A group of South River Road residents organized a “critical mass” bike rally along South River Road on Aug. 9 with approximately 20 people gathered in the pouring rain.
They rode the route of the proposed paving project that will end in Fergus. An organizer said the group rode to raise awareness for the importance of safety for cyclists and pedestrians on a busy road.
The group is concerned safety will be further jeopardized if a paving project proceeds without a bike lane, reduced speed limits, and appropriate traffic calming.
Centre Wellington Township received a provincial grant of $875,595 in July, and council decided to use the cash to repave that road. The paving will cover 3.5km, running from Bridge Street in Elora eastward into Fergus.
The estimate is $985,000, and Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj said Tuesday morning council had cash left over from the Gerrie Road bridge project that it will use to top up the grant.
The residents said there were approximately 150 cars that passed them, and many had two people or more as passengers so it feels more than 300 people were made aware of the need for a place for cyclists and pedestrians as the project develops.
The group stated in a press release, “As our community continues to grow, we need to recognize the reality of increased traffic; however, it would be regrettable to place the needs of increased automobile traffic over the needs of pedestrians and cyclists … We should be doing everything possible to encourage all residents of Centre Wellington to be able to cycle or walk to work and for fun. Providing safe bicycle lanes on South River Road would be a major step forward in creating a ‘walkable and ridable’ community.”
The release continued, “We recommend that at the very minimum, that there should be designated bicycle lanes on both sides of South River Road plus the speed limit should be reduced to 40km/hour.”
Total cost is $4-million
Ross-Zuj said in an interview council was pleased that it was able to get as much extra grant money from the province as it did, but South River Road has a number of challenges, and council will not make any decisions until it gets a report.
She said council likes the idea of a green community, and noted there are already three trails connecting Elora and Fergus, and all of them are heavily used by cyclists.
As for South River Road, she said engineers and the Public Works Department staff walked the entire route last week in order to prepare a report for council
“We’re looking into all of it – but there are major deficiencies in that road. There is not enough money to do all of that.”
She said council is pleased to at least address the road’s surface problems, but it is narrow, and in order to accommodate bike paths on both sides, the total cost would likely be $4-million. Council would have to move to acquire land to widen the road, survey it, rebuild the road bed, rebuild the ditches, plus do a large amount of engineering.
“We’ve got $875,595 from the province,” she said, adding, “It can only be stretched so far.”
Ross-Zuj added council will consider all of the residents’ requests, including lowered speed limits and other measures for safety.
She said the group’s requests are “wonderful proposals if council had a pocketful of money – but we don’t.”
Ross-Zuj said council will hold a special meeting on Aug. 22 to hear the reports it requested, and will make its decisions then.
In the meantime, Ross-Zuj will be in Ottawa at a conference this month, and to meet with Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman to press the case for more cash.
