Rod Bilz admits he was caught off guard when he read about new legislation that will require municipalities to receive approval from the province before installing new bike lanes, which would result in the removal of lanes for traffic.
Rod Bilz, a cycling advocate and member of the City of North Bay's active transportation committee, says the group addressed the new legislation at a recent meeting and is looking for more information and support.
"It does not give a whole lot of time for preparation," said Bilz.
"We had our active transportation quarterly meeting last week and we did talk about it. At this point we would like to reach out to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to see if they have any official stance on this and the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities as well," continued Bilz who also penned a message to the Ministry of Transportation about the new legislation.
See related: Province moves to restrict bike lanes, increase speed limits
As part of the new legislation, municipalities would be required to demonstrate that proposed bike lanes won’t have a negative impact on vehicle traffic.
“Cities in Ontario have seen an explosion of bike lanes, including many that were installed during the pandemic when fewer vehicles were on the road and their impacts on traffic were unclear,” said Prabmeet Sarkaria, Minister of Transportation.
“Too many drivers are now stuck in gridlock as a result, which is why our government is bringing informed decision-making and oversight to bike lanes as well as taking steps to increase speed limits safely and clean up potholes.
"These proposed changes are part of upcoming legislation that will kick off the fall sitting of the Ontario legislature on October 21, 2024, with a focus on tackling gridlock and getting drivers and commuters across Ontario out of traffic," says a news release.
However, Bilz believes this is more of a big city problem and should not be a concern in a community like North Bay.
"I think it's even more Toronto-centric than just big city," he said.
"A lot of the bills and legislation that comes from the current Ford government, I think, are often heavily slanted towards Toronto. So I think when you read what they're talking about they're talking about when we remove a lane of vehicular traffic and transform it into a bicycle lane, which we haven't done in North Bay yet anyway. So it may not affect anything, quite honestly, but certainly in some municipalities like Toronto and other ones, there have been what they call road diets, where they'll reduce a lane and add either cycling infrastructure or transit lanes or something like that. So it definitely is. I would guess it's more focused on the bigger municipalities.
"It just feels like a little bit of an overreach by the provincial government dictating what can happen in a municipality."
The City of North Bay created an Active Transportation Plan which was introduced in 2019.
Its goal is to provide the necessary framework for planning, upgrading, and developing the city’s active transportation system over the next 20 years.
