Report urges more changes for Laurier bike lane

A safety audit of the Laurier Avenue segregated bike lanes, launched after the death of a cyclist last year, recommends adding more colouring, warning infrastructure and barriers along the increasingly popular downtown cycling route.

The Dutch firm Mobycon, which has an Ottawa office, completed the audit in early September and the city shared the results with council on Tuesday.

The greatest safety concern for cyclists and pedestrians in the bike-lane stretch of Laurier Avenue is right-turning vehicles, the audit says.

The audit makes about 14 recommendations to improve the safety, and while the city is on board with most of the ideas, it’s not supporting a handful of suggestions.

The use of the bike lanes increased from 2,331 trips per day in 2012 to 4,128 daily in 2016.

Between 2007 and 2010, before the bike lanes were installed, there were 242 reported collisions, with 26 involving pedestrians and 20 involving cyclists. Between 2012 and 2015, after the bike lanes were installed, there were 221 reported collisions, with 13 involving pedestrians and 35 involving cyclists.

The increase in cyclist-related collisions can be attributed to the growth in the number of cyclists in the corridor, the report says.

Transportation general manager John Manconi sent a memo to council outlining the city’s position on the recommendations.

The city doesn’t want to colour the entire length of the bike lanes because transportation and traffic standards call for green treatment only in “conflict zones,” where cyclists and motorists cross paths. Plus, it would cost the city $600,000.

The city is installing green thermoplastic at driveways between Metcalfe and Elgin streets and extending the lane buffers in the same stretch.

Removing Laurier Avenue as a trucking route is also a non-starter for the city. It would result in trucks making more turns in the downtown core, and besides, trucks need to access destinations on Laurier, the city says.

Restricting vehicles from using Laurier Avenue as a downtown through-route is out of the question for the city, too. The idea involves forcing vehicles to turn at specific intersections and limiting through-traffic.

The city doesn’t support having dedicated traffic signal phases for cyclists and pedestrians, but it’s willing to review the idea when the Transitway is decommissioned on Albert and Slater streets as part of LRT and staff look to update all signal timing downtown. The city plans to have an advanced bike signal phase at bike lane intersections done by this fall or next spring.

While the audit recommends pushing parking spaces away from driveway openings to increase visibility, the city says it’s something it will need to review.

Raising the bike lanes, narrowing the vehicle lanes and redesigning intersections will be considered when the section of Laurier Avenue needs to be reconstructed, the city says.

However, the city is willing to adopt other suggestions in the audit, such as extending the bike lane barriers closer to driveways so vehicles must make tighter turns in a more narrow space.

The city will also look into adding tactile infrastructure at driveways to warn vehicle drivers that they’re crossing a bike lane.

The audit recommends removing excessive signage so drivers aren’t overwhelmed by the visual clutter. The city says it will do that immediately.

The city ordered the safety audit after a tragedy on Laurier Avenue just over a year ago.

Nusrat Jahan, 23, was killed Sept. 1, 2016 after she collided with a truck as she rode her bike near Laurier Avenue and Lyon Street. The truck driver was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death.

Right-turning vehicles are still big safety threats on Laurier, accounting for about half of the collisions involving people who are walking or on bikes.

Nevertheless, the audit consultants say the bike lanes are a positive addition to the downtown area.

“What this report has learned is that Laurier Avenue is moving in the right direction,” the report says. “The implementation of the ( bike lanes) has resulted in a safety improvement for both cyclists and most significantly, pedestrians.”

The city says it’s launching a bike-lane awareness campaign next spring called Get There With Care.