There’s a lot of debate recently over the Bike St. John’s Master Plan and its plans to incorporate existing city trails into a cycling network.
I, and others, are against the plan.
My quarrel with the bike plan is mainly the proposal to open Rennie’s River trail and Virginia River trail to bikes for the same reasons that others have mentioned: the trails are too narrow in many places, steep and winding. The amount of destruction that would be required to make these wide enough for bikes would do little to mitigate the safety concerns to trail users and would have serious environmental impacts.
Rather than have accessibility as an afterthought and the byproduct of a plan that focuses on bikes, the City of St. John’s should give accessibility its own meaningful focus.
Another conversation that’s happening centres around accessibility and the need to open trails to those with mobility issues.
It’s an important conversation that needs greater attention.
Opposition to the bike plan is being interpreted as opposition to accessibility, and I can understand why. There hasn’t been, at least to my knowledge, any advocacy for opening trails for those with mobility issues.
That’s why now is the time to examine where we can open city trails and make them accessible.
These two ideas — the bike plan and accessibility — should not be mutually exclusive. There are lots of trails in this city that could be made accessible or have their accessibility improved without an enormous amount of environmental destruction, with solid natural surfaces and with comparatively minimal expense.
Rather than have accessibility as an afterthought and the byproduct of a plan that focuses on bikes, the City of St. John’s should give accessibility its own meaningful focus.
Let’s not let those with mobility issues feel like opposition to the bike plan is an opposition to their accessibility and that the bike plan, in its present form, is the only hope they have of enjoying these terrific trails.
Scott Fitzgerald
St. John’s