Cycling Plan

Woman and Man riding bikes in the winter and summer respectively

Burlington's Cycling Plan: A City that Cycles

Thank you for your interest in the City’s Cycling Plan. We are especially grateful to those of you who participated in events, surveys and meetings to share your feedback.

For the most up-to-date information, please visit

Get Involved Burlington Integrated Mobility Plan

Integrated Mobility Plan

The Cycling Plan is an important part of the Integrated Mobility Plan (IMP). You will find that cycling is being brought under this plan as one of the many ways to get around Burlington. The IMP will continue to look to you to give us feedback on the best way to plan the future of transportation in Burlington.

What is a Cycling Plan?

The City of Burlington Cycling Plan is an integral update to the City’s existing plan that incorporates the significant developments that have happened in cycling facility planning and design in Canada. The plan focuses on how more everyday trips can be made by bicycle, by proposing facilities that go to where people are going, including a specific focus on growing transit ridership by making multimodal cycling and transit trips a convenient, attractive option for people.

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.

The Cycling Plan will be a complimentary document to the New Official Plan Project - City of Burlington, but is separate from the Official Plan Review. Overlapping themes between the two documents include:

Transportation goals and the movement of people (as they relate to cycling)
Land use planning (as it relates to mapping cycling infrastructure)

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.

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 186 kilometres 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
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?

Thank you to everyone that provided feedback during the public engagement on the Cycling Plan in 2018 and 2019. The feedback gathered has been used to shape the Cycling Plan that was endorsed by Council in March 2021.

View a copy of the Cycling Plan - March 2021

Summary of public feedback

In 2018, we asked the public to help 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

Some of the themes that emerged from the first phase of engagement identified barriers to cycling and opportunities to encourage people to cycle more. Please see a summary of these themes below.

Safety

Participants indicated the city’s current cycling network does not feel safe. Some concerns included:

Many of the current cycling lanes are too narrow and painted lines do not offer enough protection from vehicles
Safety concerns for children using on-road facilities
Discomfort riding on high-traffic roads with sharrows, and especially crossing the QEW
Poor sightlines on certain roads with tight corners, and poorly maintained shoulders
Lack of lighting makes cycling challenging in some areas after dark.

Connectivity

Participants expressed that access to important destinations and connections between on-road and off-road networks are valuable. Some concerns included:

Lack of continuous bike lanes make it hard for them to get to certain parts of the city
Lack of connectivity to key points of interest (e.g. transit hubs, schools, shopping areas)
Lack of connectivity between on-road facilities and off-road recreational trails.

Infrastructure

Participants shared that the ongoing maintenance of new and existing bike lanes and trails is important to users. Some infrastructure improvements suggested include:

Bike routes free of gravel, debris, and snow
Protected and/or buffered crossings for Burlington’s high-speed, high-traffic roadways
Other physical barriers for direct routes to destinations.

Some infrastructure challenges that were highlighted include:

Fading painted buffers and bike lane symbols
Narrow lanes
Unpaved shoulders.

Themes for Action

The draft Cycling Plan addresses these themes by identifying the following as action items:

Establish a minimum grid within the short-term timeframe for people to experience different types of higher-order bikeways.
Focus on the potential bike or walk to transit.
Work towards an ultimate Spine Network for all users and abilities.
Support the spine route with a Connector Network as a feeder system.
Set the stage for Grade Separated Highway Crossings and a plan for a connected network in advance on either side.
Build quality and connected local street bikeways.
Leverage existing assets such as existing multi-use pathways adjacent to roadways supported by a framework for the upgrades.
Build the infrastructure based on where people need to go. The application of decision-making criteria based on where people live, work and play.
Prioritize where funding goes with a focus on the above and with the goal to unlock potential within the city.
Implement an intersection improvement program.

Also included in the actions is the construction of a 15 km connected network in downtown Burlington called a minimum grid. Designed to be implemented in the near-term, the minimum grid would showcase a range of new types of cycling facilities recommended in the draft plan to give Burlington residents an opportunity to experience them firsthand. The minimum grid is intended to make cycling an attractive mobility option to destinations throughout the downtown.

View a map of the minimum grid proposed in the draft Cycling Plan

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

If you have questions about the Cycling Plan, please contact:

Dan Ozimkovic, C.E.T
Transportation Planning Technologist
City of Burlington, Transportation Services
danijel.ozimkovic@burlington.ca

Helpful Links and Documents

Burlington's 2009 Cycling Master Plan

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this include cycling in North burlington and other Rural areas in the city?

The City understands that the needs of rural and urban residents differ. The Cycling Master Plan focuses on commuter cycling within the City of Burlington. Rural cycling has unique challenges, and as such requires unique solutions, which is why the City of Burlington is also developing a Rural Active Transportation Plan which will consider the longer distance and non-local trips that are typical of rural areas.

How does the City of Burlington fund cycling projects?

Prior to this Plan, cycling projects were funded through the capital budget and usually happened when other road work was being done. In this process, a cycling project would only occur on a road when the road was scheduled to have maintenance done. With the implementation of the new Cycling Plan, cycling projects will have more flexibility because they will be funded based on need, not convenience with other road projects.

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.

How does this plan integrate with public transit in the city?

The plan focuses on how cycling can make transit trips more direct, and the necessary improvements to make cycling to transit an attractive option.

What is a Spine Network?

The Spine Network is comprised of Spine Routes, which are a new designation introduced for this cycling plan. Spine Routes will reach all parts of the city, providing a connected network that will consist of facilities that offer a higher order of protection for cyclists, and should be designed towards an all ages and abilities standard, to address the objectives of this plan. The Spine Route designation indicates that the route should be a priority for operations (snow plowing, street cleaning, etc.). The Spine Routes were selected to correspond with the role the route plays within the proposed cycling network, the demand analysis and align with transit.

What is a Connector Network?

Connector Route is the designation given to all other cycling facilities in the proposed network of this plan. Connector Routes will help people get to or from the Spine Routes. Connector routes have a lower priority for implementation, maintenance, and operations than spine routes.

What is a local street bikeway?

The local street bikeway facility is a shared roadway treatment that includes traffic calming to create a more comfortable cycling experience than a signed route treatment.

What are Grade Separated Connectors?

Grade separated connectors are a low stress facility to be used to connect two sides of an otherwise challenging or impassable barrier, such as a highway, railways, and waterbodies. An example is the Red Hill Trail QEW crossing in Hamilton.

Where does bike share come in?

The City of Burlington is in the process of exploring how a bike share system could be implemented in the city. This plan focuses on the infrastructure and programs that are vital to the success of a bike share system.

Where do all ages and abilities come in?

All ages and abilities is a term used to identify facilities that are of a design that would make them an attractive and comfortable place to use for children and people who may be newer to cycling. The proposed Spine Network includes facilities that are intended for use by people of all ages and abilities.

Where do trails fit in?

Many trails provide great low stress bicycle routes, such as the Centennial and the Hydro Corridor Trails. These trails are included as part of the proposed Spine Network. The plan includes recommendations to improve crossing at streets for people using these trails. Some trails are intended for recreational use, such as singletrack mountain biking or hiking trails. These are not considered part of the networks proposed in this plan. The Community Trails Strategy focuses on the different types of trails throughout the city.

Why do we need cycling facilities when no one bikes in winter?

In many winter cities, people cycle year-round as they find it to be a reliable and fun way to get around, throughout the year. Pedalling around while wearing appropriate winter clothing keeps you warm. One of the challenges to cycling in winter is that there is limited infrastructure for people to feel comfortable and safe while cycling. Building and maintaining a network of cycling infrastructure is imperative to creating the conditions where cycling is an attractive option for people to use year round.