o
Twoyearsago...
wedida
photo safari inTanzaniawithour
sonandhiswife.Aswedroveout
of Arusha I noticed the highway
had wide bike lanes on both
sidesof the road. I expressedmy
surprise to our driver/guide,
Thomas, “Soyouhavebike lanes
in Tanzania!?!”He replied, “Ah
yes, many Tanzanians can’t af-
ford a car. Bicycles are a good
way to get to town.” Sure
enough,aswedrove fromvillage
to village therewerewomen rid-
ing with babies on their backs,
youngboys ridingclunkers,older
cyclistsoverloadedwithbananas
heading to market and even
touristson rentedbikes. I thought
to myself, if they can afford to
buildhighwayswithbike lanes in
Tanzania, surly we can build
them inOntario.
Last spring I was inKalamazoo,
Michigan cycling along subur-
ban streets and county lanes.
Every road I encountered had
paved shoulders. The trafficwas
fairlyheavy,but I felt comfortable
riding on themetrewide paved
shoulder. Iwas intriguedenough
toget in touchwith theManaging
Directorof theRoadCommission
of Kalamazoo County, Joanna
Johnson, to ask why and how
theydo it.Duringourphonecon-
versation, Joannaexplained that
the RoadCommission has been
pavingshoulders foranumberof
yearsasa lanepavementpreser-
vation measure, as funding has
allowed. The added benefit to
the paved shoulders has been a
morecomfortableandsaferarea
for cyclists to ride.
Joannasaid that thecountybuilds
and maintains all roads in the
county, approximately 1,267
miles,except for thestateor inter-
state highways and the roads
within cities or villages. The 15
townships inKalamazooCounty
collaborate on some road im-
provements; however these
roads are maintained by the
Road Commission. This central-
izedapproachcameabout in the
early 1950s as a cost saving
measure and an early vision in
consolidation, eliminatingdupli-
cate services.Maybewe inOn-
tario have been looking at this
issue backwards — a few years
agoGreyCounty downgraded
roads to municipalities to save
money—what if thecountywere
to take over all the roads? This
concept seems tobeworking in
Michigan.
It isn’t that governments in On-
tariohavenotbeenpavingshoul-
dersoraddingbike lanes,but the
processhasbeenpiecemealand
slow next to our neighbours in
Michiganandother jurisdictions.
When the MTO re-built Hwy 6
between Tobermory and Mar
about fiveyearsago, theyadded
bike lanesasa ‘study’ toseehow
theywouldwork. Twoyearsago,
when the re-build of Hwy 6 be-
tween Shallow Lake andOwen
Sound was proposed I asked
MTO officials if the bikes lanes
would be added to that section
as well. Their reaction was that
they were still studying the
process. I don’t understandwhy
it takesso long tostudysomething
thatother jurisdictionshavebeen
doing formanyyears. I sentMTO
engineers documents from the
States of Iowa, NorthCarolina,
OregonandWisconsin , theU.S.
Department of Transportation
anda university inAustralia that
document reasons why paving
shoulders are good not only as
bike lanes but for vehicle safety
andmaintenance.
PAVE PARADISE?
NO...
JUST THE
SHOULDERS!
Story | Photos | Tom Hakala
16
|
AUTUMN
|
EARLY WINTER
2016
