City travels

IF YOU could choose one project to make it easier to get from one part of the city to another on foot or on bicycle, what would it be?

Thanks to a city transportation study of several years ago, several tantalizing options are presented.

One project is building a set of stairs from the bottom of Eby near the fish hatchery up to the Bench. The stairs would be equipped with lights and a rail so that bikes can be more easily pushed up or down.

This would make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists who now use either Lanfear Hill or Kalum Hill and provide more access to the heart of the Bench.

Another is the construction of a pedestrian/bicycle overpass spanning the CN tracks where those tracks now bisect Kalum (by Tim Hortons on the Southside and the George Little House downtown).

If money was no object but if only one project could be chosen, the overpass over the CN tracks is more desperately needed.

There is no other way to get from the Southside to downtown on foot or on bicycle than by the somewhat scary Sande Overpass or the Kenney level crossing much farther west.

A pedestrian/bicycle overpass would also address the twin issues of providing more recreation choices for walking and cycling and add immensely to make either walking or bicycling a practical alternative to the motor vehicle in connecting the Southside with downtown.