This is a big year for the Paris-Notre Dame Bikeway, with the city adding almost three kilometres to the project, which is expected to pass its halfway point toward completion.
The city is adding a 2.33-kilometre section of bikeway this year, plus an additional 500 metres through the Bridge of Nations renewal project currently in progress.
This work will bring the bikeway to 5.97 kilometres of its 8.76-km total proposed scope.
The project, which will include bike lanes on both sides of Paris/Notre Dame from north of Lasalle Boulevard at Turner Avenue south to the Four Corners at Regent Street, was first proposed in 2016.
“We've been chipping away at it as funding becomes available, so we've put a lot in since it was identified,” city active transportation co-ordinator LyAnne Chenier told Sudbury.com.
Late last year saw the project receive its biggest financial boost yet, with the federal government pledging more than $3.3 million in funds to be matched by municipal dollars.
This year’s Paris-Notre Dame Bikeway investment will see bike lanes created from Wilma Street south to John Street, which is south of the Bridge of Nations.
The stretch from Van Horne Street south to John Street is included as part of the bridge project slated for completion by the end of October.
“Construction of the segment from Wilma Street to Van Horne Street will complete the missing section that will provide users with physically separated cycling from Lasalle Boulevard to the downtown,” Chenier said.
After this year’s project, three remaining gaps will still include approximately 400 metres from Turner Avenue south to Lasalle Boulevard, approximately 880 metres from John Street south to York Street, and approximately 1.5 kilometres from Walford Road to Regent Street.
The project’s completion will all depend on when funding becomes available, Chenier said.
“Right now, we are finalizing the project’s entire stretch as far as the engineering is required so we’re shovel-ready for funding opportunities coming up in the future,” she said. “However, at this time, we don't have a definitive date to provide for those three remaining gaps, it's just going to be a matter of when funding becomes available.”
The Paris-Notre Dame Bikeway came as a result of the 2016 Transportation Master Plan, which proposed a comprehensive network of cycling facilities throughout Greater Sudbury.
“It will form a north-south spine of the city's growing commuter cycling network, once complete,” Chenier said, adding the project also ties into the city’s Community Energy and Emissions Plan, which notes transportation is responsible for approximately 43 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Greater Sudbury.
In addition to finishing the Paris-Notre Dame Bikeway, the city is looking to complete cycling infrastructure segments in east/west corridors, such as Lasalle Boulevard and The Kingsway.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
