Cycling Plan

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Woman and Man riding bikes in the winter and summer respectively

Burlington's Cycling Plan: A City that Cycles

Because getting around your city should be easy and convenient no matter how you choose to travel, the City of Burlington is creating a new Cycling Plan that will guide the future of cycling infrastructure in the city.

You are invited to help design the Cycling Plan by sharing your thoughts and ideas about what would improve cycling in Burlington. View upcoming opportunities around the community to participate.

What is a Cycling Plan?
Why does Burlington need a Cycling Plan?
What is the status of the Cycling Plan?
How can I get involved in helping to shape the Cycling Plan?
Who can I speak with to learn more about the development of the Cycling Plan?
Helpful Links and Documents
Frequently Asked Questions
Profiles: Who Bikes in Burlington?

What is a Cycling Plan?

Burlington's new Cycling Plan will be a long-term strategy to help strengthen and support cycling in the city.

Once completed, the plan will provide a vision for cycling in Burlington that identifies policies, programs and cycling facilities that will help to make cycling an attractive everyday mobility option for a wide range of residents.

Objectives of the Cycling Plan:

Build upon the current cycling network and identify missing links to develop a grid of on-road cycling facilities.
Identify key barriers to cycling and investigate strategic opportunities to improve the cycling experience.
Develop a network of facilities that are considered comfortable by all users and skill levels.
Review existing cycling facilities and compare them to best practices in other municipalities.
Provide guidance on the design of cycling facilities that is consistent throughout the city.
Identify a list of priority network improvements for implementation.
Develop a strategic action plan that guides the short, medium and long-term implementation of the cycling network.

Why Does Burlington Need a Cycling Plan?

Burlington is at a unique time in its history. In the past, growth has meant the development of new neighbourhoods but growth in the future looks very different for Burlington because our city has very little room left for traditional suburban-type development.

Instead of growing out, Burlington City Council has made the decision to grow up and intensify in key urban areas. This direction, approved through the city's Strategic Plan in April 2016, will enable Burlington to curb sprawl, protect the rural area and make efficient use of land and infrastructure.

At the same time, Burlington continues to grow. The 2016 Census data shows Burlington grew by 7,535 people between 2011 and 2016 - a 4.3% overall growth rate. The Places to Grow mandates that Burlington plan for a population of 193,000 by 2031, however, the city will reach this population number within the next few years.

As the city plans for future population growth with documents like the proposed new Official Plan and Mobility Hubs, it must also plan for how people will move through the city.

Over the last 30 years, Burlington's transportation network has accommodated growth by building more roadways. This strategy is no longer sustainable. The city does not have the space to build new roadways and the financial cost to maintain a larger network of roads is significant.

A 21^st century city is built around a different transportation model, one designed to provide people of all ages and abilities with more travel choices for things like walking, transit and cycling.

Background

Burlington's Cycling Plan was last updated in 2009. Since that time, the following cycling investments have been made:

Implementation of over 200 kilometers of on-road and off-road cycling infrastructure
Four metre-wide multi-use paths paved along hydro corridors
The introduction of pilot projects to reduce road capacity and add on-road buffered bike lanes, e.g. New Street Pilot Project
Consideration given to include cycling facilities as part of all new road reconstruction projects with a preference for implementing on-road bike lanes
The use of bright green pavement markings at major intersections to clearly mark cycling lanes.

The new Cycling Plan will build on these successes and recommend new programs and policies that seek to provide safe, comfortable, and convenient routes for cyclists of all ages and abilities.

What is the Status of the Cycling Plan?

Public engagement to gather feedback that will be used to help shape the Cycling Plan began early in 2018.

Please see the "Get Involved" section on this page for opportunities to share your thoughts and ideas and/or subscribe to this page in the top right hand corner of the page to receive updates each time this web page is updated.

How can I get involved in helping to shape the Cycling Plan?

The City of Burlington is gathering community feedback that will be used to help develop a new Cycling Plan.

Thank you to everyone who completed the online Cycling Plan survey and/or spoke to us at locations throughout the city to share their ideas about cycling in Burlington.

What we've heard so far
One of the questions we asked the public was to help us identify places they like to cycle; places that are challenging to cycle to; and places that are hard to cycling to. View the map below to see what we heard.

View the map featuring cycling destinations

Stay tuned for information about additional opportunities to have your say and visit www.burlingtontransit.ca/transitplan to take the transit survey that will help to shape the city's Transit Plan. We want to hear from transit riders and non-riders.

Past Events

Early in 2018, community feedback about cycling in Burlington was collected in the form of an online survey and a number of community events. See a list of the locations visited below:

Date	Time	Location
Sunday, Jan. 28	1 - 4 p.m.	Burlington Art Gallery (Family Sunday Open Studio), 1333 Lakeshore Rd.
Monday, Jan. 29	1 - 3 p.m.	Burlington Seniors' Centre, 2285 New St.
Monday, Jan. 29	4 - 8 p.m.	City Hall, outside Council Chambers, 426 Brant St, Second Level
Thursday, Feb. 1	6 - 8 a.m.	Burlington GO Station, 2101 Fairview St.
Thursday, Feb. 1	9 - 11 a.m.	Haber Community Centre, 3040 Tim Dobbie Dr.
Saturday, Feb. 3	11 a.m. - 2 p.m.	Burlington Central Library, 2331 New St.
Monday, Feb. 5	6:30 - 9 a.m.	Nelson Recreation Centre, 4235 New St.
Friday, Feb. 9	6 - 8 a.m.	Appleby GO Station, 5111 Fairview St.
Friday, Feb. 9	4 - 7 p.m.	Mountainside Community Centre, 2205 Mt. Forest Dr.
Tuesday, Feb. 13	7 - 9:30 a.m.	Tansley Woods Community Centre, 1996 Itabashi Way
Wednesday, Feb. 14	6 - 8 a.m.	Aldershot GO Station, 1199 Waterdown Rd.
Wednesday, Feb. 14	9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.	Brant Hills Community Centre, 2255 Brant St.
Saturday, Feb. 17	10 a.m. - 4 p.m.	Mainway Recreation Centre, 4015 Mainway
Monday, Feb. 19	1 - 4 p.m.	Central Arena, 519 Drury Ln.
Saturday, Feb. 24	9 a.m. - 12 p.m.	Burlington Seniors' Centre, 2285 New St.
Tuesday, March 6	4 - 6 p.m.	St. Christopher's Church (Open Door Burlington), 662 Guelph Line

DIY Workshop Guide
Use the DIY Workshop Guide to help get the conversation about cycling in Burlington going at a time and place that is most convenient for you. Complete the guide with family, friends, or with a local community group.

Download the DIY Workshop - Participant Guide

Download the DIY workshop - Facilitator Guide

To receive updates about upcoming opportunities to be involved in this project, subscribe to this page in the top right hand corner of this page and/or send an email to growbold@burlington.ca to be added to the Cycling Plan email list.

Who can I speak with to learn more about the development of the Cycling Plan?

If you have questions or feedback to share about the development of the new Cycling Plan, please contact:

Dan Ozimkovic, C.E.T
Transportation Planning Technologist
City of Burlington, Transportation Services
905-335-7671, ext. 7485
danijel.ozimkovic@burlington.ca

Helpful Links and Documents

Burlington's 2009 Cycling Master Plan

Frequently Asked Questions

Burlington has a great trail system. Why do we need on-road bicycle facilities?

The trail system in Burlington is an important element of the city's cycling network. In order to connect key destinations and provide a form of mainstream transportation for commuter cyclists, on-road cycling facilities must also be part of the solution. The Cycling Plan will look at cycling in both urban and rural settings and assess current on-road and off-road active transportation facilities in the city.

What about transit? What is Burlington doing to support this method of travel?

In 2018, Burlington Transit will develop a multi-year Transit Plan that will guide new investment in the city's transit system.

Improving Burlington's transit service is a priority for the City of Burlington. As our population grows, providing a variety of convenient, reliable options to help people get around the city is essential. The Transit Plan, along with the Cycling Plan and the Transportation Plan, will help to bring this vision to life.

Take the Transit Survey
To help develop the Transit Plan, the city wants to hear from Burlington Transit riders to learn more about how they currently use public transit and from people who do not ride the bus to find out what might encourage them to consider transit. The online survey to gather input is available at www.burlingtontransit.ca/transitplan and is open until March 26. The information gathered will be used to help build a better transit service.