With only a year to spend a windfall on a city-wide network of bike and walking trails, local advocates invited two experts to visit and advise us on building it.

“If you told me even two years ago that we’d have $20 million to spend on an active transportation system, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Winnipeg Trails Association coordinator Janice Lukes. But she added that the money comes with pressure from a time limit: restrictions on the federal portion say we have to spend it by March 2011. “That gives us one construction season to build 37 trails.”

So Lukes’ group partnered with One Green City, the Province of Manitoba and the Forks to host a public forum called Build it Right, at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People last Tuesday.

Peg spoke to them to get input on the fast-track job ahead:

The Montreal expert

Marc Jolicoeur is research coordinator with Velo Quebec, a 42-year-old organization that helped start the active transportation trend in Montreal. That city leads the country in non-automotive transportation opportunities, with more than 500 kilometres of trails and bike routes. And the new Bixi public bike system offers 5000 bikes at 300 sites around Montreal, for reasonable fees, 24/7, from May to November. The forum sponsors brought Jolicoeur from Montreal for two days, to meet and advise the consortium of consultants and civil engineers involved in the imminent trail building.

“There are no set rules for building a system, except to be doing something about it,” Jolicoeur said after the forum. Impressed by our start, he says we are in a good position to build a busy bikeway system.

“We know that if you make bikeways accessible, people will use them,” he said, “and Transport Canada figures show that 40 per cent of Winnipeggers live within five kilometres of where they work.”

As a start, Jolicoeur suggested a ‘road diet’ for Winnipeg, which involves changing many four-lane streets into three-lane streets with a centre turn lane and room for two bike lanes.

The Minneapolis expert

Minneapolis-based Jay Walljasper is a prolific writer and speaker who specializes in community and urban issues. “In the United States, we call it ‘non-motorized transport’,” he told the crowd. “But I think I’ll go back and start calling it ‘active transportation’. It’s better to focus on what we’re doing rather than what we’re not doing.”

Lukes said the forum’s sponsors brought Walljaspers to also speak on CJOB and give a more relevant perspective on our trailbreaking work. “We do get push back when we talk about active transport models in Copenhagen or Portland,” said Lukes, “But Minneapolis is similar in size and climate.”

“You have to expect some backlash,” said Walljasper, recognizing the still-strong attachment most people have to cars. To counter that, he focuses on cross-community benefits that bike commuting can offer. “For example, a family in the suburbs with access to viable bike routes can get with only one car and a family living downtown can get around without a car.”

A year-round bike commuter, Walljasper told the audience about his city’s recent work spending its own $22 million for path and trail funding. “Most important is to make busy connections — to the malls or to downtown from the suburbs,” he said, adding that a smooth safe ride attracts more riders than decreased mileage does.

Our options

Minneapolis active transportation plans adopted the road diet idea, and included a variety of other “cycling treatments” and “traffic calming strategies” such as bike boxes and bike boulevards. pegmag covered a range of options available for local cyclists in this post.

Have a say

Lukes expects active transportation funding to continue and sees this year as a chance to set a firm basis for future path and trail development. The city is hosting public consultation working sessions around Winnipeg starting this Saturday:

Fort Rouge/River Heights routes Saturday, January 30, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Earl Grey Community Centre, 360 Cockburn Street N

Yellow Ribbon Trail connection to the east Tuesday, February 02, 4:00 to 7:00 PM Silver Heights Community Centre, 2080 Ness Ave

Sherbrook/Maryland South routes Wednesday, February 03, 4:00 to 7:00 PM Westminster United Church, Maryland St and Westminster Ave

Sherbrook/Maryland North routes Thursday, February 04, 4:00 to 7:00 PM St. Matthews Anglican Church, Maryland St and St. Matthews Ave.

Berry/Ferry bikeway Thursday, February 04, 4:00 to 7:00 PM Bourkevale Community Centre, 100 Ferry Road

Who do we look to for examples?

Both speakers cited Copenhagen and Montreal as leading cities of active transportation. Other impressive cities include Madison, Wisconsin; Boulder, Colorado; and Portland, Oregon.