Capital city eyes new bike lane

Charlottetown’s public works committee looking at dedicated path on Towers Road, for starters

Charlottetown’s public works committee is proposing to create a new two-way dedicated bike lane on Towers Road.

That’s the road that runs behind the Charlottetown Mall and connects with Mount Edward Road.

The road also connects with the Confederation Trail, a key reason why the committee is looking at it.

The bike lane would, obviously, be off the main road but still on the city’s right-of-way.

Things didn’t go so well earlier this year with the city’s plan to create a two-way bike lane on Fitzroy Street. Following strong opposition from residents and significant concerns from businesses and churches on the street, city council ultimately decided to shelve the idea.

But the city still has about $544,000 to play with that would have been used on the Fitzroy Street bike lane and it’s looking for places to spend it.

Scott Adams, manager of the public works department, seemed pretty sure the Towers Road bike lane would go ahead sometime this year.

At a meeting of the public works committee on Wednesday, the idea of creating a dedicated bike lane on Beach Grove Road was also floated. However, the committee seems to like what it’s colleagues over on the environment and sustainability committee are looking at first.

Adams said there is talk of extending the current multipurpose trail that runs along Riverside Drive, perhaps with some financial help from the province.

Adams said in addition to the $544,000 there is also money available in the public works sidewalk budget and for multipurpose projects under the capital budget. There wasn’t much debate about additional bike trails in the city from the committee. The consensus was, essentially, to go for it.