(Most recent updates in blue)

Funding Approved!

Chatham-Kent Municipal Council has approved funding for active transportation, including bike lanes and multi-use trails throughout the municipality!

A total of $15 million over ten years  has been alocated in the municipality's lifecycle budget for the development of active transportation infrastructure in Chatham-Kent. This funding should be adequate to establish a network of bike lanes in every major community in Chatham-Kent, and designated cycling routes between communities with paved shoulders where traffic volumes and speeds call for them. Some of these expenditures will be shared with a Trails fund.

In 2009 and 2010, $750,000 per year will come from the Investing in Ontario provincial grant received by the municipality some months ago.  Only about $50,000 was spent in 2009 leaving about $1,450,000 available for 2010 expenditures.

Bikeways Planned

 At the initiative of Leo Denys, General Manager, Infrastructure and Engineering, two intensive planning sessions were held with senior municipal staff (Public Works and Engineering) in March. The outcome was agreement on a proposed set of bikeway routes for communities throughout Chatham-Kent. These routes will now go through steps of further feasibility and costing studies and public consultation meetings and review by Council.

The routes proposed closely resemble those shown on the Bikeways page of this website. That page will be updated when maps of the slightly revised proposal become available.

As noted at the "U Judge" tab, in late 2009 sharrows and bike lane lines were painted in mosr communities in Chatham-Kent. It was one step forward and two steps back. The step forward was that we now have the first ever official bike lanes in C-K. The steps back put many of the markings on sidestreets that aren't the direct commuting routes needed for Active Transportation. We're still lobbying to have those routes moved to where they should be.

For 2010 the following projects have been proposed:

AVAILABLE ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION FUNDING
	2009 PROVISION							750,000.00
		LESS: Pavement Marking						48,500.00
		CARRIED FORWARD							701,500.00
	2010 PROVISION								750,000.00
	TOTAL AVAILABLE AT FUNDING in 2010								1,451,500.00
RECOMMENDED 2010 PROJECTS
	McNaughton St Clair to Bear Line (Lane markings, some share-the-road)							50,000.00
	Lacroix Tweedsmuir to Gregory Dr (Lane markings, some share the road)							50,000.00
	Grand from Keil to Bear Line (Bike Lanes or bike path)							100,000.00
	Keil from Grand to McNaughton (Bike lanes or multi-use path)							100,000.00
	Bike racks matching funds							50,000.00
	Indian Creek Lacoix to Berkshire (Lanes)							300,000.00
	Charing Cross Rd repaint for bike lanes (create 3 motorway lanes)							25,000.00
	Indian Creek Rd Lacroix to Queen widen for bike lanes							200,000.00
	Link to Walpole Lanes and paved shoulders Dauw St to Bridge (6km)							475,000.00
	Provision for opportunistic work with municipal capital budget							101,500.00
TOTAL 2010									1,451,500.00