Jaworsky said that there is room for improvement, in terms of resident education on how to use the new streetscape, but in the meantime, bylaw enforcement will take care of enforcement.

As for the design, Jaworsky sees no issues.

“The design — top-notch people, top-notch local people helped to design it; top-notch experts from across North America helped design it — but now we’re finding the human interaction and what education needs to be done,” said Jaworsky.

Jaworsky has asked the city’s active transportation committee to monitor the new streetscape and document the usage.

“They thought it was good, but let’s take a look to see how we can make it better so we don’t have these interactions.”

When it comes to bollards, essentially metal poles, and whether or not they should be installed, Jaworsky said the design does enough to keep cyclists safe.

“The bike lanes are actually being segregated closer to the sidewalk,” said Jaworsky. “This isn’t a high-speed area. They are on the inside of the parked cars, which is a good thing … they’re already segregated from traffic; it’s the cars that are parking there that are the issue.”

When Waterloo city council was mulling the $11-million streetscape project, TriTAG issued a news release applauding the design plans.

“Residents are celebrating a staff recommendation for protected bike lanes on King Street in Uptown Waterloo. The recommended design, if approved by Waterloo city council, would see the installation of wider sidewalks and raised bicycle lanes, some protected from traffic by parked cars, along King Street from Erb to Central,” reads the news release.

When it comes to whether or not to paint the bike lanes green to create more visibility, Eric Saunderson, the regional project manager, said it’s to make the design more cohesive with the surroundings.

“The earth-tone colour of concrete bike lanes on King Street has been based (on) the need to create a streetscape environment that is cohesive with its surrounding surface materials,” said Saunderson, adding that the concrete has been etched to create a skid-resistant surface and there are impressions to indicate that it is a bike lane.

The green paint, he said, is typically used in “conflict zones” where interactions between cyclists and motorists are common, such as crosswalks.

Although the work has not yet been completed, the crosswalks in uptown will be equipped with the bright green paint.

Mike Boos, a member of TriTAG and vocal cycling advocate, said there was a lack of engagement with the cycling community when it came to receiving feedback, but he does admit that the current design is much better than the original proposal. Originally, planners suggested building a streetscape that included on-street bike lanes that would be painted green and run inside the cars parked on the side of the road.

And while Boos was in support of this newer plan, he said there is room for improvement, especially after seeing it in action.

"We have the mayor and staff saying it's a behaviour issue, but the design influences behaviour," said Boos.

Boos added that enforcement is "not a particularly sustainable option," to encourage drivers to not park or stop on the bike lanes.

The solution, said Boos, is to look at installing flexible removable bollards to create a physical barrier, but still allow for cars to get out of the way in case of an emergency.

The city and region's unwillingness to install bollards, said Boos, likely stems from an aesthetic concern.

"There's a perception that it's visually unappealing," said Boos, adding that maintenance could also be an issue.