UNBC planning student Kyle Ross says it wouldn’t take much effort to make Prince George more friendly to bike traffic, and also won’t break the bank.
“I wanted to organize a group ride to hopefully bring some comfort to people who are not as experienced in cycling and to also show off what these issues are with bike infrastructure. The route I chose hopefully contains all the elements of what can be improved and what is already great about the Prince George cycling experience.”
Ross presented some of his ideas on he envisions for bike infrastructure last summer at a city council meeting , following up on an April petition he posted on change.org that drew 852 signatures. He also expressed his ideas in his Future of Getting Around podcast. “It’s not quite permanent infrastructure, it’s built out of flexible plastic posts and concrete barriers… vertical separation, so you build it up first and then gather feedback. Once you’ve gathered the feedback you can either change it, remove it or make it permanent, so that your permanent solution isn’t just something you built but doesn’t attend to the needs of the community.”
He would like to see vertical separation or some kind of physical barrier for bike lanes in all school zones, so kids won’t feel so intimidated riding to school.