|
PICTURE
|
DESCRIPTION
|
|
On Wednesday March 29th at around 10:15am, a cyclist was riding westbound
on Burnhamthorpe Rd. in Mississauga. He was riding on the "Burnhamthorpe
Trail", which is a paved off-road trail identified on Mississauga's
official cycling map. As he crossed the Credit River bridge, he struck
the low guardrail and fell to his death.
I've been through here many times on my bike. The first time, I stayed
on the "trail" as I crossed the bridge but was scared by the incredibly
low guardrail. From that point on, I took the road.
Unfortunately, it appears that this official cycling facility puts
cyclists at great danger. I decided to ride out there tonight after
work to take a closer look and document the trail, the bridge, and
the approaches to the bridge.
This first picture is a closeup of the
Mississauga City Trails and Tourism Guide, at the point where the Burnhamthorpe Trail crosses the
Credit River. It is clearly labelled in purple as a "Paved Trail".
|
|
Starting from "downtown" Mississauga, the western portion of the
Burnhamthorpe Trail starts between Living Arts Dr. and Elora Dr. At
this point, it's hardly a "trail", but more like a marked part of the
sidewalk.
|
|
Most of the Burnhamthorpe Trail looks like this: An asphalt paved
trail separated from the concrete sidewalk.
|
|
However, before and after intersections the "trail" merges into the
sidewalks, and cyclists end up riding along the concrete. In this
picture, on the west side of Mavis Rd., you can see that it takes a
while for the sidewalk to diverge back to being a separated "trail"
and sidewalk. Also, no winter maintenance...
|
|
A little further past Mavis.....
|
|
....I don't like riding through this part, because there are often cars
pulling in and out of the parking lots without looking for "trail"
traffic.
|
|
Trail merges back onto the sidewalk at Wolfedale Rd. At all road
intersections, there are signs saying, "Cyclists dismount. Walk bicycle
across roadway". Cyclists are not supposed to ride through crosswalks
according to the Ontario Highway Traffic Act. You can see after the
intersection how the sidewalk and "trail" diverge again after sharing
the same space.
|
|
Looking back across Wolfedale, where the sidewalk and trail merge and
diverge.
|
|
Approaching Perivale Rd., the trail again dumped me out on the sidewalk.
Again, I walked my bike through the intersection.
|
|
The sidewalk and trail diverge again after Perivale Rd.
|
|
At the Creditview / Central Pkwy. and Burnhamthorpe intersection, the
trail and sidewalk do the whole merge/diverge thing again, and I had
to walk my bike through the crosswalk.
|
|
Riding down towards the GO tracks, not too far from the bridge now.
|
|
The trail and sidewalk are only separated by a difference in pavement.
|
|
Often there are many pedestrians around here, particularly after a GO
train drops people off and they head down here to wait for the bus.
|
|
The trail goes around the bus shelter.....
|
|
...and past the stairs to the GO station.
|
|
Riding past the Mississauga Board of Trade.
|
|
This is where it starts to get interesting! Read closely. As we
approach The Credit Woodlands, the trail and sidewalk are still
separate.
|
|
Then the usual "merge and diverge" happens, the the trail again becomes
part of the sidewalk and cyclists are asked to dismount and cross the
road.
|
|
Actually, you're supposed to dismount and cross the missing dog.
|
|
Walking my bike through the crosswalk to where the trail and sidewalk
are one and the same again.....
|
|
...and then the the trail appears to cut off to the right again as we
approach the bridge?
|
|
There are now two distinct sections of pavement off the side of the
road here. According to previous experience, the one on the left is
the sidewalk, and the one on the right is the trail.
|
|
There's still a fair distance to go before the bridge, but now there
appears to be a yellow sign stating, "Cyclists dismount. Walk bicycle
across bridge".
|
|
Let's have a closer look at the sign. It appears to be brand new.
Possibly installed within the last week or so, after the cyclist's
fall?
|
|
The two pathways merge together again, just like at other places along
this trail. Mississauga's transportation and works commissioner
Martin Powell was quoted in the
Mississauga News
saying, "There is a sidewalk on the bridge and within the city, bicycles
are prohibited on sidewalks and the pathway doesn't continue across the
bridge, so yes, (cyclists) should walk across the bridge or use
vehicular lanes." So it appears that the city believes this part of
the trail is a sidewalk only, which conflicts with the trail map and
other combined trail-sidewalk portions of this route.
|
|
This is how the sidewalk looks while walking (hopefully not riding)
west over the bridge. The sidewalk's width is 6 feet, and the guardrail
is only 38 inches high.
|
|
At the part of the bridge where the cyclist fell, a memorial has been
set up. Flowers, candles, cards, and banners calling for the railing
height to be raised have been placed here.
|
|
Flowers at the memorial site.
|
|
The memorial site.
|
|
Looking down from the bridge to the shallow Credit River, apparently
about 100 feet below.
|
|
Looking down the sidewalk from the crash site.
|
|
There are potholes along this section of sidewalk. I wonder if they
had anything to do with the crash?
|
|
One last look at the memorial.
|
|
I kept riding along the Burnhamthorpe Trail, further west to Mississauga
Rd. Along this section there is another small bridge over Mullet Creek
with signs saying cyclists must dismount and walk. A cyclist passed me
on the sidewalk, and I had to step to the side to let him by.
Again, as I approached
the Mississauga Rd. intersection, the trail merged onto the sidewalk
well before reaching the intersection, and then diverged from the
sidewalk shortly after the intersection.
|
|
I turned around after Mississauga Rd. and started to ride east again
towards the bridge. This is another look at the sidewalk/trail
merge-diverge situation.
|
|
Look closely at this picture! What do you see?
|
|
This sign clearly shows that this narrow sidewalk leading to the
bridge over Mullet Creek is a designated bike route and part of the
Burnhamthorpe Trail. Martin Powell says cyclists should not ride on
the sidewalks, but this sign says we should. Who is right? This is
confusing and dangerous.
|
|
This sign says cyclists should dismount while crossing Mullet Creek.
|
|
Walking over the Mullet Creek bridge.
|
|
The "trail" starts up again, although there isn't any indication on
the map that the trail was supposed to end anywhere along here.
|
|
Merging onto the sidewalk again, getting ready to walk through another
crosswalk.
|
|
The trail starts up again, heading towards the bridge.
|
|
Almost at the western end of the bridge.
|
|
...getting close.
|
|
Again, the trail ends (not on the map though), and cyclists must
dismount and walk across.
|
|
Notice the sign on this side of the bridge: It looks much older and
worn than the one at the eastern end of the bridge. Again, this makes
me think the other one was installed very recently, only after the
crash.
|
|
End of the trail before the bridge.
|
|
Walking back across the bridge. As you can see, it's actually a very
long bridge, about 400m across. I can see why cyclists would be
tempted to ride across, especially after the trail dumps them out on the
sidewalk at either end.
|
|
Back on the eastern side of the bridge. It took about four minutes
to walk across.
A little further on, the sidewalk appears to diverge back to two
different sections again. Trail and sidewalk?
|
|
Another long stretch of combined trail and sidewalk leading towards the
Credit Woodlands intersection. There are no signs anywhere around here
that say cyclists should still be walking their bikes after crossing
the bridge.
|
|
Last photo, again at the Credit Woodlands intersection. Another mess of
sidewalks and trails merged together.
|
A few conclusions:
- The guardrails on the Credit River and Mullet Creek bridges
are much too low, especially for a route that is designated
as being safe for recreational pedestrian/cyclist traffic.
- At many places along the Burnhamthorpe Trail, the trail merges
with the sidewalk, especially at intersections and other narrow
sections.
- It can be confusing to know whether you are on the trail or
sidewalk, especially when approaching the Credit River bridge
from the east, or the Mullet Creek bridge from the west.
- There is never any indication that cyclists should not ride on
the "sidewalk" portions of the trail, except for a few places
across bridges (and the westbound Credit River sign appears to be
a very recent addition).
- The way the trail is designed seems to lead cyclists into riding
across the bridge on the sidewalk, especially if there was no
sign warning them not to.
- The constant merging and diverging with sidewalks, dismounting and
remounting at intersections, and low railings over the bridges
makes this a very poor cycling route.
|
| All photographs ©2006 Victor Gedris |