Victoria

The district of Saanich is well situated to access a prime cycling route, the Galloping Goose Trail, but getting to the 55-kilometer former railway line that is part of the Trans Canada Trail means negotiating the district’s hazardous 20th century road infrastructure.

Bob Bigelow, information and privacy coordinator of the Saanich Police Department, reports that there has been a yearly average of 52 incidents involving a bike and a car over the past five years.

For young families teaching their preschoolers how to ride a bike in areas with no sidewalks or bike lanes, it can be a nightmare on wheels. Cars parked on both sides of residential streets make it necessary to compete for the road with walkers, skateboarders and more experienced cyclists, as well as vehicles.

“With all the traffic on our street, we’d welcome more sidewalks and bike lanes,” said Ryan McLeod. He felt the safest place to teach his son, Jackson, 5, how to ride a bike was at the nearby school’s basketball courts.

But there are signs that municipal planners are listening to calls for change to neighborhood road design. Proposals put forward by the Cordova Bay Community Association members and committees helped affect the construction of the new sidewalk in their suburb.

“The addition of a bike lane and a sidewalk on the San Juan Greenway is very welcome,” said mom Kerilee McLeod, who added that both Jackson and two-year-old Marlee are eager to ride their bikes. Now 75 percent complete, the nearly four-kilometer-long San Juan Greenway, which is part of the Saanich Centennial Trails Project, will connect the Blenkinsop Greenway – at the southern end of Mount Douglas Park – to the Gordon Head Coastal Greenway at Arbutus Cove Park.

Bike lanes and sidewalks seem to have sprung up across the Capital Region over the past several years. Saanich installed four kilometers of sidewalks and bike lanes in 2007 and 3.5 kilometers of sidewalks and six kilometers of bike lanes in 2008.

Steve Holroyd of the Saanich engineering, planning and design department said the district is charting a different course with the development of road infrastructure that places a greater emphasis on alternative modes of transportation.

“A sidewalk and cycling component will be a part of all future plans in redesigning roadways,” he said. Where there is a sidewalk update, there will be an adjacent bike lane, and in some instances bike lanes added to both sides of the road. Once these improvements are in place, the district is considering more bike racks and rental stations.

For more information on bike safety, visit bikesense.bc.ca/courses.htm. If you are a walker, you might be interested in walking clubs such as the Volksport Club who have mapped out routes and who have group walks. If you are interested in a 21st century look at the philosophy on walking, check out Will Self, who is featured on Authors@Google.