The Wheel Deal

Dal’s planned bike lanes land mixed opinions

A cyclist riding where new bike lanes will be implemented (Photo by Christine Beaudoin)

In the upcoming months, a noticeable change will be happening to the campus landscape. In accordance with Dal’s renewed focus on sustainability and healthy lifestyles, new bike lanes are being added Le Marchand st. to Robie st. These two-meter wide lanes might one day connect to bike lanes downtown, allowing cyclists a faster, safest route.

Nathan Rogers of Dal’s facilities management office says the final budget is not yet determined, but the cost of installing the cycle track is shared with the province of Nova Scotia through the Nova Scotia Moves program.

Rogers explains they plan on installing the bike lanes as a pilot project on October 2014, but the date may be subject to change.

Rochelle Owen from the office of sustainability says the “ratio nale for a separated cycle track is to encourage more ridership, increase safety, and support cycling culture”.

The lanes may be seen as a way to accommodate an increasing interest in healthy and sustain able lifestyles in Halifax. Many are excited for this project, but not all. The DawgFather says, “It’s very suspicious, why would they build a bike lane for four blocks only?” The new lanes would prevent him from parking his Dawg van beside the Student Union Building. He is hoping to get an injunction, a legal exemption which would allow him to park his van in his regular spot, despite the new bike lanes.

Odessa Cohen is a community design student at Sexton campus who recently started biking in the city. “It’s a great initiative for a pilot program [but] there’s a lot more to the campus … It needs to be extended for the safety of everyone.” She suggests it would be a good idea to have bike lanes on streets parallel to LeMarchant such as Vernon and Henry.

Uytae Lee studies urban planning. He doesn’t think the new bike lanes will be valuable, considering the area they will cover. “This idea seems like 10 per cent of the journey for the biker,” he says. “It has the potential of being a good idea if it is part of a ‘long term vision’ with this as just the first piece of a route that would eventually connect bike lanes throughout the city”

About 55 per cent of Haligonians, according to a Sept. 12 Chronicle Herald poll, thought the city should not allocate $150,000 for the bike lanes. Roughly 35 per cent thought it was a good idea and almost 10 per cent weren’t sure.

The Institutional Cycling Plan, written on July 2012, takes into consideration the Institutional District which includes the areas between Dal’s Studley and Sexton campuses the QE II Health Sciences Centre and Saint Mary’s University. It recognizes, however, that in order for the bike lane to be successful, it needs to connect to existing bike lanes in the city, the downtown region of Halifax Peninsula and the bike lane on McDonald Bridge in Dartmouth.

The cycle tracks were part of the University Campus Master Plan and the Institutional Cycling Plan.