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Some will argue that not all streets need to be Complete Streets. It is true, for instance, that not every street needs a segregated bike lane, just as not every street needs six lanes. The Complete Streets model needn’t be monolithically imposed on every roadway. What we must do is re-order the way we assess the need for a Complete Street.

Design each road as a Complete Street, then determine what aspects we can remove without compromising safety. Safety should not be a luxury item.

We have a Complete Street in Churchill Avenue. Main Street is currently being transformed into one. In both instances, once a road rehabilitation project was identified, council decided whether or not to make it a Complete Street. However — and this is key — by default, we do not build Complete Streets. For these streets, residents, planners and architects had to argue to add Complete Street features to the re-build.

Nearby, McRae Avenue is getting rejuvenated. Sadly, even though the local councillor requested a bike lane, which appeared in the “vision” for McRae Aveneue, no bicycle infrastructure will be built. If we were smarter with our development plans, Councillor Jeff Leiper would not have needed to ask.

Parts of Ogilvie Road are being re-surfaced right now, a continuing effort to improve the road. Ogilvie is a part of the city’s bicycle network, yet it only has a thin painted bike lane alongside a thoroughfare on which cars routinely go 80 km/hr. There is ample space to add cycletracks, but nothing has been done. Last year, Councillor Tim Tierney implored staff to add something — anything — to the road east of Blair Road. He was met with the proverbial shrug.