Windsor-Essex is getting more than $2.9-million to improve its cycling structure, including new bike lanes across the region.
More than a third will go to the City of Windsor. The city will have over $1.6-million to expand bike lanes.
The money from the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program is a small part of the overall investment across the province. Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and Tourism Minister Eleanor McMahon announced $93-million for cycling infrastructure in Toronto Monday, almost double the commitment made earlier this year.
For Lori Newton, the chair of Bike Friendly Windsor Essex County, the money is more than enough to improve connectivity between trails and make bike lanes safer.
"This money will go very, very far in helping us make the connections from neighbourhood to neighbourhood," she says. "People in Windsor are very frustrated that they're on some sort of a bike lane and then they get to a spot where the bike lane ends. They don't know where to go."
Over the past two years, Bike Friendly Windsor Essex County has been conducting surveys asking residents what would get them outside and on their bikes. Newton says they have almost 1,000 responses calling for safer infrastructure.
"We'll be providing our own data to the city to ensure that all of the voices of our residents who want to go out cycling, and need to get from point A to point B safely... we're going to spend the money properly," she says.
A total of 120 communities are getting investments. In Essex County, the break down for each municipality is:
- Amherstburg, $97,260
- Essex, $89,983
- County of Essex, $655,920
- Kingsville, $89,825
- Lakeshore, $134,934
- Leamington, $117,933
- Tecumseh, $106,097
- Windsor, $1,671,508