Biking his way to a new accessible path
Project is gathering data in order to make trail usable for people of all abilities
Anthony Lue is a cyclist and Paralympics hopeful, but this summer he is taking on a new project — biking and mapping the 85-kilometre Pan Am Path.
Using a street-view camera mounted on an off-road wheelchair, Lue will be photographing and exploring the path in the initiative with AccessNow, Icon Wheelchairs and Google.
The goal is to find out which areas of it need improvement and present data to city officials in the hopes of creating a trail that is accessible for people of all abilities. They are hoping to finish mapping in the fall and it could take up to six months after that for Google to finalize the entire 360 map.
MaayanZiv, founder of AccessNow, an app that maps accessibility in places around the world, said the project’s goals are to share the information and to remove barriers.
“People with disabilities and those who need access are also interested in getting out into the world and experiencing much of our green space and our recreational outdoor space,” Ziv said. “We’re looking for success stories in access and also mapping barriers, so that we can look at how we can break down some of those barriers.”
The team started mapping the path on July 2 and said they’ve had no trouble on most of the west side of the trail, which runs from Etobicoke down to the waterfront, but the east side needs some improvements.
“We found that going east by the Don, there still are areas that are very much under construction that we are struggling to get through right now with our Icon explore unit,” Ziv said. “It might take us some time before we’re able to map the rest.”
Jeff Adams, a Paralympic champion and the founder of Icon, designed and assembled the wheelchair with the trekker camera on it, which proved to be a bit tricky.
“It’s 50 pounds, and it being as high as it is, we really needed to reinforce a lot of stuff,” Adams said. “It took two weeks to design it, build it and mount it, which in building-stuff terms is fast.”
Lue, 29, is excited that the city is supporting the project and said making the path accessible will help not only those with disabilities, but ev- eryone who uses the trail.
“There are some parts that I’m not able to get to and I’m super glad that the city is taking those steps to make those parts accessible, because it’s not just me, it’s mothers with strollers, fathers pulling their carriages behind their bikes, runners, walkers, whoever it may be,” he said.
Ziv said the team is also interested in running a similar pilot project in Toronto parks and perhaps later tackle areas like the Bruce Peninsula.
“If we can do this successfully, we can do Ontario parks,” she said.
“I’d like to do it all over Canada.”