THUNDER BAY – The group Just Bike Thunder Bay is advocating for safe and enjoyable cycling for people from age eight to 88.
Ken Shields, a member of the group, said back in June they did a deputation asking for better active transportation infrastructure in the city.
“There's an Active Transportation Plan, but we don't feel that it's being acted upon.
“There are various routes that are supposed to happen on May, Memorial, and Algoma. We don't see any plans forthcoming.
“The council then asked for a report on the state of the Active Transportation Plan. That's coming out in the fall,” he said.
The group bikes to city hall to remind council that they are very interested in the plan, he said.
“Some of us wouldn't ride today that are in our planning committee because we went down May and Memorial and they didn't want to do that with their child.
"So that's the kind of infrastructure we're looking at, protected bike lanes that you could take at any age, any ability on their bicycle to go shopping or to restaurants or work.”
The group started at Waverley Park and went down Algoma to Memorial and then to May Street to end up at city hall, on Monday with eight riders.
Shields said for anyone is interested in the group to visit their Facebook page.
In an interview after the meeting, Coun. Kristen Oliver said the group's ride is a good reminder.
“I think that it's important they communicate to council in some form that this is an important wish list on their infrastructure wants and needs. I think it's certainly worth having those conversations.
“There's the active transportation piece that leads to healthier outcomes. You have people who are active, reducing hospital stays and those types of things. It's also good for the environment. People are leaving their cars at home.
“I certainly see what they're saying and doing as a vital piece of bringing that awareness to city council."
Oliver said it's an important piece to see the visual part of it.
“We sit here, sometimes we make decisions in a vacuum. We're given information from our administration on what the best practices are, what their professional recommendations are and we make those decisions based on that advice.
“But every once in a while, it's great to see that people are actively engaged and they're demonstrating and they're stepping up to the plate,” she said.
It’s important to recognize the majority of the infrastructure projects have already been awarded for 2024, she said.
“But what our engineering department is doing is they're layering infrastructure projects. When major road construction is underway, they're looking at how they can make possibly tie in bike lanes and active transportation routes into those corridors like we're seeing along Balmoral right now.
“I think that provides connectivity certainly from the north-south. That's an important piece and I know that the bike group would like to see that Memorial piece eventually established."
Oliver said she suspects they will see a lot of connectivity through the 2025 budget on the major infrastructure projects that administration will be putting forward next year.
