Winter cycling priority routes
June 9th update:
This went over very well at the most recent Active Transportation Advisory Committee meeting. The City's Public Works department has been asked to include certain parts of the AT Network in its priority #1 snow clearing routes, and other parts in priority #2.
The City's Active Transportation Advisory Committee (ATAC) has been asked to offer some input regarding what a network of priority winter cycling routes (i.e. priority snow clearing) might look like. We have to forward ideas to ATAC ASAP if we hope to get our input included in the contracts for next year's snow clearing.
Map of proposed winter cycling priority routes -- version 2, May 20, 2010 (PDF)
This is just the potential first phase of a reliable, publishable network of winter cycling routes, which are given special plowing priority to ensure that they remain open to cyclists (and other users where applicable) year-round. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of roads or pathways that will be plowed all winter. Many other routes, especially major arterials, are already priority routes that fall under other auspices, such as transit and emergency vehicle priority routes. Also please recognize that we can't do them all next year.
Please contact us with feedback or if you would like a 60" x 60" digital file suitable for printing.
We discussed this during and after the May (2010) Monthly Meeting, and we came up with the following principles:
- All AT routes should be moved up to priority #1 or priority #2 routes. Bike boulevards may be exceptions if they are not currently on snow routes. (See below for their treatment.)
- Where bike lanes are present, roadways should have priority #1 street clearing, and they should be cleared curb to curb, down to the pavement.
- Where bike lanes are next to parking, effort should be made to clear the boulevard so that car doors can be opened. (If car doors cannot be opened, cars will encroach on the bike lanes.) It was noted that Grosvenor Ave was a good example of where this had been done this year.
- Bike Boulevards: Where it is not a priority #1 or #2 roadway, we would want to see more frequent checking of the roads so that ruts could be removed and more frequent sanding. This may mean these roads are cleared outside of a city-wide clearing.
- Snow should be removed from shy lanes on bridges within 48 hours of cessation of the snow event. A benefit of this is that all users of the bridge will be safer, as snow removal protects against the ramp effect. We would also like to see the shy lanes cleared of debris on a regular basis in summer as accumulation is a problem. Bridges that were specified as highest priority were: Osborne, St. Vital , Chief Peguis, Slaw Rebchuck, Mayland/Sherbrook, Norwood, Charleswood, Fort Garry, and Louise (sidewalks).
- There should be extra ability to do clearing of bike paths on an ad hoc basis as required between snow events in the case of ice build-up, particularly ice ridges. Ice buildup occurs on bike paths as a result of freeze/thaw events that pool melt water on the paths. Regular inspections can be used to determine when such measures are necessary.