‘Cars are treated as guests on the streets’: Dutch experts give tips on how to make Hamilton’s roads safer for cyclists

Two distant streets, similarly sized but functionally different.

One is in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, a one-way urban road called Beukelsdijk. It has four lanes and sees around 14,500 cars per day.

The other is in Hamilton, a strip of Victoria Avenue North between Evans and Cannon streets. It's also one-way, has four lanes and sees around 12,500 vehicles per day.

Given their comparable size, it would make sense the streets share similar usage, right?

Except on Beukelsdijk, cars are limited to just two centre lanes, while its edge lanes are reserved for a hybrid of smart, compact parking and safe, innovative cycling arteries.

It makes me wonder if all of those lanes (on Victoria) are necessary?" Maurits Lopes Cardozo, a member of the Dutch Cycling Embassy, said Sunday, the first day of the Ontario Bike Summit (OBS) being held in Hamilton's Sheraton Hotel. What if there's room to make the parking lanes smaller to coexist with more cyclists?"

The Dutch expert is one of several keynote speakers at the annual three-day summit, which brings together political leaders, engineers, urban planners and city builders who want safer cycling across Ontario.

Running until May 2, Hamilton was picked to host the summit after gaining silver" status with the Share the Road Cycling Coalition, which lauded the city's award-winning complete streets design manual.

There's a lot of political will in Hamilton and a real desire to create safer roads," said Eleanor McMahon, a former Burlington MPP who founded the coalition after her husband, OPP Sgt. Greg Stobbart, was killed while riding his bike.

Indeed, a spate of pedestrian deaths in Hamilton last year spurred council to adopt new safety guidelines meant to make roads safer for all users, not just car drivers.

That idea is a critical step to creating a successful cycling city, Cardozo and his Dutch colleague, Lucas Harms, said at a planning workshop Sunday.

In the Netherlands - where there are more bikes than people and where cycling accounts for 25 per cent of all trips - decades of sustainable, pedestrian-friendly policies have changed their understanding of transportation.

Cars are treated as guests on the streets," said Harms, while cyclists the kings and queens."

Granted, it's easy to see how that's possible considering there are 35,000-kilometres of bike lanes in the Netherlands.

In Rotterdam, for example, they use different cycling networks that easily connect riders to their destinations. A regional" network covers long distances, like a highway; a main urban" network covers major city arteries; a neighbourhood" network covers suburban streets; and a recreational" network is like a trail, independent from roads. Collectively, they make for smooth, cohesive and fast cycling trips anywhere in the city.

When coupled with traffic policies that favour biking over driving, cyclists have direct connections into city centres, whereas cars have to go around city centres in order to eventually get into them."

These networks require a massive infrastructure - but a city doesn't need to reinvent the wheel" to create more pedestrian-friendly streets, Harms added.

Harms and Cardozo gave the workshop examples of several small changes that could enhance the cycling experience:

• Traffic calming, like lowering the speed limit to 30 km/h to make riders feel more comfortable on small streets without designated bike lanes;

• Bright lights over bike lanes to encourage riding at night;

• Street art and green space to make cycling more attractive;

• Smooth surfaces and coloured asphalt on bike routes;

• Roundabouts at intersections that give the right of way to cyclists and make turning easier;

• Making street parking spots less wide or incorporating them into patches of green space;

• All-direction green traffic cycling lights that allow riders to cross diagonally before cars;

• Widening bike lanes to allow for two people to cycle side-by-side;

• Integrating with other transport networks like light rail transit; and

• Improving rider flexibility by removing barriers from lane edges and replacing them with patches of grass.

You want to make cycling as inviting as possible," said Cardozo, who cycles on 90 per cent of his trips. These are designs for safety that prevent injury and (promote) slowing down."

One participant at the workshop asked Cardozo whether these changes could work in a deeply embedded driver's culture, like Canada's, and how long it might take.

Yes, it's also about needing to change the driving culture, and that could take a generation," Cardozo responded. But because people are conditioned to do one thing, that's not a reason to do something else that's truly different."

Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com

Ontario Bike Summit

The three-day summit, in its 15th year, will continue on Monday and Tuesday at the downtown Sheraton with several keynote speakers, including urban planning experts, cycling advocates and provincial politicians. Here's some key information and can't-miss sessions below.

Monday

• 8 a.m. to 8:45: Registration

• 9:35 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.: Moving Forward Together: Advancing Safe, Inclusive and Resilient Streets," a keynote from Lucas Harms of the Dutch Cycling Embassy

• 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.: Bicycle Friendly Communities and Polling Discussion," a keynote from Dr. Alexander Santelli of Crestview Strategy and Subha Ramanathan of Share the Road Cycling Coalition

• 3:15 to 3:45 p.m.: Remarks from Neil Lumsden, Ontario's Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport

Tuesday

• 7:15 a.m. to 8:05 a.m.: Registration

• 8:05 a.m. to 8:55 a.m.: Cycling Back to 2000, Wheeling Ahead to 2050," a keynote from Dale Bracewell, who's worked in mobility with the city of Vancouver for two decades

• 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.: The Future of Cycling in Ontario," a discussion with Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie, Hamilton councillor Craig Cassar and Waterloo Mayor Dorothy McCabe