The Bill proposes to give…

The Bill proposes to give the province jurisdiction to approve new bicycle lanes. However this would not be effective since most multilane roads in Ontario do not set a meaningful net increase in throughput when the number of lanes is more than 1 in each direction.

It is a known fact among traffic engineers that increasing the number of lanes on roads between intersections does not meaningfully increase throughput. Therefore the number of cycling lanes should be increased in order to remove excess road in virtually all cases.

Furthermore, the scope is way too large to give the authority for approval to all roads to the province. The province should only be concerned with the movement of people between municipalities on roads which have been specifically designed to do so. Bicycle lanes which are designed to cross municipalities should be grade seperated or equipped with a modal filter for safety anyways which does not usually involve removing a road. Municipalities should have the authority to assess and build bike lanes as they see fit without provincial approval in order to promote local initiatives for people to cycle instead of taking the car wherever possible.

On the other side of the proposal where the province wants to remove some of the regulations in place which require more approval before highways are built. Historically it has been shown that highways have been built disproportionately through areas of the poor and disadvantaged and at great environmental expense. The premise to build more highways because we need them and that it will reduce gridlock is a flawed premise. Due to induced demand the need to build more lanes will always increase, the only viable alternative to gridlock is to expand public transit. Instead initiatives like mandating public transit access everywhere is what is needed.