Plan for bollards along uptown Waterloo bike lane approved
KITCHENER — Bollards will be added along King Street in uptown Waterloo to keep cars out of the recently installed bike lanes.
Parking in the bike lanes has been an issue since the bike lanes were completed last summer, the first phase of roadway improvements along King Street.
The original design had designated but not physically divided areas for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, which proved to cause some crossover by people and cars into the bike lanes.
Vehicles parked and stopped in the bike lanes in particular are creating problems for cyclists, forcing them onto the sidewalk or street on the stretch from the Ion tracks north to Bridgeport Road.
“These encroachments are occurring on a regular basis,” Eric Saunderson, senior project manager for the Region of Waterloo, said Tuesday at the region’s planning and works committee.
Concerns raised by cyclists about cars in the bike lanes — predominately on the west side where on-street parking was removed — prompted the region to set up video cameras along the street to keep an eye on what was happening, as well as to host a public survey and review what other cities are doing.
The regional staff recommendation to install a physical barrier in the form of flexible bollards spaced three to four metres apart to keep vehicles out of the bike lane was approved at Tuesday’s committee meeting.
Additional signs will also be added to mark the pedestrian and cyclist pathways.
Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky commended the solution to make cycling safer and more attractive in the uptown by making it clear to motorists where they shouldn’t be.
“People seem to have no problem parking in a bike lane,” Jaworsky said. “People need to have bollards, apparently, to stop them.”
Coun. Geoff Lorentz asked if it would be better to have more permanent barriers to deter motorists, rather than flexible bollards that drivers would soon learn are not much of a deterrent.
“Word travels pretty fast today,” Lorentz said.
Saunderson said staff did consider rigid bollards, but those would be wider and need a more substantial in-ground base.
Generally, public feedback was good on the new streetscape, and traffic speeds have been reduced. More than half of vehicles along the newly constructed area on King are travelling less than 30 km/h, which makes it safer for all users.
“People are travelling slower through this section of the corridor,” Saunderson said.
The plan is to add bollards along the existing stretch this year and then in subsequent phases of the project from Bridgeport Road to University Avenue, pending a review of the effectiveness. The cost is pegged at $250,000, which can be accommodated in the existing project budget.
Final approval is needed at the next council meeting.