Region installing lane dividers to help increase bike safety

Improving cycling safety From CTV Kitchener's Heather Senoran: The region will be installing bollards along the Uptown Waterloo bike lanes, but it'll come at a cost.

The region is installing hundreds of bollards in Uptown Waterloo this summer to enhance cycling safety, and a sample is already in place.

A bollard looks like a regular post but it is flexible and can bounce back into place if emergency vehicles need to drive over it.

A study conducted by the region earlier this year found cars driving or parking in the bike lanes. It also found pedestrians using them as sidewalks.

"I think it will define the lane visually. I can that see there's some reflective tape on them so at night time with cars with their headlights on they're obviously going to see them," says cyclist Kris Stinson.

They will cost a total of about $100,000 to put in.

While some cyclists in the region support the decision, some people don't think the benefits are worth the cost.

"I don't even know if it would protect anybody from anything it is so flexible," one pedestrian says.

They are supposed to be installed permanently by the end of the summer and will be on the outside of bike lanes stretching from Public Square to Central Street.

The region is considering extending the bollards to go along King Street to University Avenue.

That decision is not finalized yet and will be looked at in 2020.