Charlottetown wasting money: Cycling P.E.I.

The City of Charlottetown is wasting money on another cycling study, says the executive director of Cycling P.E.I. Mike Connolly pointed out deputy Mayor Mike Duffy recently told the media the No. 1 problem is the cycling lanes in the city don’t connect to each other.

“The bike lanes connect. I mean, they’re (all) almost done,’’ Connolly said. “We’ve put a tonne of effort into this for eight years for the common good, not charging the city anything, and (the lanes) are almost complete and they’re going to come in to blow $11,500? It’s a monumental waste of money.’’

The dollar figure refers to the city’s planning and heritage department hiring an engineering consultant, CBCL, to help with a traffic study and active transportation component.

The city said the company was selected through a tendering process for its expertise in this area.

It also provided a proposal for additional assessment and design services for specific cycling opportunities.

The total cost of the design work is $11,500, plus taxes. “The issue is nobody wanted to touch the bike lanes. We’ve been advocating for bike lanes for 10 years,’’ said Connolly, giving Coun. Terry Bernard and the public works department full credit for getting the existing bike lanes done.

Connolly said the city’s sustainability department wants to establish connectors where they already exist.

“I have a problem with someone coming in at the 11th hour, inserting themselves into a project instead of supporting the people that are already doing the work.’’

Once the CBCL design work is completed, the city will have the plans in place to enable it to reach out to potential funders to develop the bike routes.