Pedestrian and Cycling Monitoring Program – Pembina Highway Buffered Bike Lanes

The first ‘buffered’ bike lanes in the City that were constructed into regional road rehabilitation, are located on Pembina Highway. Between 2013 – 2018 buffered bike lanes were included in various road renewal sections of Pembina. The ‘buffered’ infrastructure are plastic poly posts glued to the road. At the time, these were considered an appropriate design and standard to accommodate cyclists and winter maintenance. Millions have been invested into widening Pembina for cycling infrastructure, but still the use is low because I believe people don’t feel ‘protected’ or safe.

On July 9, 2018, I moved a motion directing the Winnipeg Public Service:

1. to install infrastructure on Pembina Highway south of Bishop Grandin Boulevard that provides a higher level of safety protection for cyclists to optimize the current $36 million investment, and if there are additional infrastructure costs for the higher level of protection, include the costs in the 2019 budget;
2. to develop a comprehensive pedestrian and cycling monitoring program and produce an annual active transportation monitoring report to measure effectiveness and optimization of cycling and pedestrian investments.

On September 12, 2019, the Public Service identified (see Full report) that the buffered bike lanes with poly-posts on corridors like Pembina Highway should not be eliminated, but they are no longer the current practice and to enhance cyclist comfort and safety for the widest number of potential users on Pembina Highway and in other locations, ultimately an upgrade to these buffered bike lanes should be considered. Funding was not included for any upgrades in any future budget.

The public service did not respond to the request to develop a comprehensive pedestrian and cycling monitoring program and produce an annual active transportation monitoring report to measure effectiveness and optimization of cycling and pedestrian investments. Clearly I will have to make another motion to get action on these requests.