This is the video for the January 18, 2024 Active Transportation Advisory Committee meeting
All right you are now live well good afternoon this is a meeting of hrm’s active Transportation advisory committee uh my name is Hugh milward and I will begin to chair the meeting um and it’s January the 18th 24 and um all of our uh participants our committee members um should be both seen
And heard so we’re just going to go through the roll call and um check that everyone’s here and we can hear them um so uh our vice chair currently is Douglas webm more Douglas president H good um Paul Young yes hello present all good thank you Paul so anah roel is she here
An hi um Elizabeth Pew I’m here hello good Melena kasan visius I’m here thank you Hi H thank you m Michelle Mahoney yes I’m here as well thank you thank you H miles McCormick present here thank you uh Brit mlan I’m here here thanks Britney um
Holly woodill said she would be late U but she hopes to join later and we’ve had uh regrets sent by Peter Zimmer and counselor Patty cutle Cel um our sport staff are Elizabeth McDonald the Legislative Assistant and David mcis who is manager of active Transportation David can we hear you
Yep I’m here very good thank you so our first order of business today is annual election of the chair and vice chair um we are required to elect chair and vice chair every year um So Pro to proceed with the election of chair I will pass the floor
To the Legislative Assistant to uh do that Elizabeth thank you Hugh um so I will open the floor for nominations for the position of by of chair of the active Transportation advisory committee and reminder you can nominate someone else or you can also self nominate this is melena speaking I’m
Very very happy and content with our current chair Mr Hugh milward so I I I would like to nominate him and do we have a seconder for that motion I’ll do it sorry it’s Michelle thank you Michelle and Hugh do you accept that nomination yes I do thank you perfect so
Now I will call again for any further nominations of chair I’ll call a second time for any further nominations and I will call a third and final time for any further nominations for the position of chair hearing none nominations will cease and we will now go to a motion to
Appoint Hugh milward chair of the active Transportation advisory committee we will need a mover and a seconder for that as well Melena moves and I can second that Douglas perfect um so now we will now call for the question I will ask all those in favor
To please say I and those against to say nay i i i i i perfect that motion carries uh Hugh I declare you the successful candidate of the act of Transportation advisory committee andk you thank you and I appreciate the vote of uh confidence so I’ll um I’ll let you proceed with the
The um election for vice chair thank you um so for 1.2 annual election of Vice chair I will now open the floor for nominations for the position of Vice chair of ATAC and Melena piping in I love our dynamic duo Douglas Wetmore again please Perfect do I have a seconder I’d
Like to second that Douglas do you accept that nomination I will gladly accept that thank you Elizabeth and thank you to Mel you as well I will call again for any further nominations for the position of Vice chair I’ll call a second time for any further
Nominations and I will call a third and final time for any further nominations for vice chair hearing none uh nominations will cease and we will move to a motion to appoint Douglas Vice chair of AAC can I have a mover and a seconder for that Mela moves oh I’ll second Melena will
Second and that was a moved by Hugh uh no but I will move it if if uh else that I think it was Paul Perfect all right we will now call for the question all those in favor please say I all those against please say nay i i i
I fantastic that motion passes and I declare Douglas Wetmore the vice chair of the active Transportation advisory committee thank you everyone very good I will now hand the floor off to the chair okay thank you um and um I actually messed up the beginning of the
Meeting because I did neglect to to uh read the land acknowledgement so I’ll do that right now uh the Halifax Regional municipality is located in mcmi the ancestral and traditional lands of the mcmack people the municipality acknowledges the peace and friendship treaties signed in this territ and recognizes that we are all treaty
People so now we’ll get back to the agenda uh as as it should be and um we move to approval of minutes of the of the meeting for November 16th 2023 uh these the draft minutes were circulated um has anyone noted any errors or omissions
No hearing none um I call for a motion to approve the minutes would someone like to move approval I can move those you Douglas here thank you Douglas and we we also require a second I can I can do that here okay thank you miles um so the
Motion is that the minutes of November 16th be approved as circulated uh and I’ll call for question those in favor of the motion please say I I I and anyone oppose please say nay okay hearing no opposition that motion is approved and the minutes are approved as as
Presented so number three uh item number three is approval of the order of business bus for today and approval of any additions or deletions so I’ll ask Elizabeth if there have been or if there are any additions or deletions there are no additions or deletions from the clerk’s office okay
Thank you and I’ll also ask uh the committee members if you have any items to add okay hearing on um then we’ll have a motion to approve the agenda as circulated we need need a mover and a second Melena moves okay thank you and a second I can do it Michelle thank you
Michelle so I’ll call for the question uh in those in favor of the uh um order of business as circulated please say I I I he and anyone oh sorry and anyone oppose please say nay okay no one opposed so that’s uh our um order of business as
Circulated and item four is business arising out of the minutes and there is none item five is a declaration of conflict of interests if you feel you have a conflict of interest relating to the the agenda or any agenda item uh this is the time to declare
It okay that’s good no one has a conflict of interest uh item six is consideration of deferred business and there is none item seven uh is correspondence petitions and delegations uh and uh first correspondence um Elizabeth has there been any corres respondence received correspondence was received and circulated for item
7.3.1 right correct uh petitions uh have there been any petitions received at the clerk’s office no petitions have been received okay and which leads on to presentations and we have a presentation uh from the Canadian National Institute for the blind on Halifax cycling infrastructure guidelines and the presenter will be Louie
Greco uh is Louie Greco with us here he is in the meeting I’m just promoting him to a panelist so he’ll be able to speak okay so uh is can Louie Greco hear me um I I see his uh microphone is off okay now it’s on there okay is that better yes
Hello um so you are our speaker and you are on uh I I believe are you going to go through um Elizabeth for your slides if uh if I could that would be great I’m I’m one of these people that can’t chew gum and talk at the same time so for me
To try to stay on track and navigate a deck would be beyond my my current skill set yeah I have the slides ready here all right okay just one second let me know when you’re ready to go oops all right can everyone see my screen yes
Okay perfect so we’re just on the first slide there and you can just let me know Lou when um when you want me to move to the next one okay just give me a sec okay okay um thank you very much for the opportunity and to share some research
That cnib has been working on for the last couple years um I appreciate the opportunity to share this with you if we could go to slide two uh so cnib um is a National Organization we we offer services a variety of different services to people who are
Blind and visually impaired as well as de blind across Canada we’ve been around for over a hundred years with uh Our Roots uh founded in both the Halifax explosion in in World War one as well as uh uh when serving blinded veterans that came back from supposedly the war to end all
Wars um we are kingly committed to advocacy to try and help Canadians living with sight loss uh uh live full and and meaningful lives to the best of of their ability we’ll go to slide three please so um I think it I think it warrants discussing what we mean by the
Def sight laws I I know that many of you on this committee have some exposure to people who are blind but I think um for the benefit of the public uh it’s it’s worth uh expanding on this um most people that are that are living with sight loss do have some some
Residual or functional Vision um less than 10% are are people like myself who are completely blind um and the definition of legal blindness is either visual acuities of less than 20 over 200 or 10% or uh a field division less than 20% so that field division by that what we
Mean by that is the uh the cone or the sorry the the paper towel tube that people have to try and uh perceive the world through uh we’ll go to the next slide please so in Canada the four leading leading causes of sight loss is uh uh cataracts just over three million
People uh age age related imaculate degeneration a little over 1 million people uh glaucoma about 200,000 and diabetic retinopathy about 34 of a million people um now those numbers are based on the 2017 uh stat scan survey we’re hopeful that within the next couple months uh
We’ll be able to slice and dice the numbers from the recent survey that was released just before the Christmas holidays and uh uh see um see how those numbers have changed um 40 million people live in Canada and with aging uh we can it’s it’s it’s not much of a stretch to
Anticipate that that number is going to increase our figures Say by about 30% um and then diseases disease will will uh impact that number as well um we’ll go to slide five please in Nova Scotia uh again based on the 2017 stat scan numbers is’s about 49,000
People in the province that are living with sight law and the rest of this content on this slide shouldn’t have been there my mistake so please disregard that and so we’ll go to slide six and Elizabeth please tell me if if I’m not in sync with what uh with what you’re
Doing I’m trying to follow along but sometimes I it it is if I push the wrong key at the wrong time it’ll it’ll skip ahead so absolutely thank you so uh sight loss and public transit for for most if not uh well I don’t want to say
All but for most people that live with site laws um public transit is the preferred way of getting around obviously we don’t drive at least not yet um and and as a result we we rely heavily on uh on public transit to get to to in from work etc etc uh in 2022
Infrastructure Canada had a call for proposals and we applied to do some research on how Island bus stops floating bus stops uh are are are being perceived and impact people who were blind or partially cited uh in their Journeys and we’ll go to the next go to the next slide please
So what is it about this infrastructure um that makes it challenging for for our population and we’ll go to the next slide so we undertook the the research that we did basically was was to do a study um the study was specific to Island Transit stops and specific to people with s
Law and we have an example of of what we mean by an Island bus stop here in the picture on the bottom and we’ll go to slide nine please just waiting for my notes to catch up so how did we um how did we build the
Study the first thing that we did is what what do we know what what do we know through through literature review um we then uh assembled uh on advisory committee consisting of eight eight Canadian municipalities of which uh Mr mizak was uh was a contributor we thank you very
Much for uh his and and Mr nickerson’s input as uh as participants in that committee um we then had the consulting firm that we engaged to do the research uh develop um uh a systematic study uh so that we could make sure that the data would stand up to Integrity the company
That we hired wsp has done similar type similar studies uh in in others Juris other jurisdictions so we thought that it was appropriate to uh to leverage uh their expertise so that we didn’t have to reinvent the will point of point of notice here is that the studies that they’ve
Done didn’t didn’t look at this particular issue or this particular population but the methodology that they adopted whereby they were surveying and soliciting input from uh uh impacted or or the target population is what they uh what what they shared with us we had 26 people from across Canada all of which
Who had some degree of sight loss either partially sighted or completely blind uh from five Canadian municipalities um the way we did did the assessments was we engaged one of the researchers from wsp we paired them up with one of the participants they uh they visited the bus stop uh the the
Participant shared their Insight uh uh um and the researcher observed different uh challenges uh and opportunities that they that they encountered when they uh when they visited the bus stop uh please note uh all of this is detailed in uh uh uh infinite detail in the report that’s
Available through our website and I believe that I I did share that with the committee when we uh when we were requested to present okay and at the same time as we were doing this and and there’s I think the word is Serendipity but uh we only found out
That uh TransLink who is the primary Transit operator in British Columbia was doing a similar study um so we did we did work closely with them uh while their study was uh was considerably different than ours uh many of the learnings and and best practices that that that we adopted and the research
That we did uh we did exchange that with with TransLink so we were able to Leverage their learnings and and and TransLink was able to uh learn from what we were doing okay and then the final piece was we we developed a series of guidelines that uh again are detailed in in the
Report and we’ll go to the next slide please so the project scope literature review I talked about that uh developing the research methodology the the testing uh uh putting all the testing all the testing data into some type of statistical package and coming up with with uh with findings and then recommendations and
Guidelines and next slide please just going to take a quick sec here’s what we learned from the literature um sorry we’ll have to go to slide 12 so what studies have been done we we found uh four studies um three in England which were specific to people with disabilities and
One in one that was done in China again the information is uh both available in the report as well as in in the deck that uh that that I’ve shared with with folks we just skip to the next slide so here are the Qui key questions
That we um that we were were able to pull out of the literature review so what are the challenges facing people who are blind what design guidance exists both nationally and internationally um what are some of the consistencies and discrepancies that exist in uh the infrastructure and what studies have been
Done and the last the fifth point was uh what what do we know or what can we infer about the behavior of cyclists um uh at at this type of infrastructure and we’ll go to slide 14 so what do we what do we mean by
Island uh Island bus stops I I I am not certain about this but I don’t believe that HRM has adopted this yet uh here are some examples of uh of infrastructure structure where you’ve got the sidewalk uh a one or one and a half if not 2 meter uh uh bir directional bike
Lane and then a platform uh some of which some platforms uh have just the bus flag others have the bus flag and a shelter as well as other infrastructure so the the the the expectation for for the bus passenger is that they nav naate the cycle Lane uh and and wait for the
Bus on the platform there are there is some infrastructure where the platform is is simply a a loading and offloading area uh where where pedestrians or the passengers wait on the sidewalk when the bus arrives then they uh they cross and board the bus okay and we’ll go to the next slide please
So again uh a bit of a narrative about the um separated bike lane um for cyclists obviously or maybe not obvious but they uh this is a preferred uh design for them because they’re not having to um to uh uh um uh weave in between the bus as it as it
Approaches the bus stop uh uh and there’s a a a real uh Andor perceived feeling of of security because they’re not having to uh to place themselves directly or or adjacent to uh to to to traffic and we’ll go to the next slide please so what what was the impetus for
This uh there’s been several complaints that cnib has heard of through our engagement with people but really the primary uh moving factor or the the you know the key determinant for us was that um there was a human rights decision that came out of the uh BC human rights tribunal in
2020 that uh basically said you can’t do this uh it’s it’s discriminatory it it creates um it creates a perceived and a real uh lack of security for people who were sight loss but the the fundamental question was that despite the the the tribunals uh uh process um the uh the
Adjudicator was very clear uh in in their ruling that the recommendations that that he put out were should be only perceived as temporary because because there was no guidance there was no best practice or or or guidelines that uh uh uh that that municipalities could follow
Um and here are some of the features that uh that that uh were would would make this a better a better infrastructure I’m cognizant of time so I’m going to pick it up a little bit so here are the challenges the next slide please Elizabeth I’m sorry so the
Challenges are the the most obvious one is how do you know that there’s a cyclist there you can’t hear them there’s ambient noise AKA traffic uh buses which would make uh oncoming cyclists undetectable for for people with sight law um uh the other one and this this third one orienting orienting themselves to
The stop layout when you look at the recommendations that we came out with this was this was right up there along with is it safe to cross the street and we’ll just go to the next slide so uh this next slide uh is this is a quote right out of one of the
Studies uh one of the UK studies uh they they concluded the same thing that we did that uh people felt U Less insecure because because of the the difficulty they had in in in knowing whether or not it was safe to cross the street and we’ll go to the next slide
Please so here’s the here’s a summary of the guidelines uh design guidelines that are current currently available Tac or the transportation Association of Canada does have uh uh uh some some guidance that it provides its its members um the Ontario traffic manual there’s a SE segment or or a publication that they
Have on guidance uh British BC they do have a a a a similar resource it’s less than a guidance uh material because it is specific to their their geography and it was developed by the Ministry of Transportation in British Columbia and then uh an organization in California California
Alam and Contra coost I think I said that right uh were and those were the only um only only established guidelines that our friends at wsp could find okay uh go to the next slide please and let me just see what my notes say so um I guess the biggest the the
Most interesting thing is that no one can agree on what to call these things Island bus bus stops floating bus stops stops etc etc um it’s difficult to come up with a with a standard guideline if the uh if the Lexicon surrounding the infrastructure is uh is is is is ambivalent
Uh so how how are pedestrian Crossings aka the the the path that people follow from the sidewalk to the bus stop how is that deployed um and how can how can bicycle speeds be be managed slowed down or even stopped uh and uh and then the most important one
For for people who are blind is how do you know where the bus stop is and once you find it how do you know how do you or Orient yourself to uh to to the infrastructure and we’ll go to the next slide please okay so uh
So of no surprise to to to us especially to me is that cyclists don’t necessarily um slow down when when we think they should uh I’ve seen several studies uh and this is validated also through the literature review that we we included in our report um uh compliance is uh is achieved about
50% of the time so it literally becomes a toin a coin toss as to whether or not uh you’re going to see a cyclist stop uh or or a yield to a pedestrian at this type of infrastructure um so the pardon me um one of the other interesting
Things that we learned through the through the research was that pedestrian inattentiveness uh is is uh a contributing factor to to accidents um that probably shouldn’t come as a prise as a surprise but again for people with who are blind uh making eye contact or sking a oncoming cyclist
As to your intent if you don’t know they’re there um that’s that’s some want problematic um Louie can I just want to jump in you’ve had 20 minutes um and uh I think you should jump to uh your final few slides maybe or thank you who okay
So almost there here are the key key conclusions Elizabeth if you could just scan over to the next slide yeah I’m on key conclusions do you want me to keep going no that’s it we’ll uh we’ll end here so the key conclusions they’re here uh I won’t take any more
Time and uh Mr chair I apologize for for not being more effective I’ll I’ll leave it at that and if there are any questions I’d be pleased to try and answer them well I well if you want to just um point out the main main conclusions that’s fine go ahead thank
You so ex existing design guideline guidelines is inconsistent uh we have some disparities uh between the uh the the the main bodies who publish the guidelines across the country country um um the behavior of pedestrians if if cyclists and uh compliance is determined on the ability of someone to make eye
Contact that isn’t going to work so well for our folks um it’s unlikely that we’re going to see better compliance by introducing uh a uh a rigid uh conformance expectations uh um uh functionality uh both of the infrastructure and the behavior of pedestrians is improved by having uh
Detectable uh uh crosswalks to sort of guide people um and then the and then the final one um and where where high volume infrastructure exists where you’ve got both many buses and many people that um that can be uh that can be somewhat problematic and that really needs to be
Thought of carefully the remaining of the remaining slides which I won’t go into uh basically are uh uh illustrations of uh the various uh the five different stops or or uh uh bus stops that we uh we did the study at so again thank you for the opportunity and
And again I’ll answer any questions if there are any thank you very much um yes we I’m sure we have some comments and questions uh I’ll go through the speaking list and just call on people to see if they they have problems or questions so we’ll start with Douglas Wetmore
Douglas thank you Hugh um I guess my main question I’m just a little I’m a little confused by uh the presentation here so I think it’s clear that there is some noticeable problems with the current design but I’m wondering if there is an ideal design or if there was
A design that worked best or is the general consensus that bike lanes and bus stops are causing conflict and should be avoided I’m just a little confused on what the kind of Ideal messaging is there so the short answer to your question is uh yes uh in the
Forward part of our report uh we strongly encourage municipalities to look for Alternatives don’t do it uh it’s it’s problematic not only for people who are blind but for other vulnerable pedestrians if if you have to do it uh try to to do it in in such a
Way where you where you install the the the bike Lanes where there’s no no um competition for for for Road real estate between pedestrians and the cyclist um if if all of those things fail um I’m afraid that the the the scope of our study really didn’t wasn’t broad enough to to uh
Assess the effectiveness of different designs so at at this time other than saying don’t do it uh we really don’t have any any firm guidelines on on how uh you know what would what would be the the ultimate solution okay now appreciate that clarification thank you okay Douglas um as Holly wood joined
Us yet she has not no okay let’s move on then to Paul Young yeah hi thanks thanks Louie that was a very interesting um presentation um I have a unique perspective since I sit on both sides of the fence here I have both low vision and I am a cyclist
Um I had two comments um one of them is and I added it in the in the comments but you probably couldn’t see it because you were presenting is consistency would I would think that consistency of design of this kind of infrastructure would be really important for both kinds of users
Uh for cyclists and for um U uh low vision individuals um I didn’t see that as one of the takeaways um but I I would think again I’m sure it’s in the lit literature that that would be important too uh the second comment I had is a little bit more
About has this been seen as an issue in the HRM because I don’t think the HRM has a lot of this or any of this I think David could probably correct me is this a forward are you is the Pres purpose of this presentation to uh provide advice
For for Forward Thinking or to adjust existing infrastructure I’ll stop there thank you very much I’m I’m going to weigh in and say that we’ve we’ve been sharing our report widely and our goal is to um uh further thinking we we hope that there are better Alternatives we
Don’t know what they are as to whether or not they exist in H RM I think uh I think David would be better equipped to answer that than I would go ahead David can you answer yeah so what we’ve got on places like uh South Park Street holla
Street I might be missing one our shared bus stop bike lane platforms so those are there because we don’t we don’t have the space to to even kind of do the island kind of design so I so an altered version of that is is is is the so I
Mean there’s and there’s there’s lessons to learn I think from this study for those kinds of facilities as well um I think on Wise Road and maybe some Ro on the Bedford Highway we actually have some some some of the islands but uh the situation here is often our streets just
Don’t even have enough room for for kind of okay thank you David um so moving on anakah roel do you have any questions yeah I think my my big question was around this around where this report is being shared um and it feels like there’s some kind of national best practices and
Um that uh yeah kind of getting getting people using the same language and on the same page feels really important just beyond HRM so that was kind of my comment but I think that’s been answered okay thank you uh Elizabeth Pew yeah thanks Louie how are you I’m
Good good um I guess my only question is uh possibly since wsp did that um researcher looking into the existing design guidelines that were avail ailable I know the city of Montreal has done quite a lot of work and I think you were possibly um present at a
Presentation that btek would have given on that uh and I’m just curious if if you have seen that and if it is any better than some of the stuff that that would have been looked at in this report like is progress being made or is that
Still just another um design in the mix of things that aren’t ideal the latter um um bartex project bartex designs their their um their guidelines are are quite good and in fact I I I can’t say this definitively or with any degree of authority but I think they they go the
Farthest as far as accessibility they’re um you know one of their guidelines uh stipulates that if you can’t if the bus can’t lower the platform and provide somebody in a wheelchair to to uh to to to maneuver to turn then they don’t put the they don’t put the the platform there
Um which is good I mean that’s that’s that’s really important but as far as being able to find the bus stop being able to know where to uh you know how to get across the the bike lane when to cross the bike lane uh again they’ve
Done a really good job but I I still think there’s lots of room for improvement okay thank you um Melena KAS visus thank you uh Hugh hi Louie I’m smiling for your audio description thank you for coming and doing this as my request um I I don’t I don’t really have
Questions I I just have comments for for the committee who hears this from me all the time so I will repeat it because I think it is really important there is a semi somewhat flading bus stop without a bike lane unless that’s been removed already uh at the coquit stop David you
Can correct me on it um where where where uh there’s two two lanes of buses and you got a cross over um I haven’t been to Lower Sackville for quite a a a significant amount of time but that was taking your life uh in your own hands
Trying to cross over to the other stop which was which was like a which is if it’s still there um like a floating bus St so that’s a kquid no bike Lan there uh two just there was reminder as I say to everyone from the 2017 um stats that Louis was seeing on
The peninsula here in HRM we do have about 2,00 to 2,300 people and those numbers are rising with newcomers from all across the country and other countries who are living with sight loss and blindness I have constantly and consistently said I am a huge cyclist I
Love it uh it’s great that we have protected bike Lanes somewhat um but the infrastructure that is going in is causing Havoc not only with the with what is happening with bike Lanes especially raised ones um but to get to the bus is extraordinarily dangerous when you cannot see and you cannot hear
And can given the fact that there’s so much construction we are finding ourselves walking down the bike Lanes quite often and I can name at least six people but I will not because they are my colleagues and I’m not giving out names who have found themselves on aik
Clean particularly when it’s snowing and the snow removal hasn’t been done properly um and the extension of of the actual crosswalks with way too many tactiles so you don’t know whether you’re still on the sidewalk in the middle of this little safety thing or you’re or you’re going across Roby last
But not least and David you can again correct me but uh last February almost a year ago today uh myself and walk and roll and crosswalk safety did a big Journey Down Roby Street um with one of the engineers for the rapid bus lanes and we pointed out some
Uh dangerous points for people who are blind up partially cited um you know I I’m all for rapid bus transit and and and because this is active Transportation um but there was mentioned that potentially these floating bus stops could be coming I guarantee you I will be the first one
There to boycott this there’s no way I will be Crossing Lanes of traffic and bike Lanes when we can’t hear them nor see them it it it is pushing blind and partially cited people back into their homes and uh putting undue Financial burdens by having to take a taxi because
It’s too scary to cross the roads now I love all my cycling friends and my Pilots I want safe bik Lanes but we really need to think of what is happening here it cannot be just about the cycling Community it has to be about everyone involved and that includes parents with strollers able-bodied
People and most definitely um those who are wheelchair users as well because because this is this is not safe for them either end of that thank you thank you Melena well well argued as usual um Michelle amoney hi there H good good job Melena um Michelle here um
Louie I don’t think we’ve ever met but I feel like our paths have crossed so many times that uh I I feel like I know you and uh I I look forward to meeting you in person sometime um but a great presentation I’m trying to wrap my head
Around and and you know sometimes I just need things really simplified but um I’m really trying to wrap my head around a floating island and and tell me if this like before the um Renovations were made at the Dartmouth Sports Sports plex or whatever it’s called it’ll always be the
Sports plex sorry um but um the on the Dartmouth Sports plex remember before they had that bus terminal that they have there now did they have floating um uh like is that what you would call or sorry an island uh bus stop where am I right does does anybody know what I’m talking
About I I can’t speak to that I’ve only been living here since 2020 okay um so does that make sense to anybody that before that remember they had the buses would come in and they’d go one way or another way is that like I’m really
Trying to understand a a uh um oh my God an island uh bus stop uh I see that David or can you speak to that or David sure um yeah so I I I know what you’re T think I know what you’re talking about it’s not what we’re
Talking about but those bus stops were little Islands so I understand your confusion okay I would say and Louie correct me if I’m wrong or or add to to my description but if you can imagine just like uh the the side of the road or just you know random uh imagine sort of
Like you know closest to the building fa is is the regular pedestrian sidewalk yeah and then next to that kind of going in toward the road would be a bike lane yeah um that would be kind of separated it would be kind of elevated up to sidewalk level or or maybe at street
Level but it would be completely separated from the road and then there would be like a bus stop so like a concrete platform elevated um probably or hopefully about 2 meters wide so that’s that’s the island and then next to that is the roadway where the car and
Buses so then my concerns about that would be uh somebody in like a curb where would the curb cut be for like if somebody was on the sidewalk and like would the curb cut be of course the curb cut would be at one end and then the person in a in a
Wheelchair like if if there was somebody in a wheelchair chair Crossing then they would be on the platform then that would that would be able to they would be able to go to the bus stop or sorry to where the bus is and the bus would be lowered
They would be able to get on is that right is that how the bus okay yes so one arrange the person in a wheelchair or anybody uh person with with there usually like one or two kind of designated glane into that kind of Island platform curb Cuts sometimes there’s like tactile warning
Plates there’s usually pavement markings that kind of show where and so you know the they come along they will hopefully look to make sure the buses or the bikes are hopefully yielding to them to kind of cross pass over to that platform and that’s where they you know wait and and
Uh for the bus to arrive okay um okay that’s perfect thank you and there you know it’s I’ve seen every different kind of variation of that and and Lou presentation there was a couple of different variations yeah and in kind of the project team we had a lot of good
Kind of slides and you see a whole lot of stuff so you know one of the earlier comments was about consistency yeah and um you know in the absence of a lot of professional guidelines consistency is is suffering so and then on another note
Um so I worked at Del Housey now I’m at University of Kings college but um on University Avenue uh where I spend a lot of my time um um there are bike lanes and I would walk on a bike lane because it was safer than the
Sidewalk which you know is I mean that’s not that’s not good but but it was safer for me but you know and hoping not to get hit by a bicycle but but um but you know so sometimes like the the bike lane would be clearer or the or it is because
It’s part of the roadway as well yes it is kind of it’s a designated uh bike Lan but it’s almost it could be safer sometimes than the sidewalk okay thanks Michelle um uh Mars mccomic any questions no just comments uh thank you very much Louie for your presentation and um raising my awareness
Of uh the platform or the island for bus stops and David for clarification much appreciated um again I Echo what David said consistency and design is is something that’s important as we go forward so thanks all thank you and Britney mlan um yeah just one quick question
Also Michelle I know what bus stop you’re talking about it was absolutely terrible it had no wind protection uh very glad to see the new D Sports bux terminal going M it in many many hours spent standing in that freezing terminal um but uh no I’m just curious so I I
Know just from a lot of our own advocacy and a lot of articles um that you know these bus islands are an issue for for um people with vision impairments and so uh my curiosity comes from the report that wsp did correct me if I’m wrong
Looked at a lot of like the issues flagged the major issues that uh that are wrong with this type of design but I’m curious was there more funding money to go into like had they looked into interventions different types of designs uh to to help um fix the things that
That they came up as red flags like do you have more background on that so the the problem as that we face as a as a charity is um always around how are we going to pay for this we’re we’re not Engineers I’m not an engineer
In fact I failed calculus three times in University um so how do we how do we fund it uh we I I I think if we do find another pot of money that we can apply to so that we can hire um experts uh engineers and traffic designers I think
The next step would be to try and do an assessment of the different designs and and try to try to say we we know what the problems are how does this design mitigate those those challenges now I did I did refer to the study that TransLink was doing I don’t believe
They’ve actually published theirs yet but I I’m hopeful that their project which did take a little bit of a different SL slant than ours did will uh will come up with those with those guide guidelines there our our our project says how does the current um infrastructure impact people who are
Blind their study and I I’m taking significant license here in in articulating their study and I probably shouldn’t but their study was what is the best design for to meet the needs of all uh all pedestrians so when their study comes out uh I know that they’ll
Share it with us um and and we’ll we’ll see what they learn yeah thanks I’ll keep my out for that one that was everything for me thank you okay thank you um and that leaves me I I guess I I’m a little bit puzzled in that um from the conclusions you mentioned
Lou uh it seems like don’t do it in other words don’t do uh floating islands um and and I could see the the arguments for not doing it from the point of view of blind people for sure and more broadly perhaps for pedestrians but uh you still then have the issue of keeping
Bikes and buses apart uh bikes and bus stops so it seems like um you’ve suggested the problem or you you’ve clearly articulated the problem but we don’t have a clear way to move forward at the moment we we don’t have uh design guidelines that everyone can agree to am I correct
On that yes you are uh and and that’s you know that’s the challenge I I know that that my comment and what we said on the report in in in the forward and I have to be very clear that the forward was written by me the report was written by the
Engineers so it’s easy for me as as a pedestrian to say don’t do it uh but I firmly believe that that when the folks the design folks sit down with their you know with their pencils and CAD systems um there are alternatives um it it’s infrastructure is challenging especially in a city of
This vintage you you can’t just move buildings back two meters um but the you know the sort of the anecdotal solution that I believe is is reasonable um is is it better to ask a cyclist to take an alternate route which might add two minutes to their travel time AKA going
Around the block or um giving cyclists um uh a preferred route and expecting vulnerable pedestrians to have to navigate that you know that their way across that that path you know what my answer to that is the the question is is how will uh how will the design Professionals in the municipalities uh
Answer you know try to try to balance those two things okay yeah thank you so um at this point does anyone have any further comments to make uh yes Mr chair Melena um does I have I just I have a somewhat light-hearted suggestions if I
May yes go ahead okay so I’m I’m in agreement uh with Louie what what has been put down already for bike lanes and buses bus lanes that are being shared will probably not be able to remove due to again Financial constraints um but moving forward perhaps you know uh could
In the Triple AAA bike Lanes um and adding that one extra block um for a cyclist to go around uh after all Nova Scotia is known for its high rates of obesity so let’s get people exercising not putting them on high hills or anything like that that’s something to
Be considering the other thing I had I had mentioned um um last or November whenever we had our last meeting was potentially if if we all remember and this still exist uh the yellow school buses they have a a stop sign that you know when they’re letting the children out to to tell
Traffic to stop um on both ends and I’m I’m wondering and we we did put this to your your your colleague writers uh uh Louie uh Matt um you know considering maybe having Transit con uh consider putting something of that mechanism on the back of the bus to to to let the
Cyclists know that that passengers are loading and unloading and that’s a clear sign that you you know you need to slow down and and you’re not going to be able to cycle right through because the bus is stopped um as a as a as just another
Something to pay attention to and we got quite a coherent response that that potentially could cause Hazard to cyclists I can share what was sent by Matt with the rest of this committee so but it is something to consider I think there are ways to do this to move
Forward for active Transportation um get the cars off the road last but not least David our last meeting uh you made a a comment um that you know that there have been no incidents that you have heard of and I will say this again these incidents happen by the time
We get home as people with disabilities we’re just grateful that we got home um and that we didn’t actually almost get run over by a car or a cyclist or whatever the case may be because today’s society is not paying attention our white KES and guide dogs are still not
Recognized on the sidewalks or on the streets I I can assure you that and and you can ask the people around you that you know what disabilities um so we really we really need to be thinking a little bit more again about everyone um not just the cycl community whom I love
And I want them all to be safe as I want to be safe when I’m on my tandem um but we we must consider all of us end of thought thank you okay thank you Melina um now we uh had prepared a a draft uh motion relating to this um and
I I can paste that in the chat and I also just wanted to draw your attention here to the fact that David has his hand up oh does he okay David yes go ahead uh thanks you um I put it down now okay think so I
Guess uh so one thanks Louie uh and molinaa like Louie I don’t know if you all he’s like a national leader in in this work he does a lot of work with the transportation Association of Canada um in terms of who should do the next kind of batch of work on this
My my perception is it should be like you know engineering Transportation government kind of associations that should take the lead with the support and input from folks like Louis M um we can continue to talk about that uh but I think I think there’s still you
Know a fair chunk more work to do on this Elizabeth Pew is quite involved in this stuff too um and what I really like and what’s super important for us professionally to find out about is like the evidence base like what works what doesn’t um and and
Uh and one of the great things about this work is that there is now kind of a more of an Evidence base on like how certain treatments work what DET detectability is like for for people with vision loss and uh it’s going to be a continuous Improvement kind
Of approach but everyone’s taking very seriously uh I can say and uh and um you know the the goal of having it completely separated I’m not sure is ever going to be completely possible in part because there’s already a lot of infrastructure in cities all ac across
Canada that are already built this way um it’s too bad you know this is where all of our friends are coming together our friends who are walking our friends who are biking our friends who are doing all the good things like taking Transit so my hope is is we can you know when
Those you know interactions do have to take place that that we can continually improve the design and the education and everything else that we need to do to to make it as safe as possible for everybody slightly poana is end note but uh I think that’s
Partially where we where we need to go with this because it’s you know if we will try to separate but we’re not always going to be able to okay so um David you’ve seen the draft motion I’m just wondering whether it’s premature anyway um should we do you think it would be
Helpful well if this committee thinks that that they would like and that Transportation standing committee would like you know a bit of an update from staff on where Helifax is with this okay um then you know it won’t probably won’t be me it’ll probably be folks like Phil Nickerson or
Or an Shard or someone like that in the Design Group but uh um you know I’m sure they would be happy to come and and uh at least respond to some of this and and and bring a bring a perspective for discussion I’m open to it I you know
Obviously up to up to attac okay so yes may maybe just importantly just to draw attention to it um to the transportation studing committee and to council generally so Elizabeth can you show us the draft motion so I did paste the motion in the chat so everyone should be able to see
That the other thing is I’m being told by Matt who’s our presenter for the second item that he has to leave I think about now so um I’m just gonna hello Matt hello hello hi you have to leave now and you won’t be able to stay on to present
Your item I have to go pick up my child I can present my item in about five minutes and I have about 10 minutes total before my very heart out okay um well uh you can either go ahead and we may have to you know minimal discussion on your your item or you
Could present perhaps at the at our next meeting um I’d like I would like to present now because I do believe um you will debate what I present but probably at the next meeting okay then we’ll we’ll come back to the motion on um Louise
Uh uh item and uh if you want to go ahead Matt with your item this is legal Road users Bicycle Club an introduction to that group by Matt stickland yes hello my name is Matt stickland and my camera is not working for some reason um I’m the president of
The legal Road users Bicycle Club and we are bike riders not cyclists we are the people we are the 50% of people that uh that don’t follow the rules no I’m just kidding but what we we are introducing ourselves because we would like to be considered as stakeholders um within the
HRM we believe we can provide a voice that is not really heard uh that much in the active Transportation community and that is to say we um advocate for Street design Road design the way people will actually use it what I mean by that is take for example the suggestion for the
Stop sign that sticks out the back of the bus we understand that people will make decisions for themselves and a lot of people will make the decision that they can get around the barrier and they can safely get around the pedestrians and they won’t care how the pedestrians
Feel and we know this is true because this happens with people whatever vehicle they drive be it cars be it scooters be it bikes so we want to give the city the feedback that we think it’s missing which is to say that the enforce the Assumption about enforcement seems
To be that because enforcement exists because rules exist everyone follows them and Designs tend to follow that as well so we just want to basically let people know how the infrastructure will actually be used by people whether they’re aggressive whether they’re rude whether they’re you know the problem
Children of the Bicycle World we want to let people know how we want to let designers know specifically how their designs can expect to be used the other thing that we would think that we can provide as stakeholders is we Love A good rule and not because we like
Following the rules but because we like to figure out how to do things within the rules so for example at the last meeting Mr Young uh gave a phenomenal presentation about the 30 kilometer an hour streets and ultimately the committee decided not to do anything with it because the assumption is that
The province has to lower the speed limits and therefore the city can’t do anything but that’s not true the city Charter says we can design streets that we own however we want um and so I think that it would be beneficial if this committee gave forward a motion that said we need to
Design 30 kilometer an hour streets not asking the provins for a letter do what the charter allows and I think you should do that with the 30 kilometer an hour safe Street both because this is the other thing we provide as well is We Like
Rules we like to follow the rules and we like to make the rules work to our advantage uh chair respectfully at the end of the meeting um Mr Young said he wanted to put forward the second motion on the floor and you repeatedly said you wanted to do the first motion because it
Would be easier the meeting was over I believe that boat was out of order so I think you can probably put it back on the table as well but anyways so what we want to do as stakeholders is we want to let people know how the roads will
Actually be used regardless of the rules and how the rules will be used or could be used for the better instead of you know just assuming that everyone is going to follow them anyways I’m going to cut this short because I have a very hard out in like two or or three minutes
I rushed through that very sorry uh if you have any questions I will answer them uh but then I I’m actually going to leave leave in five minutes probably with very little warning okay thank you Matt um I’m just wondering whether you might want to come
To to the committee at a future meeting perhaps next time um where we there can be a discussion on what you’re saying um I if if that’s the case uh well please contact UM Elizabeth McDonald and uh we can arrange that um but it seems
Like there is not time to discuss it at the moment so thank you again for uh I do have about like a couple minutes if there are quick questions but no a fome discussion no I wouldn’t have time for um but I expect I think what we’d like
To know I what I would like to know is what what are your requests if you like or your suggestions for better Road use for cyclists um and uh you know if you have specific suggestions or requests then there’s more point to the discussion I think
Yeah so my specific request uh when it comes to this uh would be most acutely or specifically um to re to do whatever the to hear the second motion and do that vote again because I believe I believe the first one was out of order
But if that is not possible or you guys don’t want to do that whatever I would recommend that you put forward a motion to council saying in the red book there needs to be 30 kilometer an hour Street designs they need to be implemented a motion of some kind to that nature there
Are other cities like Ottawa Edmonton that have those designs in their version of the red book they have plans that they are implemented in there is no reason alifa couldn’t do it as well so that would be our big request okay and again uh certainly if
There is a member of this committee that wishes to to move that um that can be considered again it but any any motion has to come from a a Committee Member yeah and I didn’t know how that would work either sorry I know this is
Not in the rules the back and forth here but you guys because it was considered last meeting as well I didn’t I didn’t know how that would work either right because that that might be a different thing as well M Mr chair this is melena may I just have a moment
Yes um Matt um thanks for being here I I I have plenty of questions um and and and I would I would uh suggest and recommend clearly you you are uh doing what you say breaking the rules this meeting goes till 6:30 so nice you know it’s to to accommodate for to be
Here till 6:30 but good on you for slipping in here that’s very nicely done I’d also like to know how how your your group um achieves all of these things that that you have said you know that you you you you can show how people are following rules and not following rules
That that is of huge interest to me I would more than gladly support that but but I really I really I I would urge you to uh please uh do come back next month because because I think you you weren’t the time um and and the discussion for
This um you seem quite interesting and my my eyebrows are raised and of thought thank you I’m more than happy to do that and and just spe like specific Al to give you an example the motor vehicle act says that pedestrians are not allowed to
Ride side by side and that they have to ride single file and that they are allowed to take the lane so one of the things we’ considered doing and I don’t know that we’re actually going to do it or not but essentially have commute rides where we all ride in single file
Taking the whole Lane on Portland Street during rush hour and if the hrp accepts our invitation we’ll get some tickets we’ll go to court we’ll challenge the um precedent and then it changes essentially we’re focusing on bringing the conversation to the Judiciary because there’s a bunch of people focusing on the legislative and
Executive and there’s no one really doing the Judiciary work so that’s that’s what we kind of well and that’s and that’s what would be needed so you bring in all the all the all of these you know and that that would be fantastic thank you okay so it seems like we should let
You go but um I do recommend then that you come back and where we can discuss your ideas more fully Matt no Happ oh has mat left Matt is no longer in the meeting he just left okay he’s left all right fine um so with with that let’s just go back
To uh the um presentation from Louie um can you show us um Elizabeth the draft motion yep the draft motion I pasted in the chat there um I don’t know if anyone has had a chance to see it or if it’s coming up yes I can see it shall I read
It sure yes yes please this this actually needs a move and seconder but I’ll just read the draft motion uh the motion is that the active Transportation advisory committee recommend the transportation standing committee direct the chief administrative officer to prepare a staff report to consider adopting the recommendations outlined in the quote
Cycling infrastructure and people with site loss design challenges and opportunities at Transit stops across Canada report when installing installing cycling infrastructure do I have a move mover and seconder for that motion I I I I I can move that this is melena okay Melena thank you do I have a
Second this is Paul I think I could I could uh second that too um I Heard earlier that I’m not if I can just say a word before uh before moving on is that you know it may not be necessary because you know we have a we have an audience
That’s interested in doing this but I think that it might be strategic for this committee to have shown its endorsement and that’s why I would suggest uh that we go forward with it and the reason why I’m seconding it just a point of order the Mover will
Have to read the motion so if Melena if you’re able to I can send it to you if that would if that would help oh um could could I defer to the chair to do that or to you Elizabeth actually get just uh just because i’
I’ve got too many screens open at the moment yeah uh I think maybe Hugh if you would if you’d read it in please just to officially have it on the floor but well I did just I did just read it yeah we we’ll yeah we’ll leave it as that then
It’s it’s been read and it’s also in in writing on the chat so um I think that’s okay uh we have a mover and seconder um if is there any discussion does anyone want to add anything if not let’s move to um a vote on the motion uh those in favor
Of Hugh I did have my hand up I’m sorry Elizabeth go go ahead I guess I’m just wondering why we would do this given that what we heard from Louie is that the recommendations coming out of this are not yet fine-tuned and good enough and not even yet the best in Canada
Given that Montreal has already potentially moved bit further than what this report has in it so um I think David had an idea about how we could get more information on on what HRM is doing but I’m not quite sure why we would ask somebody to adopt recommendations that
We already know are um out of date maybe is the word or or not quite there yet yeah well if I could just respond I think um the point is to to raise awareness of the issue uh and to allow staff a staff report to further investigate the option the options and the
Alternatives but that’s not what the motion says um not exactly but it it would certainly allow staff to to to do that though um okay well I I would entertain I guess um if the Mover and seconder are willing to to entertain an amendment do you have a suggested Amendment
Ele oh no I’d have to put some thought into that um I just feel that the wording of this is is not necessarily going to get us anywhere and this is M speaking Yeah but perhaps just to uh something to to the extent of um you know I don’t to
Consider because I know Elizabeth your teams are aware of of what Louis and I have been doing and David’s team 100,000% because I’ve been the poor man torturing him um you know but I not not every HRM engineer is aware of of the situations and needs and and I can
Guarantee that uh let alone anybody else uh that are up in the in in the higher uh departments so you know rather than than those who are in the no keep that are going back and forth I you know I think it would be important to to put this forth
Um to to put some sort of awareness and I’d be happy to rearrange the words Elizabeth would you be happy then with a change in in wording oh I’m certainly happy with the concept behind this like I said I think David did have some you know a uh words
When he U responded to Louie that that made sense to me I just was concerned that what we’re asking for here is not really um quite right okay I I understand can fine to in this I’m totally fine with that uh okay well are we going to do that right
Now David I see your hand up David um thanks you uh if I’m reading the room a little bit here um if this if we change the wording a little bit that was something like sort of uh you know that active Transportation advisory committee recommend that that the transportation
Standing committee direct the chief administrative officer to PA staff report on hrm’s work to facilitate uh um or hrm’s current direction on uh bus stops bike Lanes you know interactions in light of the report cycling infrastructure so and so would that get like what do you want to hear like if if
Folks are kind interested in knowing like where HRM is this what we’ve tried what we’re interested trying then we could do something like that Um at that I still think uh the motion as it reads allows you to do that it it will raise awareness of the issue to counselors and and the broader public maybe and um and to the design professionals um and will allow options and alternatives to be considered
But uh I saw Louie Lou Greco’s hand up but now I see Douglas and anaka so Douglas your hand is up I’ll just give uh my five cense on the current motion as it is I think the only word that throws me off on this is the word
Adopting in this um if it were something along the lines of okay help me out here but the goal of this motion is to essentially inform our engineers and the people working on a lot of these projects that take place with bike lanes and buses um when it comes to adopting I
Fully hear Elizabeth’s point of I don’t think there’s much reason to adopt these when there are ongoing studies and I feel like the study presented tonight isn’t necessarily conclusive other than the fact that the D designs that previously exist in other cities aren’t quite up to par for what
They should be if it was something along the lines of I I don’t know how to word this just delete the word adopting how about just deleting the word adopting yeah it still reads fine yeah I would be fine with that I’d be fully support that okay Ana what was your
Point yeah sorry just I I actually had the same comment but I was thinking replacing adopt with um examine and expand okay this is melena I quite like examine and expand and in full agreement with with Elizabeth and Doug on on we can’t adopt anything there’s to adopt
Presently yeah yeah okay well let’s let’s go with that as an amendment a friendly amendment that is a adopted uh agreed to by both the Mover and seconder so so for that I can post the amended Motion in the chat and the other thing is for the amendment we will need
A move or a seconder for that as well really even though it’s a friendly amendment can I move to um um actually yeah I guess if it is accepted as a friendly Amendment then that’s okay yeah if we need a move in a second I will gladly move Andor second
Thatt I’m going to put the amended Motion in the chat but yes if it is accepted as friendly we don’t require a mover and a seconder that is correct yeah to prepare so we’ll just wait to see that in the chat and it was to consider examining and expanding was
It that’s in the chat yes there it is okay should I read that again and then we’ll vote on it sure okay so the the amended motion is that uh the active Transportation advisory committee recommend that Transportation standing committee direct the chief administrative officer to prepare a
Staff report to consider oh I’m sorry oh to consider examining and expanding upon the recommendations outlin in the cycling infrastructure and people with sight loss design challenges and opportunities at transport stops across Canada report when installing cycling infrastructure let’s let’s vote on that then uh those in favor of approving that
Motion please say I I I I I anyone oppose please say nay no opposition so that motion is approved and we’ll go forward to the transportation standing committee thank you um and I know it’s a bit of a fudge but uh I think it’s important that this issue does go
Forward um so let’s move on uh to our agenda and um where are we so Matt diam we’ve heard from and I presumably will hear more from him at a later meeting um so that was item 7.3.2 item 8 is information items brought forward and there are none item nine is reports and
Um we do have time for a report from David mckisack uh on staff uh staff issues and staff progress David is Elizabeth hand up or maybe that’s just a leftover um yes it is I just wanted to bring your attention to the fact as far as Matt San’s presentation goes that as per
Administrative order one um presenters can only come to the committee once every three months to present on the same subject oh well if that is the committee could certainly have a discussion at a future meeting though on what Matt spoke yeah no I’m just wondering though could could we consider it
As a continuation of the same presentation yeah we can certainly have a discussion at a future meeting on his presentation what he spoke to we just wouldn’t be able to at next month’s meeting for example invite him back to speak and present about the same subject oh I guess my point though is
Because we ran he ran out of time um I’m just thinking we could have him back to continue that item next next time we could have a motion to defer his presentation or that his item okay I guess it I suspect he would like to come back you know next meeting
Rather than wait three months so what exactly do you want from me um you want a motion to defer his item yeah can motion I can motion to defer presentation I Wetmore will second that okay and who sorry I who who was it to move that uh me an ROP okay thank you
And Douglas seconded that okay um let’s have a a vote on that then those improve those uh who are willing to approve that motion to defer please say I I I I I anyone oppose please say no nay okay so that that is passed and therefore um my understanding is uh Matt
Could come back at the next meeting uh if he’s willing to do so okay Elizabeth yeah yeah and that’s my understanding as well I can definitely um touch base with the clerk’s office on that but that would be my understanding if it’s a deferred item thank you very much okay so let’s go
Back to David mizak uh hopefully David you can give us a staff report David hello everybody uh look just a few things to update the committee on on some of the main things that are are taking up uh the team’s time lately uh so we are just about to do public engagement in
Five rural communities within HRM uh regarding sidewalks on their their main streets the first step is to do engagement in those communities about an area rate to uh make them eligible for the sidewalks so the five priority communities that we’re going to start with is uh Porter Lake and we have engaged next
Week on Monday for that must got at Harbor uh and that engagement is on the 31st then in February we’re going to do some and not scheduled yet but uh we’ll be in the next month month and a half is is also Lucas phelt and if you’re interest I don’t
Know if any mostly that engagement is focused on property owners and residents it’s not looking at what the facility will be and what it will look like and what side of the road it would be it’s just really on whether trying to figure out what residents think
About uh adding an area rate in order to become eligible for it and then also their idea on what the area rate boundary should be so I get to go and T to or we get to go and talk about raising taxes in five real community in the next uh six weeks
Um next thing is on Tuesday at Council there will be a report called the new sidewalk level of service report and that’s going to basically set a 10-year Target uh and identify the budget needed to fill in high need gaps in the sidewalk Network in HRM
Um there is a boat give or take 160 kilometers of streets that uh don’t have sidewalk that really should so these are places that with Transit stops these are places with stores these are places close to daycare schools those kinds of things and mostly in places where you
Know they just weren’t required to be built um in the 60s 70s 80s or in places where the city is kind of grown out and what used to be railroads with ditches are now you know more Suburban streets with shops and Transit and that kind of thing it’s huge infrastructure deficit
And and uh so we’re just going to put to council you know this is what we think we can get with what’s in the budget plan and see um see how they feel about that Um I guess the only other thing that uh you’re going to start seeing I think next week on Wednesday uh Public Works is at the budget committee talking about um our capital budget for next year uh what projects would be built um the active Transportation budget is bigger than it’s ever
Been uh and um if folks are interested in that and want a bit more detail let me know and and uh I’ll send you some links but if you look at the at the agendas on the website uh and look for Wednesday morning next week uh the
24th um there’ll be a presentation there from uh from public works and it’ll include some bud information some results information that kind of thing and that is what I have to contribute for tonight okay and um let’s just just see if anyone has any um questions to put to
You uh right now David um I think rather than trying to go through the whole list let’s just see if anyone has their hand up and with a question for David anakah I see go ahead anakah sorry my mute button disappeared there for a sec um yeah I
Uh I don’t have any questions specifically on that but I did want to just make a statement about uh the accident on Goden and Charles that took place uh last weekend um which is at that intersection that we had discussed at the at the last AAC meeting about
Being a new cross path for the proposed bike in term the bridge interm bike connector um so you know we flagged that that was a really dangerous um uh crosswalk and I just wanted to say that like that incident I know it was early in the morning I know what the Sun
Looks like when the road’s wet in that spot and I I don’t know what happened at that accident but yeah anyways I just wanted to really reiterate that I I really want some consideration to go into uh that crosswalk if we are going to see an increased pedestrian uh or
Cycling uh usage in that area yep noted it’s uh we are aware and you know as we kind of advance that that that’s one of the factors I mean yeah godage is a tough Street okay uh anyone else have a question or comment to David I have one um David um
With regard to the micr mobility bylaw relating to E Scooters um signs have now gone up on some multi-use um Pathways or Greenways as they called um those running through Parks several have been designated as open to um ebikes and the signs have gone up that
They are open to bikes but there’s no mention of the 15 kilomet an hour speed limit that the by law requires will that be corrected do you think yeah I think it will I need to I will get a few more details for you and report back at the next meeting but I
Think the what I had seen is that they were looking at actually painting some of that information right on the surface uh as as an alternative just see what kind of impact that might have uh so I I’m pretty sure that that is is where they’re heading with it um and
There may be signs going up as well but I’ll I’ll have to come back to you on that here okay that that would be good if any any further information would be appreciated I know several people have uh have concerns about this uh you know it’s the usual thing of uh possible
Conflict between pedestrians and uh in this case scooters so any any more questions for oh I see Elizabeth Pew has a your hand up so would you like to go ahead yeah thanks um I’m not sure if the rules are different from Trails but I’m pretty
Sure that if you want to be able to enforce a speed limit there needs to be a sign the road paint is not enough so I’m that’s just I guess a comment um if you it may not may not be legit in the park it’s it’s it’s the the
The park by that um that sets that framework and uh um that’s why it’s it’s kind of in their domain so that’s why I’m I’m not uh I’m not 100% up on on me okay um any more questions or concerns for David okay if not um we can draw our
Meeting to a close um I do need to add date of next meeting which is February the 15th um and I can tell you now I’ve got a feeling oh I think I I will be here um I may not be here I I have to check on that um so adjournment
All we require for adjournment is a moover I can move that here Douglas here thank you Douglas moves adjournment so that is the end of the meeting thank you everyone for attending and for your input and uh hopefully we’ll see you all in February thank you great to see you
All bye now see you next month