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HomeMy WebLinkAboutKCTAC Minutes - 2019-11-12 CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER November 12, 2019 The Cycling and Trails Advisory Committee met on Tuesday November 12, 2019, at 4:00 pm. Present: D. Brotherston, M. Clark, B. Forwell, V. Hand, T. Hannah, D. Hoshowsky, G. Piccini, S. Powell, M. Rodrigues, E. Slofstra, W. Waganka, Councillor S. Marsh, G. Kirk, K. Wagler. Staff: D. Kropf, Active Transportation Planning Project Manager L. Christensen, Multi-Use Pathways & Trails Project Manager B. Cronkite, Director, Transportation Services 1. Welcome new members G. Kirk and K. Wagler were warmly welcomed by the chair and committee members. Each member shared their favourite place to bike or their favourite trail. 2. Lancaster Street reconstruction Peter Linn (Region of Waterloo) and Dave Weiler (Walter Fedy), introduced the scope of a Lancaster Street reconstruction/repaving, from Wellington Street to General Drive. The project includes replacement of existing pavement structure, dedicated cycling facilities, sidewalk infill, replacement of aging stormwater, sanitary and watermain pipes, upgraded existing traffic controls signals, new bus stop landings and pads and improved roadway geometrics. The Region has requested the province to reduce 4 lanes across the highway overpass to 2 lanes and add bike lanes, but the province has not yet stated their position. Construction will take two years and is scheduled for 2021-2022. Due to a constrained corridor, two options for cycling were presented to the committee: 1) Separated bike lanes 1.25 m wide with rollover curb and sidewalks at 1.5 m 2) Painted bike lanes 1.5 m wide and sidewalks at 1.8 m. The committee reviewed the two options and provided the following comments:  W. Waganka asked what the impact of a narrower pedestrian realm will be on the neighbourhood. D. Weiler responded that the current sidewalks are 1.5 m but the new AODA standard is 1.8 m. Pedestrian volumes have not been gathered.  V. Hand expressed her preference is always for separated bike lanes, but current design looks like a parking bay, and asked why boulevards are so wide. D. Weiler responded the boulevard width varies depending on corridor widths. Boulevards are needed for utility placement and snow storage. Prefer 1 m but willing to accept 0.6 m.  G. Kirk shared that placement of hydro poles are a risk and worth close attention to, and that the type of cyclist expected will dictate the design. D. Weiler responded that they expect to see both recreational and commuter cyclists on Lancaster. CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER November 12, 2019  D. Hoshowksy asked how separated bike lanes would be winter maintained. D. Weiler shared that needs to be investigated further. B. Cronkite advised that the current winter maintenance of Queens/Belmont may not be a good indicator because it is new, and practices are still evolving as lessons are learned.  B. Forwell asked if the poles can be buried and why the design has a roll curb for separation from cars but a barrier curb for the boulevard, expressed he doesn’t like on-road facilities when speed is over 50 km/h, and requested that barriers like flex stakes be considered. D. Weiler responded that hydro can be buried but will be expensive. Curbs are also to manage stormwater. There are a lot of driveways to mitigate with protection like flex stakes.  S. Powell asked if any traffic calming measures are being considered, what will happen to street parking and requested a pedestrian guardrail from the sidewalk to the overpass. D. Weiler responded that regional policies are not to consider hard measures, but prefer softer measures like tree planting. There is minimal parking existing, and parking will be prohibited if bike lanes go in.  E. Slofstra asked if the Region has studied mode share shifts between painted bike lanes versus separated bike lanes, and expressed concerns that these options will not do much to encourage new cyclists. P. Linn responded that a study like that has not been conducted.  K. Wagler shared he prefers separated bike lanes based on a positive experience on Manitou, and asked if there are property impacts for the designs presented. D. Weiler responded that either option will have some property acquisition at intersections.  K. Wagler asked what will happen to the tree canopy. D. Weiler responded that the majority are behind the sidewalk, so that’s why both designs are trying to keep sidewalks in the same location, causing a constrained corridor.  D. Brotherston requested that the street be designed for the people we want to cycle, not the current users, and is in favour of protected infrastructure. He would like to see even narrower vehicle lanes considered, like proposed on Westmount. He asked if floating bus stops have been considered and encouraged regional staff to not repeat mistakes of Northfield, in regards to on/off ramps of highways. D. Weiler responded they are not considering lanes less than 3.35 because they do not accommodate buses or are supported by TAC design standards. Left turn lanes could be narrowed to 3 m. They have not considered floating bus stops and requested that city staff share a schematic of the concept from their Complete Streets guidelines.  M. Rodrigues asked how the existing bike lanes on Union will be integrated and requested a protected intersection and a pedestrian refuge island near General Drive, given long distances between safe crossings. D. Weiler said that can be considered.  G. Piccini shared that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea to reduce the pedestrian experience to provide a substandard bike lane, and that alternative routes to Lancaster on parallel residential streets may need to be considered. CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER November 12, 2019 D. Brotherston and M. Rodrigues both offered a motion. Given the similarity of the motions, the motions were combined and seconded by E. Slofstra. T. Hannah requested that the motion be broken into components for voting. Motion Committee voting “That the committee supports the 11 in favour, 2 opposed. separated bike lane design with revisions; Carried. That the advocacy committee reach out Carried unanimously. to city and regional councilors to continue exploring those revisions; and That revisions could include but are not Carried unanimously. limited to:  vehicle lane reductions  floating bus stops  protected intersection at Union  consideration of barrier curb separation (instead of rollover)  Kitchener’s Complete Streets guidelines be applied at intersections with city streets, regarding corner radii.” S. Marsh noted that she is on the steering committee for this project and can continue to be the voice for the cycling and trails committee. W. Waganka left the meeting at 5:22. 3. All-advisory committee meeting D. Brotherston, M. Rodrigues and S. Marsh attended a meeting with all city advisory committees to workshop the city’s strategic plan to find overlaps, differences and how to measure success on the plan. There were great discussions on affordability, housing and shifts in mode share. There is a lot of overlap between the goals of different committees. Complete streets were mentioned as a project that impact many different committee mandates. A summary will be put together by Compass Kitchener that can be shared with the committee. S. Marsh shared that the committee can share ideas for future topics for these meetings with the committee chair. CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER November 12, 2019 4. Dutch-inspired roundabout B. Cronkite presented design concepts for a Dutch-inspired roundabout for Strasburg and Huron. This was included in the 2019 budget because it needs attention for vulnerable users (currently a big roundabout designed with vehicles in mind) and the presence of the nearby high school. Research on Dutch roundabouts found that single lane roundabouts give right of way to vulnerable users, but for multiple lane roundabouts they try to remove vulnerable users from the intersection completely. Based on this and other research, the design features for this roundabout include pulled back crossings and an outer ring dedicated to cycling, with crossrides highlighted in green paint. Construction will occur in 2020. The city requested that the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) approve a pilot project to allow cyclists to have the right of way over motor vehicles when crossing, as part of the designated pedestrian crossover (PXO) which already provides the right of way to pedestrians. The MTO did not approve this request, so a cyclist will not have the right of way in this design. Comments:  S. Marsh encouraged the committee and city council to be advocates with the province on matters like this. This may be part of the future Vision Zero conversation that City Council requested at a recent meeting.  D. Brotherston expressed concerns that the differing right of ways will cause confusion. B. Cronkite shares that concern, but since existing practice is already showing cyclists crossing through the pedestrian crosswalk, this will still be an improvement. A signage plan will clearly outline the responsibilities of cyclists.  E. Slofstra asked if anything will be done to slow vehicle speeds. B. Cronkite acknowledged speeds are very high along both corridors, but changing street geometrics was outside the scope of budget. Staff could consider raising the platforms of the crossings, especially at exits. Several committee members expressed support this idea.  B. Forwell expressed support for the design and asked if cyclists can go both ways. B. Cronkite responded that the design is one way, so pedestrians can expect to see faster moving bikes and motor vehicles in the same direction. Further committee discussion asked city staff to reconsider this approach given obvious desire lines.  G. Piccini asked if there has been any consideration of a flashing light. B. Cronkite responded that the Region has not put pedestrian flashers at roundabouts for consistency purposes, so that would be out of step with other roundabouts.  T. Hannah asked if there are any other locations that we’ll consider for this treatment. B. Cronkite responded that the city doesn’t have any other roundabouts like this, so this is a pilot meant to explore an alternative design for consideration throughout Waterloo Region and Canada as a whole. CYCLING AND TRAILS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES CITY OF KITCHENER November 12, 2019  G. Kirk affirmed the current state of the roundabout is more comfortable than most roundabouts so ideal for a pilot to further enhance safety and comfort for vulnerable users.  K. Wagler asked if there is any benefit to speed humps or rumble strips before the roundabout rather than the entrance. B. Cronkite responded that vertical measures generally aren’t supported on higher-order streets, but the case can be made for a raised pedestrian/cyclist crossing. E. Slofstra moved a motion: “That the committee generally supports the design as presented, with modifications as represented in the minutes.” Seconded by Michael Clark. Passed unanimously. 5. Connecting Margaret Ave. Bike Lanes to New Contraflow Lane M. Rodrigues expressed that he is really happy with the new Young Street bike lanes and would like some better signage connections from nearby Margaret Avenue, recognizing that further infrastructure improvements are coming through the Cycling and Trails Master Plan (CTMP). D. Kropf advised that staff can add bike route wayfinding signs. Additional wayfinding and dedicated cycling facilities can be facilitated following the approval of the CTMP. 6. Subcommittee updates There were no subcommittee updates. 7. Parting thoughts The committee was encouraged to join the Cycling and Trails Master Plan open house occurring in the rotunda following the meeting. S. Marsh shared how thankful she is that everyone volunteers on this committee and gave a gift of appreciation. D. Kropf reminded the committee there will not a December meeting, but a meeting with all municipal active transportation advisory committees will be hosted to get input on a bikeshare/micromobility study. Invitations will come via email. Meeting adjourned at 6:05 pm.