Hello Prince George,

I am writing to urge the City of Prince George to improve its bike lane infrastructure for the safety and benefit of its citizens. The current bike infrastructure is insufficient for a lot of people, and can be incredibly dangerous. The bike lanes feeling dangerous does not promote cycling in an effective manner, and no amount of education is going to fix that. There are many rules and regulations to cycling in Prince George that can make it hostile and inaccessible for most people (more than 50% of those surveyed by Dill & McNeil identified as "interested but concerned" about biking)[13]. The only effective way to promote cycling effectively is through separating the bike lane from the roadway with a physical barrier: plastic flexible post, a moveable curb, a planter or a roadway median first [2,3], then once the design is finalized and the road up for replacement a more permanent solution can be installed. These separated bike lanes should first be focussed on expected busy routes like 5th Avenue, 15th Avenue, Ospika Boulevard, Massey Drive/Winnipeg Street and Ferry Avenue/Queensway, with infill between these routes being focussed on later. The cycling revolution is taking place, and Prince George shouldn’t miss out.

Have you ever felt that cycling around Prince George feels unsafe, or too daunting to attempt with all of the high-speed traffic? It feels like everyone that has lived in Prince George long enough has a story or knows someone with a story of a close call with traffic while on a bike or worse, a collision. The good will to provide some separation between drivers and pedestrians with a painted line was the "solution". The current painted line system (painted bicycle gutter) indeed offers a moderate increase in safety [1]. Still, a study by Beck et al. concluded that vehicles ended up passing cyclists closer in the painted bike gutter than if there was no infrastructure at all [2]. The same study also concluded that 1 in every 17 passing events was less than 100 cm [2]. The perceived safety can be drastically improved with the addition of something as simple as a planter or some plastic flexible posts while more permanent solutions can be found [1]. Plenty of bike lanes can be built rapidly with moderate separation fairly cheaply, which will lead to more cyclist uptake [1].

Metro Vancouver has a great plan for the rapid implementation of bicycle infrastructure, which includes cost-effective methods for rapidly expanding the bike lane network [3]. The City of Prince George can easily implement these ideas in as little as a few months. Rapid implementation first builds a protected bike lane pilot, then encourages people to provide feedback that will be taken into account much faster than if the infrastructure was permanent. With enough feedback, the temporary solution can be made permanent when the budget allows.

The City of Prince George can take advantage of the many grants available for Active Transportation in British Columbia and Canada. The grants include:

• The B.C. Active Transportation Infrastructure Grants Program (Planning: maximum of 50%, or $50,000; Per project: 50% up to $500,000) [4]
• The Government of Canada's Active Transportation Fund (Planning: $50,000; 60% of funding up to 50 million) [5]
• The Green Municipal Fund (One-time grant of 50% eligible costs up to $175,000) [6].

Grants can offset the cost of building a bike lane, and should avoid a large tax increase.

With 52% of all carbon emissions in Prince George from transportation [12]. With the cost of living only going up, Prince George building bike lanes will be cost effective and help relieve some of the costs of everyday life in Prince [12]. Living Wage for Families BC puts the cost of living in Prince George above Nanaimo and Kamloops for 2022 [7]. The average family of four would need 2 vehicles to get around because other transportation methods are insufficient [7]. Not everyone can afford a car either, with average new and used car prices at all-time highs. Many people and families are then left with few choices for efficient travel. With fears that gas prices could rise again, cycling appears to be a viable solution to avoiding a gas price crunch as well.

Winter cycling is also entirely possible in Prince George with proper snow clearing. There are many options depending on the snow-clearing budget level, from trucks or ATVs with a shovel to Montreal's solution of using an industrial sweeper that also deposits a calcium chloride brine on the bikeway [8,9]. It is up to the City of Prince George and the snow-clearing budget to determine what will work best, but they should at least clear the bikeway for it to be accessible almost year-round.

Biking can and should be done in Prince George to allow its citizens an easy and cost-effective method for getting around. As cycling has been experiencing a revolution Canada-wide and worldwide, Prince George feels like it is behind the curve on something that could be implemented relatively easily and cost-effectively. Access to a bike lane and removing parking for it does not decrease business along a corridor, so having them downtown can lead to marginally better spending and visits overall like in the case of Bloor Street in Toronto [10,11]. Taking cars off of the road will only reduce road maintenance costs, improve air quality and reduce noise pollution. All of the aforementioned benefits also include having a healthier and stronger population.

Prince George should focus on connecting the bowl area to downtown on expected busy routes. In instances where the road is wider than necessary, the car lane width should be reduced. The city should make sure that each route can ridden without the unexpected disappearance of the bike lane. These larger corridors should be the "bones" of the initial project, and then the city can fill in the remaining areas in future. Eventually, paths and trails can extend up to UNBC. Roads such as Massey Drive/Winnipeg Street, Ferry Avenue/Queensway, 5th and 15th Avenues and Ospika Boulevard are all great candidates for a new or upgraded bike lane. These should all be connected, with a continuous loop(s) of protection into downtown and back.

Parking spots in the downtown region can be reconfigured to allow a bike lane to be run either alone or with a parking-protected bike lane, which uses parked cars in the place of a fixed barrier. While parking spots will be reduced, what it will be replaced with will actually remove cars off of the road. With less cars on the road, there is less demand for parking in Prince George overall. The bike lane will likely not run along every downtown street, so there should still be plenty of on-street and off-street parking. Feedback for parking positioning should be taken into account when revising the bike lane.

While something should have been done to improve cycling safety in Prince George during COVID restrictions, the second best time to build bike lanes in Prince George is now. Cycling is an incredibly viable piece to improving many things from transportation and traffic to climate change and general health, and Prince George is currently missing out. Prince George is looking for a method to reduce it's carbon footprint and bike lanes can play a large part in the solution [12]. Together, however, we can make the City of Prince George put the pedal to the pavement and make Prince George a bikeable city now, and into the future.

Be sure to write to City Council to make your voice heard.

I can be reached at my email: safebikingpg@gmail.com

Sources:

[1]: McNeil, N., Monsere, C. M., & Dill, J. (2015). Influence of bike Lane buffer types on perceived comfort and safety of bicyclists and potential bicyclists. Transportation Research Record, 2520(1), 132–142. https://doi.org/10.3141/2520-15 

[2]: Beck, B., Chong, D., Olivier, J., Perkins, M., Tsay, A., Rushford, A., Li, L., Cameron, P., Fry, R., & Johnson, M. (2019). How much space do drivers provide when passing cyclists? Understanding the impact of a motor vehicle and infrastructure characteristics on passing distance. Accident; Analysis and Prevention, 128, 253–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2019.03.007

[3] Translink. (n.d.). Rapid Implementation Design Guide for Bikeways in Metro Vancouver. Retrieved April 13, 2023, from https://www.translink.ca/-/media/translink/documents/cycling/regional-cycling-strategy/rapid_implementation_design_guide_for_bikeways_in_metro_vancouver.pdf

[4] Government of British Columbia. (n.d.). B.C. Active Transportation Infrastructure Grants Program. Gov.Bc.Ca. Retrieved April 13, 2023, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/funding-engagement-permits/funding-grants/active-transportation-infrastructure-grants

[5] Government of Canada. (2021, March 10). Active Transportation Fund. Infrastructure.Gc.Ca. https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/trans/index-eng.html

[6] Study: Transportation networks and commuting options. (n.d.). Greenmunicipalfund.Ca. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://greenmunicipalfund.ca/funding/study-transportation-networks-commuting-options

[7] Clarke, T. (2022, November 17). Cost of living in Prince George more than Nanaimo and Kamloops. Prince George Citizen. https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/local-news/cost-of-living-in-prince-george-more-than-naniamo-and-kamloops-6118198

[8] Cebe, J. (2014, February). Winter Bike Lane Maintenance: A Review of National and International Best Practices. Altago.com. https://altago.com/wp-content/uploads/winter-bike-riding-white-paper-alta.pdf

[9] Olson, I. (Last Updated: December 20 2019). New snow-clearing method allows Montreal cyclists to “really see the asphalt.” CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/plateau-mont-royal-bike-paths-snow-clearing-1.5403685

[10] Arancibia, D., Farber, S., Savan, B., Verlinden, Y., Smith Lea, N., Allen, J., & Vernich, L. (2019). Measuring the local economic impacts of replacing on-street parking with bike lanes: A Toronto (Canada) case study. Journal of the American Planning Association. American Planning Association, 85(4), 463–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2019.1638816

[11] Volker, J. M. B., & Handy, S. (2021). Economic impacts on local businesses of investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure: a review of the evidence. Transport Reviews, 41(4), 401–431. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2021.1912849

[12] City of Prince George. (2010, December). Prince George Active Transportation Plan. Princegeorge.Ca. https://www.princegeorge.ca/sites/default/files/2023-01/ActiveTransportation_ActiveTransportationPlan_2011.pdf

[13] Dill, J., & McNeil, N. (2013). Four types of cyclists?: Examination of typology for better understanding of bicycling behavior and potential. Transportation Research Record, 2387(1), 129–138. https://doi.org/10.3141/2387-15