Posted on: October 6th, 2012 by JBrisebois No Comments

by Jessica Brisebois

Members of the Bike Friendly Windsor Essex cycling advocacy group are pleased with the Bicycle Use Master Plan but say they are disheartened with the zero dollars allocated towards the program in 2014.

“We need to start implementing the bike lane aspect of BUMP,” said Robert Rieveley, acting president of Bike Friendly Windsor Essex. He works for the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Mich. and recently completed a PhD in mechanical engineering. Rieveley said his job is to design, build and promote cars. However, he said he believes cycling is an important aspect of any forward thinking community. He is concerned about the slow pace of implementing the plan.

“It was meant to always be a living document with input from the users, from citizens as well as politicians and it hasn’t really progressed as a living document as much as it was originally intended,” said Rieveley at the Bike Friendly Windsor Essex second annual meeting Sept.24 at the Walkerville Brewery.

The BUMP is a plan to improve, integrate and expand Windsor’s existing 40 km cycling paths established under the Bicycle Use Development Study. Its purpose is to make Windsor a premiere cycling destination in North America. It was adopted in May 2001 by the City of Windsor with a projected budget of $19.4 million over 20 years as well as additional expenses for parking and management positions. Windsor City Council allocated approximately $1 million annually for network development according to the City of Windsor website.

Windsor resident and competing cyclist Brian Poel, 25, said he feels developing more bike lanes will help reduce the number of cars on the road and introduce new cyclists. He said bike lanes will help ease the interaction between drivers and cyclists on the road.

“Having a bike lane gives me room I know is mine,”said Poel. He joined the Bike Friendly Windsor-Essex cycling group in October 2011.

There are five developed phases to BUMP. Phase one of the project, assessing existing conditions, is complete according to

Rieveley.

“Lanes will start and lanes will end and this confuses cyclists as well as motorists as to where cyclists should be and cyclists shouldn’t be on the side walk, they should be on the road,” said Rieveley.

Jeffrey Levesque works at a call centre in Windsor and says he does not own a car and rides his bike to work every day.

“I would like to see bike paths implemented because I feel drivers in this city are irresponsible and reckless and there is a large concentration of them on my path to work,” said Levesque.

The BUMP document will be revisited and open for discussion at city council in 2016.

 

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