane on Princess Street, stretching from Higgins Avenue (near Siloam Mission) to William Avenue near (Red River College’s Roblin Centre).

The information session at Roblin Centre is scheduled for today at 4 p.m. The public will have a chance to see the proposed designs, learn how feedback from consultations with stakeholders — including the Siloam Mission, RRC, Chinatown Development Corp. and Centre Venture — was incorporated and voice their opinions on the project.

“It’s really important to get the public’s input,” project manager Mark Doucet said.

“(We want to) make sure we’re balancing the needs of business owners and the traffic going through there.”

Claire Li, who manages the Princess Street furniture store HUT K, said she thinks because that stretch of road isn’t connected to other nearby protected bike lanes in the neighbourhood, fewer people are using it.

While Princess Street has painted bike lanes, the lack of concrete barriers between cars and bikes means cyclists may feel less safe — especially as the roads get slippery, Li said.

For the past few months, HUT K employees have been tracking how many cyclists use the bike rack in front of the store, she said. Lately, those numbers are dropping.

“There just aren’t bike lanes,” Li said. “Anything that supports other forms of transportation, and making it easier for bikers to feel safe and willing to bike the full Exchange, would be great.”

Mark Cohoe, executive director of the advocacy group Bike Winnipeg, said getting more people cycling as a way to get around is a good approach to reducing greenhouse-gas

emissions and decreasing traffic congestion downtown.

Cohoe also pointed to a recent Probe Research survey, jointly commissioned by CAA Manitoba and Bike Winnipeg, in which more than one-third of respondents said they would cycle more if adequate infrastructure were in place. The survey also found nearly half of respondents felt Winnipeg should add more separated bike lanes along major routes.

“We’ve got a ways to go, but we’re definitely making progress,” Cohoe said. “People really want to see (cycling) as something that’s a viable option for them. A lot of people — given the right opportunity, and the right infrastructure — would choose to bike to their destinations.”

The city’s consultation and study on the proposed Princess Street bike lane project are just preliminary steps in the process, Doucet said. A final report — which will make adjustments based on feedback and include a cost estimate— should be completed in early 2019.

“Once we see what the costs are, we will take that to (city) council,” Doucet said. “We’re hopeful that it’s a high priority.”

caitlyn.gowriluk@freepress.mb.ca