Build it and they will come. In fact, in three years, Ottawa cyclists have come down Laurier's segregated bike path almost one million times. That milestone will be reached sometime tomorrow morning. The bike runs along Laurier Avenue West between Bronson Avenue and Elgin Street. The segregated bike lane started off as a pilot project in July of 2011. Three years, and a million dollars later, the bike lane has become a permanent fixture and obviously a popular one with cyclists. As Claude Charbonneau cycles along Laurier Avenue, a counter hidden in the sidewalk records her ride. She's about the nine hundred and ninety seven thousandth cyclist to use the bike lane since it opened.

"I'm glad the pressure did not result in lanes being closed,” says Charbonneau, “because it’s very useful to people like me who need to cross downtown every day.”

There was opposition to the segregated lane when it first opened. There still is.

"I don't like it,” says Nelson Conceico who drives in to work with his friend Marcus Reid, “because I remember when there weren't bike lanes and you could park

Reid concurs, “Every morning I feel like I’m going to accidentally run a cyclist over.”

But for the cycling community, this segregated lane, the first of its kind in Ontario, has been a huge boon to commuting downtown.

"You have your own space; you don't have cars parked in the way,” says cyclist Nicholas Proulx, “or people opening doors on you.”

Cyclist Nora Ioannou is from Montreal and loves the Laurier bike lane, “This one, the conditions are good, takes you all the way down Laurier.”

The city says it was expecting cyclists would make about 16-hundred trips a day along Laurier. Lately, that number is closer to 25-hundred.

Ottawa Councillor Keith Egli who is also chair of the Transportation Committee says, "This really said to us people want this, people are interested in it and if you build it, they will come.”

Plans are in the works to keep building with similar ideas along Churchill Avenue and Main Street. Cyclists hope Laurier's bike lane will expand as well.

Alex Devries is with Citizens for Safe Cycling, "What I’m really looking forward to is being able to connect the Laurier bike lane with paths in the east and roads in the west. Those are missing links and that will make getting to downtown a lot easier.”

Back to Claude, who says the bike lane has eased her commute tremendously. She will definitely be by tomorrow.

“If I was a millionth person, what would I win?” she laughs, as she cycles away.