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Transportation Master Plan |
Chapter 6 – Cycling
Cycling, like walking, helps to conserve energy, reduce pressure on the road network, preserve the environment and improve public health. It is an effective option for longer trips, and can also provide access to transit services. The key factors that influence the attractiveness of cycling include:
- A suitable distance between origin and destination
- Positive individual attitudes towards cycling, and the possession of related skills
- Pleasant, direct routes that offer safety and personal security, minimizing conflicts between cyclists and other road users
- Adequate maintenance practices for network elements, particularly in winter
- Suitable trip-end facilities for bicycle parking, and for personal shower and change needs
6.1 Essential Supporting Measures
A number of supportive measures that can increase cycling activity will be
delivered through the City’s transportation demand management program and land
use planning practices, as described in Chapter 4.
The City will:
- Build public awareness of the environmental, health and economic benefits of cycling, promote positive individual attitudes towards cycling, and offer practical advice
- Reach potential cyclists through partnerships with employers and educational institutions
- Conduct initiatives that promote safe travel behaviours by cyclists and other road users, through education and cycling skills training
- Continue to provide information on cycling routes, through the Ottawa Cycling Map
- Develop a comprehensive bicycle parking program that establishes public and private sector responsibilities and opportunities, including:
- Provision of bicycle parking throughout the City’s various parking precincts
- Provision of bicycle parking at City-owned public facilities including rapid transit stations
- Creation of standards for the provision of bicycle parking at developments of various types and sizes, to be applied through the City’s Zoning By-law
- Continue to expand the Rack & Roll program by equipping all new transit buses with bicycle racks, and ensure that all new rail transit vehicles enable passengers to store their bicycles on board
- Support cycling through supportive operational measures, such as exemptions from turn prohibitions and the establishment of contra-flow cycling lanes on one-way streets, where safety considerations permit, and the selection and placement of vehicle detection equipment at intersections
- Adopt maintenance standards for snow clearance, street sweeping, roadside vegetation, pothole repair and reinstatement of road cuts that support cycling while considering physical, operational and financial constraints
- Adopt supportive land use planning practices that improve the cycling environment, as described in Chapter 4
6.2 Cycling Transportation Network
All City roads except freeways are considered to be cycling facilities. Cycling-supportive
design, construction and maintenance standards are routinely applied to all
new, widened and reconstructed roads. Notwithstanding this strategy, the City
will also adopt an approach of proactively constructing localized or linear
cycling facilities that represent strategic linkages within a city-wide cycling
network.
The City will:
- Develop a comprehensive Cycling Plan that includes:
- Goals and objectives for creating a cycling-friendly city
- An integrated cycling network plan
- Harmonized policies for cycling network elements that identify ways to eliminate conflicts between cyclists and others, and that establish guidelines for elements such as on-street cycling facilities, roadway intersections and wayfinding systems
- An implementation strategy for the cycling network
- An implementation plan for cycling education, enforcement and promotion
- A monitoring strategy
- Implement and maintain the Urban Cycling Transportation Network shown on Map 3. An amendment to the Transportation Master Plan shall not be required to amend the network, provided that continuity is maintained in the same general location and access to key destinations is maintained. Additional cycling facilities may be provided to facilitate movement within or between neighbourhoods.
- Maintain ten-year cycling network targets and a five-year implementation plan including an annual work program
- Develop quality of service indicators and targets that can continue to be used to assess cycling facilities and conditions, and to evaluate possible changes to them
- When implementing bus lanes and transit priority measures, accommodate buses and cyclists in separate facilities. Failing that, provide a shared-use curb lane designed to appropriate standards. Failing that, prohibit cyclists from using the part of the road dedicated to transit.
6.3 Multi-Use Pathways
Multi-use pathways are dedicated off-road facilities for walking, cycling and other modes, such as in-line skating. See Section 5.3 for more information
Next: Chapter 7 - Public Transit
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