There’s a lot going on in Windsor, Ontario with respect to biking.  Despite being just across the Detroit River, there hasn’t been much interaction and exchange between bike advocates and even bicyclists — that should change in the future.

But first, lets begin by highlighting some Windsor stories on biking that have come up during the past couple months.

To begin with, a recent Windsor Star newspaper article spoke of efforts to improve biking on Riverside Drive:

Windsor has rolled a little closer to the longtime but controversial goal of having a bike path stretch from the Ambassador Bridge to the east end’s Ganatchio Trail.

A recent ruling by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment allows the city to widen parts of Riverside Drive — against the wishes of some residents — in order to create an unbroken bike path along 16 kilometres of waterfront.

The Windsor Star even printed an opinion piece in support.

One of the biggest supporters for biking in Windsor right now is Councilor Alan Halberstadt.

Mr. Halberstadt was also involved in a flap over ticketing cyclists that ride on sidewalks (and endanger pedestrians.)  One problem is some streets are not properly designed for bicyclists and high-speed, high-vehicular traffic counts. As a result, many cyclists feel forced to use sidewalks.

One such example is Windsor’s Tecumseh Road.  A cyclist challenged him to ride Tecumseh during rush hour to eyewitness the problem and he did.

Their two-wheeled adventure took about 15 minutes. More than once the much faster motorists were hitting the brakes as they slowed behind the cycling duo. Some impatient drivers farther down the line even hit the horn before darting out into the other lane. Graber said he wanted the councillor to experience what cyclists go through every day.

“So he could have more insight when he’s making decisions,” said Graber, who rides 15 kilometres to work each day. “I gotta take my hat off to him. He really stepped up. He was out there and a city bus came within two feet of him, so I really have to give him credit.”

Halberstadt said his ride, while hair-rising at times, hasn’t changed his outlook.

“Not really,” said Halberstadt. “I’ve been saying for 10 or 12 years, since I’ve been council, that we need to improve our cycling network. If the attention this has brought helps move this along, then I’m thrilled.”

And if you’re really interested, there’s a video of this ride as well.

Windsor Star also ran an editorial Bike Paths would Boost our Quality of Life.  It was great to read except it didn’t mention Detroit and our biking efforts.

Expect that to change.

NEXT UP: Getting bicyclists across the border

Tags: Alan Halberstadt, Detroit, Windsor

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Detroit, General bike news, On-road bicycling, Quality of Life, Trails. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.