06-27-2016, 10:30 AM
Some notes on Davenport.
Posters who say $3M is a lot are... correct. It's pretty much a no-holds-barred model to building a complete street, and it was 2/3 funded by the Building Canada fund. Record article has expired but SSP remembers.
It's not really that road diets/complete streets have to be expensive, but the curbing and boulevards that Davenport got. There are much less expensive ways to build a complete street-- generally speaking, use more paint, and build crossing islands only instead of boulevards. It's unlikely Waterloo would have gold-plated Davenport without external funding.
BuildingScout's anecdotal observations don't match mine, but aren't exactly wrong either. I usually see a cyclist or two on Davenport when I'm biking it (which I do daily)-- but that's at rush hour. It's my impression the bike lanes here are fairly quiet, and when I head to the mall at lunchtime, I notice that I'm usually the only bike on the road then.
In constrast, there is a lot of cycling in Eastbridge neighbourhoods. And in particular, it's the norm for me these days to see at least 1, but sometimes as many as 5 or 6 people on bikes crossing the expressway on Lexington when I'm there. (And TriTAG count data backs this up, with usually around 40 bike riders crossing 7:30am - 9am.)
So, there's a lot of people biking in the area, and only a few of them make it out to Davenport. I have some thoughts about why this is too, but that's for another time.
Posters who say $3M is a lot are... correct. It's pretty much a no-holds-barred model to building a complete street, and it was 2/3 funded by the Building Canada fund. Record article has expired but SSP remembers.
It's not really that road diets/complete streets have to be expensive, but the curbing and boulevards that Davenport got. There are much less expensive ways to build a complete street-- generally speaking, use more paint, and build crossing islands only instead of boulevards. It's unlikely Waterloo would have gold-plated Davenport without external funding.
BuildingScout's anecdotal observations don't match mine, but aren't exactly wrong either. I usually see a cyclist or two on Davenport when I'm biking it (which I do daily)-- but that's at rush hour. It's my impression the bike lanes here are fairly quiet, and when I head to the mall at lunchtime, I notice that I'm usually the only bike on the road then.
In constrast, there is a lot of cycling in Eastbridge neighbourhoods. And in particular, it's the norm for me these days to see at least 1, but sometimes as many as 5 or 6 people on bikes crossing the expressway on Lexington when I'm there. (And TriTAG count data backs this up, with usually around 40 bike riders crossing 7:30am - 9am.)
So, there's a lot of people biking in the area, and only a few of them make it out to Davenport. I have some thoughts about why this is too, but that's for another time.