www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, July 2 0 , 2 0 1 7 | 2 0 Cycle Oakville weighs in on ATMP W hile Town council may have unanimously passed an update to Oakville' s Active Transportation Master Plan (ATMP), not everyone w ho cycles on local streets is happy about it. Cycling advocacy group Cycle Oakville is raising concerns about the update, w hich includes eight short term, high-priority projects, including the painting of sharrows on several Oakville roads. The update was passed at council July 10. "Signed bike routes with sharrows are ineffective at keeping people safe," said Fraser Damoff, executive director of Cycle Oakville. He noted the entire Oakville cycling community was hoping for stronger steps to improve the safety of Oakville cyclists. Damoff cited a University of Colorado Denver study, w hich was completed in 2015 and found building bike lanes does entice more people to ride a bike while Damoff argued bicycle infrastructure should be built out from the Oakville GO rather than built towards the station from Third Line along Speers Road. N ot everything about the ATMP update was a disappointment though, with Damoff noting he is encouraged the Town has committed to hiring a full time em ployee to work on implementing active transportation projects. Cycle Oakville' s other recommendations included: · Establishing a minimum grid of cycling infrastructure; · Adding physical barriers to routes with existing bike lanes (such as Sixth Line) · Limiting the use of Strava Smart Phone App Heat Map Data as the primary tool to track cyclists · Better usage of signage for cyclists unfamiliar with Oakville bike routes; and · Long-term funding commitment for the bike corrals in each of Oakville' s three BIAs. A sharrow painted on roadway | submitted photo also increasing the safety of cyclists by upwards of 90 per cent compared to sharrows. Damoff noted while he and Cycle Oakville support sharrows as an interim solution, the ATMP update designates the building of signed bike routes and sharrows as the ultimate solution for six of the eight priority projects. The group also expressed disappointment over a part of the update, w hich says cyclists will have to wait until 2022 for a bike lane on Speers Road to the Oakville GO Station. Thank you to everyone who can OTMH Sunset Cinema to enjoy a ________ summer evening in support of Oakville Hospital. A big thank you also goes out to our sponsors, volunteers and food trucks, without whom this event would not be possible! "Delivering home comfort from our family to yours since 1967" O akville H ospital Fou ndatio n A PPLEB Y SYSTEM S FIREPLACE, HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING CONTRACTORS PROUDLY SUPPO RTED BY ®ak-ldnd i'm lovin' it' Piper Foods Inc. O A K V IL L E Glen Oaks Funeral Home & Cemetery by Arbor Memorial B o e h rin g e r In g e lh e ira OAKVILLE 905.825.1893 BURLINGTON 905.335.3203 2086 SPEERS RD., OAKVILLE C o m e S e e O ur SH O W RO O M Mon - Fri. 8am - 5pm; Saturday 11am - 4pm GRAND ROTHERCLEN SCHOOL OAKS ORTHODONTICS w w w .gra n d o a kso rth o .co m w w w .a p p le b y s y s te m s .c a