Charlottetown bypass's separate lane for walkers and bikers is finished. What's next?

Work has wrapped up on the third and final phase of an active transportation path that makes its way along Charlottetown's bypass highway, letting pedestrians and cyclists travel from Stratford across the Hillsborough Bridge to the hospital, the airport or the Confederation Trail, among many other destinations. 

Now the City of Charlottetown and active transportation groups are talking about what's next.

The group Bike Friendly Communities said it would like to see attention turn to connecting routes within P.E.I.'s capital city, allowing easier movement around the region.  

For now, the city's chair of environment and sustainability, Coun. Terry Bernard, said it's just exciting to see the bypass project completed.

"I can tell you from myself using it, it's gaining popularity — no question," Bernard said. "Personally, I see active transportation exploding. Year after year, you're seeing more and more people get active." 

Work on the just-completed active transportation corridor started years ago, along Acadian Drive near the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The project's first phase cost $1.4 million, the second phase from Norwood Road to Brackley Point Road took $1.2 million, and the final phase extending the lane to Mt. Edward Road was another $700,000, for a total cost of $3.4 million. 

"Through the active transportation fund, through the provincial and federal government, we've been able to capture a 50 per cent cost share for this project," Bernard said.

"We probably wouldn't do it without that.That was one of the issues we had back years ago, was to try and get the funding to go from the hospital to St. Peters Road. It was a huge cost. "

But now, Bernard said, "Governments are starting to see the benefits of it. Governments are starting to put money into it. 

"Climate change definitely is one of the reasons. But I think safety, and getting people out to do active transportation, is another big bonus."

He said Charlottetown has just hired a new sustainable transportation officer, who will help the city decide what the next projects will be. 

As well, he pointed out, the city has added bike lockers at the Fitzroy Parkade that cycling commuters can rent for $20 monthly, through the Charlottetown Area Development Corporation. That might appeal to people worried about having their ride stolen. 

"Bikes aren't cheap anymore, bikes are pretty expensive," Bernard said. 

Connections are key

Mitch Underhay with Bike Friendly Communities said the completion of this section of active transportation trail is especially important because it connects with the Confederation Trail, built along the province's old rail lines. 

"What we'd like to see, broadly, is a network of active transportation trails: a physically separated AT lane that's shared by cyclists and pedestrians, or rollerblades, skateboards, wheelchairs — basically any form of active transportation," Underhay said. 

"If you think about Charlottetown, and you think about the Confederation Trail, it's really the spine of the network that's already there. And so any future AT, I think, needs to connect to that spine for it to form that network, a grid like any road system."

Bike Friendly Communities has created its own Capital Region Active Transportation Plan.

Underhay said there's an argument for extending the lane farther along the bypass, in the direction of the Cornwall area.

"But I think our money's probably better spent in town, closer to schools and closer to places of high employment like government buildings... maybe go near schools so that kids can can bike along the trail, and make use of existing infrastructure, and connect the dots between the trails."

He said his group hopes the next priority for investment will be the planned redesigns of busy University Avenue and North River Road, both of which include active transportation routes, and then adding lanes to crosstown roads that connect to them. 

We're trying to take some of the trips that people make in cars and put them on bikes.— Mitch Underhay, Bike Friendly Communities 

Underhay said the focus on reducing carbon emissions across Canada is providing a huge opportunity for active projects to qualify for federal and provincial funding. 

"We're trying to take some of the trips that people make in cars and put them on bikes. And for every car trip we put on a bicycle, there's that much less carbon going into the atmosphere," he said. 

"There's a lot of savings that occur on a government level that maybe aren't so immediately apparent to the people actually using it.

"We can point to bicycle counts and traffic counters showing 'There's this many trips on bikes that aren't in cars.' And that is a way that we can justify the federal funding to help put some of these AT lanes in."