09-08-2018, 03:51 PM
Is that the rationale the city has used? This is best practices in the Netherlands, so it should be applied here? The fact is that we don't live in the Netherlands. The expectations and driving practices of people here are not the same. It would be foolish to believe that a solution that works there could be applied here without adjusting for the local context. It seems to me to be a horrible irony that I, someone who is confident on my bike and rides a lot, actually actively avoid certain bike infrastructure in the region that supposedly adheres to best practices. So much for that.
The city and region in general is moving in the right direction, but there seems to be little desire to go back and understand what is working and what isn't working and adapting solutions for our local context. Instead, when challenged on inadequacies, instead of reassessing them and improving on them, leadership and planners get defensive and very reluctant to actually listen to what people using the infrastructure are experiencing. Instead, they point out that it's best practices and all those people talking about how they don't feel safe must just be wrong. It's terrible public engagement and terrible planning.
That said, the new promenade in Waterloo Park is fantastic and seems to be working well from what I have seen. Much better separation of pedestrians and cyclists than what I've seen in downtown Barrie. The fact that it has a clear barrier on both sides may help - there's not much reason for a pedestrian to want to get on the cyclist part of the trail. I also think the fence along the tracks there isn't nearly as bad as it seemed initially. I'm sure something nicer could have been done, but this isn't so bad. I don't recall now that I'm at home - is there any planting or something similar between the fence and the trail? A hedge could soften the impact of the fence.
The city and region in general is moving in the right direction, but there seems to be little desire to go back and understand what is working and what isn't working and adapting solutions for our local context. Instead, when challenged on inadequacies, instead of reassessing them and improving on them, leadership and planners get defensive and very reluctant to actually listen to what people using the infrastructure are experiencing. Instead, they point out that it's best practices and all those people talking about how they don't feel safe must just be wrong. It's terrible public engagement and terrible planning.
That said, the new promenade in Waterloo Park is fantastic and seems to be working well from what I have seen. Much better separation of pedestrians and cyclists than what I've seen in downtown Barrie. The fact that it has a clear barrier on both sides may help - there's not much reason for a pedestrian to want to get on the cyclist part of the trail. I also think the fence along the tracks there isn't nearly as bad as it seemed initially. I'm sure something nicer could have been done, but this isn't so bad. I don't recall now that I'm at home - is there any planting or something similar between the fence and the trail? A hedge could soften the impact of the fence.