Mississauga's bike lane plan prompts debate ahead of election

With voting day approaching in Mississauga's mayoral election, bike lanes on Bloor Street have become a contentious issue.

At least one candidate is vowing to scrap the already approved plan if elected, some candidates want the city project to go ahead and others want to pause it and do a review.

Mississaugans also appear divided over the plan, with one resident association opposing the project and an advocacy group supporting the project fully.

Residents go to the polls on June 10 to elect a new mayor. More than 24,000 Mississauga residents have cast their ballots in advance polls.

As part of the Bloor Street redesign project, the city plans to reduce a 4.6-kilometre stretch of Bloor Street from two car lanes in each direction to one with a two-way centre lane to be used for left turns. The stretch of the arterial road is a busy one, with public transit vehicles, garbage trucks, passenger vehicles and bicycles sharing the four-lane road.

Geoff Wright, commissioner of transportation and works for the City of Mississauga, said the city wants not only to improve the road but also to add cycling infrastructure. The project was approved last June and construction is set to begin later this year

"There's not a lot of cyclists using Bloor Street today because it's not really a safe environment for cyclists to be out on Bloor Street," Wright said. "As we look to build our cycling culture in Mississauga, it's about creating that network."

Mississauga has a cycling master plan that will ultimately form a network of cycling infrastructure — and Bloor Street will be part of the network, he said.

"Once we provide safe cycling infrastructure, more people will be apt to use Bloor Street and feel more safe and inclined to cycle once that infrastructure is in place."

Community consultation, which took place over more than two years, was done through public meetings, but the city hasn't specified how many residents took part.

Too soon for bike lanes on Bloor Street, resident says

Kim Pines-Popik, a member of the Applewood Hills and Heights Residents' Association, said the association has distributed signs opposed to the lane reduction and started a petition that has generated more than 4,500 signatures to stop the redesign. She said the association believes it's too soon to reduce car lanes because of ongoing construction in the area.

Pikes said the group has "boots on the ground, knocking on doors, standing in the plaza, getting signatures" to raise community awareness. She said a lot of people don't know what's happening on Bloor Street.

Paul Marshall, another association member who is an avid cyclist, added: "There's cycling routes already, cycling paths on Burnhamthorpe, parallel routes also on Queensway. Dundas Street is about to go through a major transformation that's going to include bike lanes also."

But Jonathan Giggs, co-founder of Mississauga Cycle Now!, said it's a misconception that traffic will get worse with three lanes.

"The three-lane configuration allows through traffic to stay in one lane. There are turn lanes and it makes it safer for everybody. And it should result in reduced speeds as well," Giggs said.

Mayoral candidates stake out positions

Top candidates in the race, with days to go in the election campaign, staked out their positions in a recent debate hosted by CBC.

Coun. Alvin Tedjo said he believes the project should proceed as planned.

"I voted for this. It's been approved by city council over a year ago. We need to build safe, separated bike and cycling and wheel infrastructure across the city of Mississauga," Tedjo said.

Coun. Stephen Dasko said he would like to see council approve a review of the project.

"Maybe this is a time to take a pause. I'll put forward a motion because I voted in the affirmative so I am able to do it," he said.

Coun. Dipika Damerla wants the project scrapped because she thinks the decision is "wrong" for Bloor Street. She said if the arterial road is reduced to two lanes, there will be congestion and many cars will go onto neighbourhood streets that will in turn become less safe and then there will be a need for speed bumps. She said the lanes will also reduce the number of bus stops.

"The city has in front of it about 1,000 new apartments units that are going to be built at some point here in and around Bloor Street and the city is asking these developers to build about 1,200 parking spots for these 1,000 new units. This is a tacit admission by the city that these new families, who are going to make their home here, are going to need cars," Damerla said in an interview on Wednesday.

Damerla said building more transit should be the priority.

"We need to give people who are in cars real alternatives to the car. Just removing car lanes doesn't magically make the cars disappear."

The campaign team for mayoral candidate Carolyn Parrish has not yet responded to a request for comment.