Adjustable bike lanes coming to Winnipeg in pilot project

The City of Winnipeg launched a new pilot project on Tuesday in an effort to figure out how to make the roads safer for cyclists.

On Tuesday, the city started installing a pair ofadjustable curbs to create two new protected lanes on sectionsof Sherbrook Street and Bannatyne Avenue.

The pilot project is intended to test installation methods, monitor maintenance and gauge public opinion on the locations of the curbs, the city said in a release. Unlike permanent curbs built into the road, the adjustable curbs are anchored to the ground with steel pins and can be moved around more easily.

"We can hear from all sorts of users all the time, and instead of having to dig up the road we can just move the curb according to whatever we hear," said Stephanie Whitehouse, the city's active transportation co-ordinator for the city.

Whitehouse said the adjustable curbs are a cheaper, faster way to create protected bike lanes, but the city wants to test them out before committing to more.

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"We want to make sure that if we're going to use this kind of protection that we know how it's going to weather," she said. "So before we go ahead and do a giant project we want to make sure that this will work for us."

The $15,000, nine-month pilot project will see curbs installed on Sherbook Street south of Cumberland Avenue and on a section of Bannatyne Avenue near Old Market Square in the Exchange District.

The city doesn't anticipate any impact to parking or loading zones in the trial areas, it said in its release.

The public will be able to provide input on the adjustable lanes in an online survey, by emailingpilotproject@winnipeg.ca or by phoning 311, Whitehouse said.