One local community will soon expand on its offerings for bicycle enthusiasts.
This week, Tecumseh Town Council approved the tender for a contractor to complete the painting for a new bike lane on Lesperance Road between Riverside Drive East and McNorton Street. This project has been two years in the making, according to Tecumseh Ward 1 Councillor Andrew Dowie, who told BlackburnNewsWindsor.com it was because of one specific detail.
"The honest truth is that this project was promised a long time ago, but for a variety of reasons it did not capture the attention of contractors," said Dowie.
Approval by town council came in the summer of 2017 and was included in an Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling grant application the following year. The majority of the cost of the bike paths was covered by the grant money, as well as the County Wide Active Transportation System (CWATS), which encourages paths for walking, jogging and cycling all over Windsor-Essex.
Dowie said the Lesperance bike paths will provide a key link to nearby park systems with bicycle access.
"We have the Ganatchio Trail and we have McHugh Street, both of which go east-west," said Dowie. "Right around Lesperance is when they stop, and so having the bicycle lanes on Lesperance actually connects both those routes."
In addition to providing an option for bicyclists, Dowie said safety along Lesperance Road is taken into consideration, as the road had been a concern for some time about vehicle racing.
"It's actually going to help with some of the concerns about speeding on Lesperance, with you being closer to the opposing traffic, and that squeezing feeling by being pinched with the bicycle lanes on both sides, this will cause drivers to slow down," said Dowie.
With the contractor finally in place, work began immediately Wednesday on completing the painting for the bicycle lanes, said Dowie. The lanes could be ready for bicycle use as soon as this coming weekend.
