My name is Melanie Benson and I am an avid cyclist, triathlon coach and taxpaying property owner in St. John’s. I have 15 years of experience riding all over the world and cycling is one of my life’s greatest pleasures.
Hats off to the Bike Committee and Coun. Dave Lane for putting together a Bike Plan with so many wonderful ideas worth getting excited about. But after reviewing it in detail I am deeply concerned about the safety of both cyclists and pedestrians on the proposed “shared bike paths.”
The people of St. John’s need to know that paving the Grand Concourse will result in bikes moving at high speeds, which will greatly increase the risk for collisions and serious injuries. Paving the trail decreases surface friction and rolling resistance, which greatly increases the speed that bikes can reach, even on flat ground. People moving at higher speed have less time to manoeuvre their bike out of the way of oncoming people and hazards. Because the track is only three metres wide, every time you pass on the left you will be in the way of oncoming pedestrian and bike traffic. The paths are in the centre of the city in high population density areas where lots of people use them. The occurrence of collisions isn’t probable — it’s inevitable.
The people of St. John’s need to know that paving the Grand Concourse will result in bikes moving at high speeds, which will greatly increase the risk for collisions and serious injuries.
The new plan states that “triathlon training” will be a promoted activity on the shared use paths (page 17, Bike Master Plan). If the people of St. John’s knew that they would be sharing a narrow path with athletes on racing bikes riding with purpose at speeds of up to 40 kilometres per hour, they would never support the construction of these shared use paths. You don’t even need to be riding at high speed to sustain a serious injury if you come off your bike on asphalt. If a 200-pound man is riding at a speed of 20 kilometres per hour on a 30-pound mountain bike and hits you walking towards him at five kilometres per hour, what is the impact force of this collision? I’m not a physicist but I know it’s enough to severely injure a person. A small child could sustain life-threatening injuries.
It’s easy to reach speeds much higher than 20 kms per hour on the downhill sections of the trail that lead into Quidi Vidi Lake. Some of the proposed shared use paths combine two-way traffic on a narrow, three-metre-wide downhill track with lots of turns through dense vegetation. It’s impossible to turn your bike on a narrow path at even moderate speed unless you cut the apex of the corner and head into oncoming traffic. Bikes are quiet so you can’t hear them coming, and with the vegetation, it’s impossible for cyclists to see what’s ahead. There is a real danger of walkers getting struck from behind, especially small kids who may suddenly dart into the centre of the path.
The hills, turns, and vegetation on the Rennie’s Mill and Virginia River trail sections make them particularly unsuitable for a paved shared use path. These footpaths would require extensive renovations to make them even remotely safe; including removing the riparian vegetation that is essential in limiting floodwaters to improve visibility, and making the track much straighter and wider to facilitate safe passing and cornering. Even with these changes, pedestrians would still need to be separated on their own path to be safe. Chopping down all the trees and making our footpaths into roads would destroy our beautiful trails. I’m a cyclist and I don’t want that to happen!
The only viable bike plan is one that acknowledges all the risks to all users, and does everything it can to mitigate those risks. Otherwise we will ruin our gorgeous footpaths, that have secondary use for families on gravel bikes, and replace them with something too dangerous to be used by anyone.
The good news is that there are alternatives that can work for everyone in a safe manner and I would love to share my suggestions with the city. Please reach out to me.
Happy Trails.
Melanie Benson
St. John’s
