Dear Editor:
The idea of having a bike lane or path that shares the road is a lofty one, with good intentions I am sure.
But I feel like the end result will not be used as intended. Highway 6 is just too congested with cars and trucks to make a bike lane safe or even enjoyable.
However, it was with interest that I read the petition for “scrapping” the bike lanes idea for downtown Fergus altogether. Maybe in a misdirected zeal for the democratic decision-making process, this group of petition-signers is not really considering the long-term outcome of their efforts, and how local young people need a safe way to get across town to school and see their friends/family, how tourists can enjoy our town (with their tourist dollars), and we residents can enjoy our neighbourhoods without choking on the exhaust and noise of over enthusiastic drive-through motorists.
As a resident of Fergus who lives on a main thoroughfare, I thought it a progressive and inclusive idea to consider more modes of transportation across town than just cars and trucks. The in-town portion of the Elora/Cataract trail runs right by my house, and there is no dedicated lane on the road for those cyclists (who are numerous this time of year).
My own children (and several other families’ kids) need to cross town to their respective schools, and at some point they need to be using one of Fergus’s few bridges.
The fact is, that space is indeed limited on our roads through town, and the bridges aren’t really spacious enough to accompany a bike lane (have you watched trucks make that turn onto the Highway 6 bridge?). How much of that space are we going to allocate to our local residents (including cyclists), and how much do we give over to the highway traffic that zooms through on a daily basis, and also especially weekends? Can we as a town provide infrastructure that makes allowances for both cyclists and motorists?
The decision-making process was flawed and not relying on survey numbers, but maybe the process of public consultation itself was near-sighted and faulty. Was the public consultation process broad enough to consider many demographics, besides people that are mostly concerned about street parking availability?
There is a burgeoning younger (and less car-centric) demographic in Centre Wellington, and it’s time to consider the shared use of the spaces such as the bridges and the King’s Highway 6 that runs straight through the middle of our neighbourhoods, and develop alternatives.
Michael Neerhof,
Fergus