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Council puts Geneva Street on a diet

July 2008: Geneva Street is going on a diet, with a decision Monday night to shrink a section of the major four-lane St. Catharines thoroughfare in half.

Instead of two lanes in each direction between Scott Street and Linwell Road, new lines will be painted on the recently repaved street, converting the four-lane street to one lane in each direction, with a centre turn lane and bike lanes.

Councillors unanimously approved making the road narrower, in an initiative that transportation services manager Kris Jacobson called a “road diet.”

The change will reduce speeds and make the street — which is mostly residential — more pleasant, Jacobson said in a report to council.

It will be easier to make left turns and to enter and exit driveways, and speeding drivers won’t weave back and forth between lanes.

The street is also on Niagara Region’s bicycling master plan.

Residents in the area were surveyed on the idea and were “overwhelmingly positive and supportive,” Jacobson wrote.

Councillors were also enthusiastic, with Port Dalhousie Coun. Bruce Williamson even sporting a bicycle helmet for the debate.

Several councillors asked if there are other wide streets in the city where bike lanes could be added by simply repainting the lines.

City engineer Paul Mustard said staff will be “looking for opportunities as they come up.”

For example, the recently repaved section of Lakeport Road, between Linwell and Lakeshore, will also get bike lines, he said.

Although Geneva Street is an arterial road, the traffic count at 11,000 vehicles per day is low compared to the capacity of the street, Jacobson wrote in his report to council. Speed measurements also revealed that average speed is nearly 60 km per hour. Road diets are becoming popular across North America, he said.

Councillors also agreed Monday to reduce the width of a new street in a 58-unit central St. Catharines subdivision, after developer Glenn Barr said the city’s normal pavement width of 8.4 metres is more friendly to cars than it is to pedestrians.

At Barr’s request, councillors reduced the width of Chicory Crescent, off Ventura Drive near Haig Street, to 7.5 metres, with sidewalks and numerous trees on both sides.

Barr said he deliberately designed a narrow street that will slow traffic because studies have shown the only thing that dissuades lead-footed drivers is fear of damage to their vehicles.

In other cycling developments, councillors voted Monday to ask Niagara Regional Police to enforce the no-cycling-on-sidewalks rule with more tickets instead of mere warnings, and to convene a meeting between city staff and various cycling groups to discuss ways the city can become more cycle-friendly.

St. Andrew’s Coun. Andrew Gill said he and Merritton Coun. Jeff Burch recently took a bike tour through the city “and I came near death a couple of times. I understand the frustration.

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