Wasn't it interesting that the subject of cycling came up so often in the Conversations for a 21st Century City guest presentations?
We spend our lives in cars in Mississauga, dreaming about what life would be like if we could ever get out of them.
Phil Green, Godfather of the cycling movement in Mississauga, helped initiate the ill-fated Cycling For Transportation Committee in 1990. Then he helped refit it when it became obvious that the City wasn't interested in commuter-cycling. In 1994, it became the broad-based Cycling Advisory Committee that still advises council on the subject.
Just back from Boulder, Colorado, which has a population about half of Mississauga's, Green is amazed at what a cycle-friendly municipality has been created there. The bike paths have separate underpasses under major roads; they are concrete rather than asphalt;, the routes and streets are clearly identified; and the pedestrian-activated lights are beside your bike, not 10 ft. away as in Mississauga.
Mississauga has made major improvements since the days when cycling wasn't even on the radar when roads were being planned but we still have a long way to go.
Commenting on a recent proposal to the cycling committee by Andrew Hamilton-Smith and his brother Matthew to promote a new cycling-pedestrian bridge across the Credit River at the hydro fields just north of the QEW, Green says there are better ways to spend money at this point.
The bridge is an idea that has been proposed numerous times before, as is the totally logical suggestion that bike lanes be added to the hydro fields that criss-cross Mississauga to form an east-west and a north-south spine.
"The money should go to build up the — for want of a better term —critical mass necessary to make a cycling network viable," says Green. "In Mississauga, we're putting our minds to it. In Boulder, they're putting their hearts in it. But it's important to note that we are making progress."
Mississauga Meadows resident Steve Largy used to sit on the cycling committee, until he ran for Ward 5 Councillor against Eve Adams a year ago. The air was let out of his tires when he reapplied to sit on the cycling group. Must have spoken out of turn.
"I can say what I want about being blackballed but it's just whining," says the former committee member.
A bridge across the Credit at the QEW would be nice, but other options fit the bill at a lot more reasonable cost, he suggests. Including the possibility of using the right-of-way at the end of The Queensway to create a path down into the valley, with a much shorter crossing of the Credit required over to Blythe Rd. (Does anybody remember the great fight in the 1970s when planners proposed adding another road crossing of the Credit at this same spot?)
This is a critical juncture in the City's evolution and making the bicycle part of the family-friendly municipality we're trying to build is crucial, says Largy.
"We've got to decide what Mississauga is going to look like in 20 years," he says. If we want the healthy city model we claim to, then creating a streetscape that encourages cycling is a given.
"We need to look at families who are interested in cycling and their first concern is safety," says Largy, who works in ward 5. As long as the car is king — and queen — sane parents won't take their children on paths on major roads.
The bike system is getting there but has some major gaps. "We have a beautiful trail system but none of it is hooked up.
"Everybody in Ontario needs to get healthier and the bottom line for that is getting out of our cars, not sitting there dumping crap into the atmosphere. But it takes political will."
Largy is just back from Montreal where he was amazed to see that all of the parking has been removed from DeMaisonneuve Blvd., a major route. An east-west commuter bikeway has been built to replace the parking, with concrete abutments protecting cyclists from vehicles.
"A lot of City staff believe in it (cycling), and know what has to be done, but in the end it's in the hands of the politicians," says Largy, who doesn't plan to run for office again. "The City's slogan is 'Leading Today For Tomorrow.' But it's not happening in Mississauga for cycling."