Ottawa reacts to potential advisory bike lanes for Byron Avenue
City could be first in Canada to use lanes that aim to slow traffic
Ottawa could become the first Canadian city to use advisory bike lanes, and road users are reacting strongly to the idea online.
The City of Ottawa is looking at installing the lanes on Byron Avenue between Island Park Drive and Sherbourne Avenue in hopes of slowing down traffic.
Advisory bike lanes are used on roads that are too narrow to accommodate two-way traffic and traditional bike lanes at the same time. Defined by dashed painted lines, they give vehicles an option to edge into the bike lane to avoid oncoming traffic, all the while yielding to cyclists.
They can be found in European and U.S. cities, generally on low-speed and low-volume roads.
We took to social media to ask for your thoughts on potential road changes.
Some see the project as dangerous and unnecessary
<a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa">@CBCOttawa</a> Byron too narrow for that & there is a perfectly good multiuse path that runs along 90% of Byron.Churchill to Golden is only prob
—@rustymcruss<a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa">@CBCOttawa</a> I'm afraid it will give bikers false sense of security. It is no different than riding without a bike lane at all.
—@dolls_eyes1<a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa">@CBCOttawa</a> waste of my tax $ I don't ride a bike and don't want to pay for those practicing for the Tour de France. Get off the roads!!!!!!!
—@MADMIKEMACWidening the road is the better option to others
<a href="https://twitter.com/CBCOttawa">@CBCOttawa</a> advisory bike lane is better than nothing... but surely there's space to widen the extra couple of feet for bikes to have a lane
—@mitchamaphoneSome reacted strongly on Facebook
"So we will inconvenience 90% to accomodate 10%? Now to find a way for the 90% to pay for everything and this sounds like a perfect plan for Ottawa," writes Clayton Desjardins.
"More accidents waiting to happen. Let's face it, neither drivers nore bikers are willing to give way when they think they're in the right. This will only cause more conflicts and accidents," writes Daniel Grenier.
"As a commuter cyclist I'd be willing to give it a try. A friend of mine cone told me 'Don't make streets wider, make them narrower'. Another freind of mine is cycling in urban India and he says he actually feels really comfortable because, although there are lots of vehicles, traffic is slower then here," writes Julien Lamarche.
For more reactions, check out the Facebook story: