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Photo by Kieran Delamont / Postmedia

“The message to the mayor and council that we’re trying to send today is that when something like a pedestrian and cycling bridge closes for two years, people need a safe alternative to get around that route, and what’s being provided today is not safe,” said Erinn Cunningham, a local cycling activist who organized the protest ride.

“The experience is a little harrowing for most people,” he said. “We saw at the beginning of our ride today that, within a couple of minutes, someone got honked at because they were presumably not going fast enough and, in that person’s eyes, in the way.”

Andrew Berube, a homeowner along Holland, said the debate over the cycling route has become divisive between cyclists and residents, and he would like to have seen a better compromise hashed out from the get-go.

Photo by Kieran Delamont / Postmedia

“I personally am disappointed with the degree of consultation with the city, but I really think there are some options to make this work,” he said. “I’m not convinced this is a safe thing. … I think I would like to see some more collaboration.”

It’s not clear what comes next, though, or whether the city will be able to assuage cyclists’ concerns. The mayor doesn’t have a great deal of interest in re-doing the road now that the sharrows are down — not this year, at least. “We’ve got this system in place. Let us go through one season, and if there are changes that have to be made, obviously from a safety point of view, we’ll do that,” Watson said on Thursday.

Leiper would like to see changes made sooner rather than later.

“I’d like to think that our heels are not dug in. If we need to go back to the drawing board, even if it means going back to the initial staff proposal” — the segregated bike lanes — ”that we could do that in the interest of protecting people’s safety. I don’t see a reason why we couldn’t.

“If it’s not working, let’s not be stubborn. Let’s fix it before somebody gets hurt.”

Photo by Kieran Delamont / Postmedia