A Bicycle Highway for Fredericton?

     A bicycle highway is generally classified as the name suggests: a paved highway for bicycles designed to get you to your destination as quickly and safely as possible and segregated from cars. It may come as a shock, but Fredericton has a fairly well established network for a bicycle highway (and pedestrians). Those routes include:




1. Northside Trail (Trail Visitor Centre until St. Marys St.)
2. Nashwaak Trail (Trail Visitor Centre until Canada St.)
3. Gibson Trail (Trail Visitor Centre until Watters Dr.)
4. Bill Thorpe Bridge
5. South Riverfront Trail (Pedway until the Train bridge)
6. Lincoln Trail (Train bridge until Dunns Crossing)
7. Crosstown (University to Regent)
8. Valley Trail (Hanwell Rd. to Woodstock Rd.)

     These routes are very fast, direct and safe. The majority are built upon the abandoned network of rail beds, therefore are generally flat and do not have many intersections with streets. The one down side is the lack of river crossings and direct access from uptown to downtown.
     There has been a feasibility study on the construction of a multi-use bridge (similar to the train bridge) crossing the Carleton Street bridge piers. If this plan is ever carried out, it will not be cheap, but it will benefit everyone that travels to and from the North Side.

     It is very difficult to get from downtown to uptown and vice versa. The York Street bike lane starts at George Street and ends on Priestman Street. This is a very good connection, but bicycles are forced to share the road from Priestman Street along Regent Street until Arnold Drive. This section of road was not built with bicycles in mind, therefore bicycles have to travel through the most dangerous intersection in Fredericton and share narrow, busy lanes. Hence, why no one ever sees a bicycle uptown.
     Finally, Fredericton Tourism should get bragging rights for the best trails in all in Atlantic Canada!
     In conclusion; better connections to downtown are desperately needed, uptown infrastructure needs a desperate update and promotion for use of trails should continue to increase.
     Who knew we Frederictonians had our own little slice of bicycle heaven?

It's Not Easy Being Green

Re: Cycling in Fredericton

Upon reading about the trial of an individual accused of leaving the scene of an accident involving a cyclist, I felt compelled to share with your readers my own recent cycling experience in Fredericton.

On Friday evening, Oct. 21, I was on my mountain bike waiting to cross Smythe Street at Saunders Street, going east.

While waiting for a break in traffic, several cars in the left turning lane to Saunders Street from Smythe Street had stopped to let me cross.

Eventually the outside lane on Smythe Street going north had a break in traffic and a motorist going west on Smythe Street had stopped, thus allowing me to cross.

Unfortunately by this time a motorist held up by the illegal yielding of the other motorists hurled a profanity in my direction - for the most part blaming me for holding up traffic.

I didn't see who the motorist was yelling at me as I crossed Smythe Street, but I soon found out who it was. As I continued east on the next section of Saunders Street, a large white GMC pick-up truck came roaring up behind me. The guy driving this truck went ahead of me and turned right on Northumberland Street.

By time I got to the next intersection of Saunders and Westmorland Streets the large white GMC pick-up appeared again. This time he turned left and came as close to me as possible and proceeded to spit on me.

Essentially he drove all the way around the block to get a better shot at me.

If anything can be learned from this incident, it's that motorists shouldn't yield for cyclists unnecessarily - let us follow the traffic rules just as you should.

One more fact: this all happened within a few hundred metres of the spot where the lady in the wheelchair was killed crossing the street just a few weeks ago.

Rob Scullion

Fredericton

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/search/article/1453280

Cyclists Aren't Expected on the Road After September?

A Fredericton man thought he'd killed a cyclist he struck on a dark, wet night last fall, and that's why he left the scene, a prosecutor argued in court Tuesday.

Jonathan Kelly Stockall, 29, of 1690 Woodstock Rd. struck and injured a cyclist the night of Oct. 21, 2010, with his pickup truck.

He didn't stick around after the collision and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident under the provincial Motor Vehicle Act.

Evidence in the case was heard last week, and Stockall and Crown prosecutor Robert Murray were back in court Tuesday to deliver their closing arguments.

During his testimony last week and a police interview the day after the accident, Stockall said he thought he'd struck a deer, not a person.

His truck sustained some damage to the grill and passenger-side signal light, and the passenger-side mirror broke off as a result of the impact.

Murray argued Tuesday that Stockall's story doesn't add up.

"The accused had to know he hit a cyclist," he said, noting the bike had reflectors and there was a taillight.

A motorist who was on the scene at the time of the accident testified he thought he cyclist - who lay motionless in the intersection of St. Mary's Street and Brookside Drive - was dead. He was unconscious.

Stockall testified he slowed down after the impact and saw nothing in his rearview mirror.

Murray argued Stockall saw what the witness saw: a motionless figure he assumed was a dead body, and that's why he took off.

The prosecutor said Stockall only turned himself into police the next day after others noticed the damage to his car and when a friend mentioned there had been a hit-and-run accident in which a cyclist was injured.

Murray said Stockall knew it would only be a matter of time before the police came knocking on his door.

In his argument, Stockall reiterated he thought he'd struck a deer.

He said the cyclist's clothes could have covered the reflectors.

He said given the wet weather and the time of year, it never occurred to him a cyclist would be on the road at the time.

"I have nothing to hide. I've never been in trouble with the law," he said.

He didn't stop to provide assistance or information because he didn't think there had been an accident, he said.

Judge Julian Dickson reserved his decision until Nov. 2.

Man Turns Himself In

FREDERICTON - A man in Fredericton has turned himself in to police following a hit-and-run that left a cyclist with serious injuries.

Police say they have yet to confirm if the man was involved in the collision late Thursday on rain-slicked Brookside Drive.

The cyclist, a man in his 40s, is in stable condition at the Chalmer's Hospital.

Earlier, police said they were looking for the driver of a dark-coloured pickup.

(CFRK)

More Bike Lane(s?) Planned for City

"City council has directed its legal division to draft a parking ban along the east side of Canterbury Drive between Liverpool and Rochester streets. The parking ban will allow for the installation of bike lanes along Canterbury Drive.

Canterbury Drive is considered a major collector street and will be able to accommodate the bike lane.

Council has approved the preparation of the bylaw. No-parking signs will cost $200 and are within the 2011 sign budget."

Wait a minute... isn't Canterbury Drive already a bike lane? If any place in the city, bike lanes are desperately needed on Windsor Street, north end of Brookside Drive, Main Street, Waggoners/Dundonald/Beaverbrook and King Street. Are there any streets that you suggest that need a bike lane?

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/cityregion/article/1453875

Car Centric to Bicycle Centric

      I found an interesting paragraph in one of my textbooks from school, concerning the difference(s) that bicycles make in the city setting.

"An excellent study by John Pucher and Ralph Buehler at Rutgers University analyzed the reasons for these wide disparities among countries. They note that "extensive cycling rights-of-way in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany are complemented by ample bike parking, full integration with public transport, comprehensive traffic education and training of both cyclists and motorists." These countries, they point out, "make driving expensive as well as inconvenient in central cities through a host of taxes and restrictions on car ownership, use and parking... It is co-ordinated implementation of this multi-faceted, mututally reinforcing set of policies that best explains the success of these three countries in promoting cycling." And it is the lack of these policies they note, that explains "the marginal status of cycling in the UK and USA."

     An excellent point is made in regards to giving bicycles right-of-way, instead of giving it to cars. Here in Fredericton, almost always, right-of-way is given to cars. Could we change this ideology while this city is still young? It is a possibility that in the near future, bicycles will begin to overpower cars in terms of quantity. Eventually, Fredericton will have to adapt to this massive change and I'm afraid not many are going to like it.
     The excerpt mentions "ample bike parking, full integration with public transport, comprehensive traffic education and training of both cyclists and motorists." I have to admit, Fredericton has conquered the first two. What is mostly needed in this city is the "training of both cyclists and motorists." I cannot count how many times per week I am cut off or completely ignored by cars, or how many times I see bicycles on the sidewalk or riding dangerously on the street. A massive campaign is needed to fix this dilemma.
     In cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Berlin, they make driving "expensive and inconvenient." This being said, encourages the use of cycling or just plain walking. If we lose three parking spaces in downtown Fredericton, there is always a massive uproar. Is it necessarily a bad thing? God forbid you have to take the bus or walk.
     Finally, the last sentence mentions that cycling is not mainstream in North American society. In cities, cycling is not feasible due to urban sprawl and car centric streets.

"If you plan only for cars, then drivers will feel like the King of the Road. This reinfoces the attitude that the bicycle is backward and used only by the poor. But if you plan for bicycles, it changes the public attitude."

Fredericton, Partager la Route

     "Partager la Route". This video can be summed up in three words. Essentially, this is a flash mob aimed at motorists to let them know about the presence of bicycles on the road. Any cyclist can claim a near miss by a careless driver, but nothing compares to the ultimate fate. Please, be kind to us, because we are people too and have every right to the road as much as you do.