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7 | W aterloo C hronicle | T hursday,A ugust 13,2020 w aterloochronicle.ca FREE DELIVERY IS A LIMITED TIME OFFER. SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY. NO PROMO CODE REQUIRED WINGSUP.COM 65 UNIVERSITY AVE. E WATERLOO (519) 725-5252 lanes last Wednesday. His errands included a trip to McPhail's Cycle & Sport for some gear. Even though he's work- ing closer to home these days, his trips through the core are much more fre- quent than they once were. Cycling trips and trail usership have spiked across the city. According to numbers provided by the Uptown Waterloo Cycle Tracker, lo- cated on the southeast cor- ner of King and Erb streets, from the beginning of April through the end of July, a bicycle was detected 23,873 times. That's up almost 5,000 trips from a year ago (17,928) during the same time period. The pandemic has cer- tainly played a part, with lo- cal municipalities slowing or closing some streets, and creating temporary lanes to create more opportunities for active transportation and better connections. Build it and they will come, says Louise Finlay, city project manager for bikeways, trails and green- spaces. Finlay explained that the cycling counter on King is one of 13 such counters in the city. All the others de- tect both pedestrians and cyclists. Users detected along the Spurline Trail at Roger Street during the same time period totalled 110,250 com- pared to 92,179 in 2019. The Hillside Trail north of Uni- versity Avenue East saw 33,952 users compared to 25,835 the year prior. According to numbers provided for the months of June and July (correspond- ing numbers weren't avail- able for April and May of 2019) Laurel Trail users de- tected at Weber Street to- talled 36,363 compared to 24,022 in 2019. "Ultimately we build the trails for people to use them and we can see with these numbers, they're definitely being used well," Finlay said. Since the 13 counters went operational in 2014 there have been more than 7.2 million users detected. Finlay said the city isn't just using the numbers to look pretty but to make in- formed decisions to create better routes and connec- tions for the future. People can currently take a survey at engagewaterloo.ca as part of consultation for its slow, calmed and closed streets initiatives and trans- portation master plan. Not all are believers in bike lanes, according to the feedback previously re- ceived. "The Erb street Bridge- port road bike lanes are a joke. They have been hi- jacked and I do not see any bikes," reads one comment. "Waterloo Region is not Europe," another states, im- ploring local government to scrap bicycle lanes being tested, adding "We rely on our cars to get us from point A to point B." Some of the current sep- arated bike lanes being pi- loted in the university dis- trict on Columbia, King and Albert streets, are Region of Waterloo projects, Finlay noted. People should check out the engage page to see what each municipality is currently evaluating. For some projects, study and comment periods have been extended due to the pandemic. The city is moving for- ward with the redesign of "five key streets" to help provide better connections to ION stations in Waterloo, as recommended in 2017 sta- tion area plans. A final report to council isn't expected until early next year, with construc- tion anticipated in mid-late 2021. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The city has in- vested in active transporta- tion infrastructure in recent years and has made vari- ous temporary and perma- nent changes to activate users during the pandemic. The Chronicle asked to see the stats from local counters along bike lanes and multi- use trails. NEWS Continued from page 1 'WATERLOO REGION IS NOT EUROPE' AMONG FEEDBACK COMMENTS VISIT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA TO READ CURRENT AND PAST INVESTIGATIONS