As the second round of public consultation on the Scheifele Bridge draws to a close, one Conestogo resident and avid cyclist is hoping to see the project expand past the current proposal.
Due to ongoing repairs at the Glasgow Street bridge, Gena Braun chose an alternate bike route to get to work taking Northfield Drive down to University Avenue. Due to a lack of a paved shoulders along Northfield Drive, she felt unsafe doing so.
“I’ve only done it once and I will never do it again, just because it felt terrifying. With Glasgow unavailable, there’s really no way to safely bike to Waterloo from Conestogo,” Braun said.
The path is fine for horse-drawn buggies, but not for bikes, she added.
“I think the only way to make it feel safe to bike there is to have a really wide paved shoulder or in a perfect world to have a protected bike lane [from University Avenue to Sawmill Road], but I’m not sure how they would manage that with the buggies also using that route,” she explained.
The Region of Waterloo is looking to reconstruct the bridge over the Conestogo River, but bike paths are outside the scope of the project, says project manager Ken Brisbois.
“This project in particular is for the bridge. We’re looking at the accommodation over the structure. Moving forward beyond this project to the roadworks, we’re only tying in the bridge and then on either side… there are other projects that would connect on either side that once those are in the program,” Brisbois said.
The project team presented four different potential designs during the first round of public consultation, which occurred last year. Based on that feedback the team is now recommending a two-lane bridge that would have multi-purpose paved shoulders on each side of the vehicle lanes. There would also be a multi-use trail on one side of the bridge with concrete barriers between the lanes and the trails.
The proposal would see construction done on half the bridge while the other side would remain open to traffic. The second half would then be completed later on. Preliminary cost estimates to replace the super structure of the 1960 span is $6.6 million.
At the start of the Scheifele Bridge study, data indicated there was an average of 10,350 vehicles that used the bridge daily, with 360 of those being heavy trucks. During the final week of May 2021 the project team tallied the total number of other crossing over the bridge, recording 26 buggies, 55 pedestrians and 361 cyclists.
While the project team also looked at putting in four lanes given the expected growth in Waterloo Region, the studies show that’s not warranted at this point, Brisbois said.
“We weren’t recommending that option based on the expectation. Not to say that the region’s not growing, but that the section of Northfield isn’t in our capital program. There isn’t a plan for widening anytime from now till 2050,” he explained.
According to Brisbois if the feedback indicates support for the proposed design it will then be recommended to council.
While Braun said she appreciates that there are bike lanes on the bridge, she would still like to see it connect to a long bike route along the side of Northfield Drive.
“It kind of becomes a little like a safe bike island, but getting there is way too treacherous. It doesn’t make sense to spend that money unless the paving continues,” she said.
Residents can visit engagewr.ca to provide their feedback until June 8.
