Council slams brakes on Borrelli's bid for sidewalk cycling

A Windsor councillor's bid to allow cycling on city sidewalks came to a screeching halt Monday.

• Windsor Coun. Paul Borrelli sparks debate on sidewalk cycling

Ward 10 Coun. Paul Borrelli's suggestion staff should back a pilot project looking at allowing bikes on pedestrian walkways in "high-traffic areas" was voted down by all but one of his colleagues.

"I was very surprised the others wouldn't even consider the idea of a pilot project to see if it's a viable solution," he said. "I thought this would be an opportunity to actually improve cycling in Windsor and make it more safe."

Coun. Hilary Payne's seconding of Borrelli's motion was the only support the idea received during the meeting.

The discussion around cycling on sidewalks was sparked last month when Borrelli took to Twitter to celebrate people "biking nicely" on the walkways and pedal the possibility it should encouraged — comments from community members calling the practice illegal started rolling in almost immediately.

Cycling advocates, including Bike Winsor Essex director Lori Newton took the debate a step further, describing sidewalk cycling as dangerous.

After sharing his opinion, Borrelli said he received an outpouring of support including calls and letters to his office stating sidewalks are a safe place for cyclists.

"There are just so many people siding with me, we're a democracy and the people have spoken on the radio … and on Facebook and so on," he said. "I don't think it's a dead issue yet, but I'm going to have to respect my fellow councillors' decision."

Borelli said in the 10 days leading up to Monday's meeting he completed an "informal study" by biking 20-30 kilometres each day to see how common riding on the sidewalk was.

"Most of the observations I've made is that almost 95 per cent of people use the sidewalks," he said. "Very few use the road and very pedestrians use the sidewalks in the high-traffic areas."

For the time being, Borrelli said he's willing to let the issue deflate, but if a public call for sidewalk cycling rolls around again he's willing to put his political muscle behind the cause again.