KITCHENER — A vocal cycling advocate is fuming after the City of Kitchener failed to complete any priority projects identified by an advisory committee and endorsed by councillors.

Peter Dedes is a former professional cyclist, and the last chair of the city's cycling and trails advisory committee before it was dissolved after the municipal elections. A new committee will be appointed in January.

Dedes said the priorities this year included a network of share-the-road signs and bike lanes in the downtown.

"That was supposed to be implemented in full this year, and we had zero per cent implementation on that," Dedes said. "It's just a whole network of roads that would get us in and around the downtown."

Another priority was reducing the four-lane West Heights Drive to two-lane for traffic and bicycle lanes on both sides. It would have been among the first road diets in Kitchener.

"So zero per cent of that got implemented," Dedes said. "So it was a real opportunity to create a fairly significant cycling connector without really doing a lot to disturb what's there."

After developing a cycling master plan, forming an advisory committee to oversee its implementation, and getting the money into the city's capital budget, the expansion of cycling infrastructure stalled, Dedes said.

The city's operations department did not assign city workers to the cycling priorities this past year.

"In a lot of ways, I think I can speak for most members of the committee, that there is a little disappointment that there wasn't more action taken, there wasn't more planning on personnel utilization at a city staff level," Dedes said.

"It's not like there was not political will to accept these measures, it came down to a staffing priority situation, it looks like," Dedes said.

Another priority that goes back a couple of years was the removal or opening of all gates that restrict access to city trails. The gates were opened on the Iron Horse Trail, but remain closed on the larger network of community trails. Cyclists say the gates are hazards.

One cyclist died several years ago after riding into the gates that used to be on the Iron Horse Trail.