I strongly feel that this…

I strongly feel that this newly proposed part of the Traffic Act - which allows the provincial Ministry of Transportation to be informed before municipalities may construct bicycle lanes in certain circumstances, and to require municipalities to provide the Ministry
with information, including information relating to bicycle lanes - will result in stalling the construction of new bicycle lanes and even might result in the demolition of already existing bike lanes. In doing so it takes the decision making out of the hands of municipalities, who have the key knowledge of what needs to be done in their cities and towns. This is first hand knowledge about traffic flow, safety for all traffic participants, and environmental impact of the various components of the traffic. That is the reason why municipalities create these bike lanes in the first place. There is no reason why the province would do better. In contrary, my grave concern is that it will result in a much lower number of bike lanes and so have a negative environmental impact in cities already congested with cars. More and more people will use bikes as their means as urban transportation and it is a proven fact that bike lanes increase safety, health and help a lot to a get cleaner environment in our cities and towns. Thank you!