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47 |Thursday October 19, 2017 | OAKVILLE BEAVER |www.insidehalton.com Oakville is a cycling laggard: Cycle Oakville's Damoff uild it and they will come' is the mantra I have long subscribed to when talking about bike lanes along Speers Road. When I walk to Oakville GO Station every morning I see people riding bicycles on the side walk and some brave souls meander onto Speers Road itself in order to ride their bike to the GO Station. Having done this myself (riding along Speers Road) I can tell you that I have never felt as unsafe and unwelcome as I did during those rides. Having biked in major city centres like Ot tawa, New York City and Toronto, I hnd it abso lutely perplexing that Speers Road is the street I have felt the most unsafe riding my bike on in all my travels. Speers Road is the perfect example of a street, which is representative of an Oakville of days gone by. With almost an exclusive dependence on the automobile, Speers Road has long been a `mini-highway' for vehicles wanting to get from one side of Oakville to the other as quickly as possible. Yet, as places like Kerr Village have welcomed new development like the Rain & Senses condos at the corner of Kerr Street and Speers Road, the appropriate infrastructure along Speers hasn't materialized. This sad reality was made crystal recently as Minister Eleanor McMahon and Minister Steven Del Duca announced that Oakville and Bronte GO Stations would be getting secured bike stor age rooms; ensuring commuters can safely secure their bicycles when they go to get the train. The announcement, while welcomed by tran sit users who want to get out of the automobile and onto a bike, shows how backwards the Town of Oakville's policies are when it comes to the Speers Road Bike Lane Installation Plans. The Oakville GO Train station, which has long been one of the most popular and heavily trav elled GO Train stations in the entire province, should already have cycling infrastructure like bike lanes built out in every direction from the station. However, for one reason or another, the majority of the members of Oakville Council don't see the need for this to be a high priority. In fact, the Town of Oakville sees biking infra structure at Oakville GO as such a low priority that they plan on waiting until 2025 to install Bike Lanes along Speers Road around Oakville GO. For anyone keeping track, there will be two municipal elections between now and then, meaning that promise of building these bike lanes can keep getting pushed out. Oakville Mayor Rob Burton (who just an nounced his plan to run for re-election as Mayor) and Council like to pat themselves on the back as they claim to be building biking infrastructure, however Oakville residents who ride a bike know this to be hogwash. Whether it is the mysterious and dangerous ending of the bike lane going south on Kerr Street near Canadian Tire (Figure 1) or the raised curbs that intersect many of Oakville' s bike trails or the complete lack of barrier-separated bike lanes anywhere in Oakville, the truth is that Oakville is a laggard when it comes to cycling infrastructure. One only needs to look at the Town of Fraser Damoff Executive Director Cycle Oakville 'V _.j.r * ' Oakville's recent Active Transportation Master u B i www.daredevilhockey.com Welcome to KKT Orthopedic Spine Center! We are a new innovative treatment center for sufferers of back, neck and other chronic pain. KKT is a non-invasive, painless and fast treatment option which uses lowfrequency sound waves to correct the position of the spine which results in pain relief, improved strength and mobility and may avoid the need for surgery or prolonged use of medication. KKT is scientifically proven, FDA and Health Canada approved and utilized in the treatment of many acute and chronic conditions such as: Back pain, Headaches, Neck Pain, Bulging Discs, Herniated Discs, Sciatica, Osteoarthritis, Whiplash, Scoliosis, Knee pain, Hip pain, Healed Vertebral Fractures and Facet Syndrome. We fix the cause of the problems that you are suffering from, we don't just treat the pain. KKT has been safely applied 450,000+ times over 15 years and now has 24 centers across 11 countries. We are pleased to inform you that the inventor of this new technology, Dr. Aslam Khan, is currently based out of our new clinic in Streetsville Mississauga. Our team looks forward to providing this treatment option to residents in Mississauga and surrounding areas. KKT is the solution people are seeking. Let us help stop your pain from taking away the things you love to do in life, and put an end to needless suffering. Please visit our website www.kktspine.com to learn more. We invite you to visit us at our new location 370 Queen Street South. For more information please call 905-285-0005 or email toronto@kktspinetreatment.com. Figure 1 | Cycle Oakville photo The Genuine. The Original. Plan (ATMP) Update approved this summer to see for themselves. Sharrows (the painting of a bike in the middle of the lane which has been statistically proven to increase the likelihood of a vehicle-bicycle collision) is what the Town of Oakville approved as their high priority projects. Another example of our elected officials claim ing to build biking infrastructure while leaving Oakville lives at risk on our roads. During the most recent review of the aforemen tioned Town of Oakville Active Transportation Master Plan (ATMP) Update earlier this summer, I joined countless Oakville residents who stressed that Speers Road is an incredible untapped poten tial for changing the way Oakville residents get to and from key destinations. Our presentations, emails and delegations fell on deaf ears at Oakville Town Council. For many Oakville residents, it is now pain fully clear that the biggest barrier to building safe cycling infrastructure in Oakville is our Mayor and Council. -- submitted by Fraser Damoff executive director, Cycle Oakville Overhead Door Co. of Hamilton-Burlington Proud to be servicing the GTA for 32 years. 5450 Harvester Road, Burlington Overhead Door (Hamilton-Burlington) Ltd. Insulated Steel Garage Doors Thermacore® For p re m iu m construction an d m a x im u m th e rm a l efficiency, a Therm acore® in su lated steel d o o r is th e ideal choice. This series o f doors fe a tu re our sandw ich steel construction o f s te e l-p o ly u re th a n e seals w ith as w e ll as b e tw e e n -s e c tio n th e rm a l breaks to red uce air in filtra tio n . 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