Cycling Network Study

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Help create a connected cycling network for riders of all ages and abilities

The first round of community engagement is now complete. We’re reviewing your feedback and developing conceptual designs, which will be shared for comment in late Spring 2022.

Have a look at the engagement summary from our first round of engagement.

We’re looking to create a protected cycling network in Guelph that will help all riders feel comfortable biking along key streets in the city while connecting large parts of our community. To help us get started, we’d like your input on what this may look like.

As part of this study, we’ll develop conceptual designs for 13 kilometres of “AAA” (all ages and abilities) protected cycling facilities along three corridors that provide safe, continuous connections for cycling and micro-mobility, such as scooters, to and from community destinations and major transit stops. This study will look at:

  • Eramosa Road between Woolwich Street to Victoria Road (Study Area A)
  • Gordon Street between Waterloo Avenue to Clair Road (Study Area B*)
  • College Avenue between Janefield Avenue to Dundas Lane (Study Area C)


Map of Guelph outlining the three study areasStudy area map - click for full size

The study objectives are to develop conceptual designs that provide safe, continuous cycling and micro-mobility connections to and from major community destinations, including major transit stops.

Design Options

With contributions from residents and key stakeholders, our design team will review key destinations, connections, constraints, and “pinch-points” along the study area corridors. Five separate design concept options will be prepared for each of the three study areas and an evaluation, and further public engagement will determine which of the options will be recommended for each corridor.

The five options that will be prepared for each corridor include:

Do Nothing: Keep things as they are.

Cycle track: One-way, located outside the curbs of the roadway, often next to the sidewalk, physically separating people on bikes from motor vehicle traffic.

Multi-use path: Two-way shared pedestrian and cycling facility, physically separated from motor vehicle traffic, often located similarly to a sidewalk, but larger to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.

Protected bike lane: One-way, on the same level as the roadway, with physical separation between people riding bikes and motor vehicle traffic with materials such as curbs, bollards, or planter boxes.

Hybrid approach: A hybrid of the design options described above is appropriate for the corridor.

Note: The above graphic representations are being used as examples only, to show what physically protected bike facilities can look like. These are not the proposed configurations for any of the roads under study.

*Study Area B has a gap between Lowes and Edinburgh, where the Gordon Street Improvements Environmental Assessment took place. That project involved the design of protected bike facilities, which the Cycling Network Study will tie into. This will create a seamlessly protected cycling facility on Gordon from Downtown to the South End of Guelph.

Have Your Say

Care about road safety in Guelph? Travel along Eramosa, Gordon, and College? Would you like to start cycling or do you want to cycle more, but need more comfortable cycling routes? Are you an avid cyclist with something to say about bike infrastructure design? We need all of your perspectives to help inform the design of a new cycling network for our city.

Please join the conversation by participating below.

Help create a connected cycling network for riders of all ages and abilities

The first round of community engagement is now complete. We’re reviewing your feedback and developing conceptual designs, which will be shared for comment in late Spring 2022.

Have a look at the engagement summary from our first round of engagement.

We’re looking to create a protected cycling network in Guelph that will help all riders feel comfortable biking along key streets in the city while connecting large parts of our community. To help us get started, we’d like your input on what this may look like.

As part of this study, we’ll develop conceptual designs for 13 kilometres of “AAA” (all ages and abilities) protected cycling facilities along three corridors that provide safe, continuous connections for cycling and micro-mobility, such as scooters, to and from community destinations and major transit stops. This study will look at:

  • Eramosa Road between Woolwich Street to Victoria Road (Study Area A)
  • Gordon Street between Waterloo Avenue to Clair Road (Study Area B*)
  • College Avenue between Janefield Avenue to Dundas Lane (Study Area C)


Map of Guelph outlining the three study areasStudy area map - click for full size

The study objectives are to develop conceptual designs that provide safe, continuous cycling and micro-mobility connections to and from major community destinations, including major transit stops.

Design Options

With contributions from residents and key stakeholders, our design team will review key destinations, connections, constraints, and “pinch-points” along the study area corridors. Five separate design concept options will be prepared for each of the three study areas and an evaluation, and further public engagement will determine which of the options will be recommended for each corridor.

The five options that will be prepared for each corridor include:

Do Nothing: Keep things as they are.

Cycle track: One-way, located outside the curbs of the roadway, often next to the sidewalk, physically separating people on bikes from motor vehicle traffic.

Multi-use path: Two-way shared pedestrian and cycling facility, physically separated from motor vehicle traffic, often located similarly to a sidewalk, but larger to accommodate both pedestrians and cyclists.

Protected bike lane: One-way, on the same level as the roadway, with physical separation between people riding bikes and motor vehicle traffic with materials such as curbs, bollards, or planter boxes.

Hybrid approach: A hybrid of the design options described above is appropriate for the corridor.

Note: The above graphic representations are being used as examples only, to show what physically protected bike facilities can look like. These are not the proposed configurations for any of the roads under study.

*Study Area B has a gap between Lowes and Edinburgh, where the Gordon Street Improvements Environmental Assessment took place. That project involved the design of protected bike facilities, which the Cycling Network Study will tie into. This will create a seamlessly protected cycling facility on Gordon from Downtown to the South End of Guelph.

Have Your Say

Care about road safety in Guelph? Travel along Eramosa, Gordon, and College? Would you like to start cycling or do you want to cycle more, but need more comfortable cycling routes? Are you an avid cyclist with something to say about bike infrastructure design? We need all of your perspectives to help inform the design of a new cycling network for our city.

Please join the conversation by participating below.

CLOSED: This discussion has concluded.

Do you any questions about the Guelph Cycling Network Study? 

Feel free to submit your questions, one question per submission please! We will review all questions submitted and our team will post responses here.

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    Although I shy away from making comparisons between European vs American & Canadian cities, especially when age and size are incomparable, there is obviously a lot to be learned there. And lets not exclude all the great work being done in cities located around the corner from us either. From Europe, I believe the Dutch idea of hoofdnetten and plusnetten addresses a lot of peoples concerns - a place for bikes, a place for cars. Is Guelph's Cycling Network being considered through a hoofdnetten ideal?

    LCGuelph asked 6 months ago

    Hi, thanks for this comment! We will share your feedback with the consulting team to determine whether that approach could make sense for this study. 

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    There seems to be a lot of opposition to using the arterial road Eramosa as an Active Transportation route. I agree with a lot of the sentiment being issued. I too have looked at the heat maps of the area, and Eramosa gets very little use compared to the other streets around it, especially the hill. It would seem that people are already showing the routes they prefer. I would like to see more of a 'dedicated use' approach to Active transportation through the neighbourhoods like many other cities do - keep heavy traffic and bicycles separated. The study does not ask what alternatives we prefer if we don't like Eramosa. Without providing an alternative choice for us to give comment upon, how will you determine if Eramosa is undesirable for Active Transportation and design a more appropriate route?

    LCGuelph asked 6 months ago

    Hi there, thanks for your comments. Our consulting team will be completing technical and engineering analysis to determine whether Eramosa could be a suitable route for cycling infrastructure. This study is largely externally funded, and as such we selected specific routes to examine rather than asking broader questions such as "If not here, where else?". 

    However, that question will be addressed via the 2023 update to Guelph's existing 2013 Cycling Master Plan. The updated plan will incorporate the results of this feasibility study and review the recommended bike routes at a network-wide level. If Eramosa is not recommended to receive cycling infrastructure through the Cycling Network Study, the Cycling Master Plan update can assist with determining alternative routes and approaches to ensure people are still able to safely travel to their destinations by bike. 

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    Is there any plans to study west and north areas? I don't have many comments on the routes in this study because I don't use them that often because I live in the west end. I will have many comments about accessing north, south, and downtown destinations when you do.

    Dean asked 6 months ago

    Hi Dean. Great, we will welcome your input when the time comes to study the north and west neighbourhoods of Guelph! The updated Transportation Master Plan recommends a Spine Cycling Network of protected bike infrastructure spanning the City. You can review that proposal here. 

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    If bike lanes are protected, how will snow get cleared in the winter? There is a problem now with the protected lanes on Gordon near the McDonalds. Since they aren't fully cleared I go around them because I'd rather risk being in traffic that slipping out in the uncleared bike lanes.

    SB asked 6 months ago

    Hi SB, that's a great question. Winter maintenance and snow storage will be some of the key considerations as we determine evaluation criteria and decide upon a preferred alternative. The new protected on-road bike lanes on Gordon Street are not an ideal configuration for our Operations crew - so while they're relatively quick and easy to install we wouldn't recommend that design for long linear stretches of roadway. 

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    Arthur, King and Queen Streets east of Macdonell already receive extensive cut-through traffic well above allowable quantities for residential streets (staff counts spring 2021). Staff has promised to mitigate this for years, but little has been done. If you reduce vehicular lanes on Eramosa to build cycling infrastructure, traffic on those streets will increase even more, further undermining safety for the hundreds of cyclists, pedestrians and residents who already utilize that neighbourhood as an active transportation corridor. Will you guarantee that cut-through mitigation for this neighbourhood will be part of any car lane reduction on Eramosa?

    MTGuelph asked 6 months ago

    Hi there, thanks for your question. Impacts of spillover traffic will definitely be part of this feasibility analysis. If cycling infrastructure on Eramosa is recommended, mitigating cut-through traffic on surrounding side streets will be incorporated into the design considerations.  

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    I would like to follow up dbourque's comments with a further comment and a question. It is surprising to me, given that very few cyclists used Eramosa north of Arthur even when the temporary "Covid" protected lanes were set up, and no cyclists whom I know support prioritizing Eramosa as a cycling route, that Eramosa has been selected to study as part of the cycling spine network. What criteria did you use to select Eramosa? I'm not sure efficiency is a great answer. Eg, suppose a teacher wants to ride their bike from their condo in the MetalWorks to John F Ross. Currently they would choose the reasonably palatable and popular route of Elizabeth/Stevenson, which is 2.6 km. If, instead, they cross Elizabeth (a risky crossing!!) in order to travel there via Arthur/Eramosa, they will ride 2.2 km. I strongly doubt many cyclists would choose riding up the Eramosa hill in order to save 400 metres.

    AieshaM asked 6 months ago

    Hi there,

    Eramosa was selected on account of it being the most direct route to access a number of key destinations in Guelph. The Guelph General Hospital and many of the commercial areas along Eramosa cannot be easily accessed using Elizabeth to Stevenson. Using workarounds on side streets adjacent to Eramosa is impractical, as they are more steep and not necessarily feasible for cycling in all seasons. A short period of time on Eramosa is often required to connect with the final destination. The nearest east-west routes to traverse this part of the city are Elizabeth Street as you mentioned, and the future Emma-to-Earl connection. These require a significant amount of backtracking for residents living Downtown, in the St George/St Patrick neighbourhoods and in areas north of Eramosa. For residents living east of Stevenson, protected cycling infrastructure on Eramosa Road would enable access to a wide variety of commercial sites that are otherwise difficult to travel to by bike. If high quality cycling infrastructure ends even 300m away from a major destination, a large number of potential cyclists will be deterred from using their bikes to access that location. As a reminder, this route is currently under study to determine whether it is feasible and logical to provide protected cycling infrastructure here, this study will help us determine whether or not to proceed. Thank you for your comments, they will be taken into consideration as we evaluate available options.

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    Good day, I live on Eramosa Rd just past Victoria Rd. So many people speed down the road to speedvale rd because of a lane reduction on the other side. I wish the bike lanes extended to Speedvale. I appreciate the Eramosa rd, Victoria to woolwich corridor and I like multiuse path with turn lanes in the middle.

    Ken_facey asked 6 months ago

    Good afternoon, 

    Thanks for your feedback. While Eramosa from Victoria to Speedvale is outside of this project's scope, our 2013 Cycling Master Plan will be getting an update starting in 2023, and reviewing/updating the proposed network will be a part of that project. We hope you'll provide this type of feedback in 2023 as well. Your comments on the type of protected infrastructure for Eramosa from Woolwich to Victoria will be taken into account for this study, and there will be another opportunity to share this type of feedback within the next few months!

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    I am a cyclists and I have studied statistics. You replied you did not use heat maps for visualizing cyclist use in the study areas in my first submission. I strongly recommend looking into it. Strava Metro is now free to city planners. Strava Metro has the largest active transportation data set on the planet. Ottawa is using it. I will put the link at the end. Strava Metro analyzed New York City’s changing mobility patterns in the first year of the pandemic from July 2019 and July 2020 and found a monumental rise in active transportation. There were 81 percent more people who completed at least one bike trip, and 80 percent more bike trips in total. There are over 300 communities using Strava Metro for active transportation analysis. The data already exists. You just have to analyze it for our city - and it's free. https://blog.strava.com/press/metro/?btn=4ngJq5kHx1SlNwIJ4IUG61&par=5WF6BYBmGyFYTCMihvXT4I

    Sara Banerji asked 6 months ago

    Hi Sara, 

    Thanks for sharing the link. I will ensure our consulting team is aware and find how this data can be worked into our analysis for this project. 

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    Will this reduce vehicle and/or turning lanes?

    AmyLiz asked 7 months ago

    Thanks for your question. In some locations it's possible vehicle travel and turning lanes could be impacted, however we'll be trying to mitigate those instances as much as possible. 

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    As an avid cyclist in Guelph, I avoid main roads whenever possible. However, the multi-use path along Woodlawn is a great way to get from the west-end down to the Guelph Lake Trails (at least for the majority of the route). So my vote goes to multi-use paths for main arterial roads. Having said that, using side streets and the existing trail network in the city is a far far safer and more pleasant way to cycle in the city. How about expanding that network? I'm sure automobile and truck driver's would be much happier without cyclists on the arterial roads altogether.

    RobinB asked 6 months ago

    Hi RobinB, 

    Thanks for your comments. We agree, Guelph's off-road trails and side streets are a great place to cycle. The 2017 Active Transportation Network is dedicated to building new, and improving existing off-road connections. You can view the full network map here. The 2013 Cycling Master Plan addresses side streets and local roads, as well as major routes. The Cycling Master Plan will be updated in 2023 which may result in further recommendations for creating bike-friendly side streets. 

    At the same time, we recognize that all people travelling in Guelph should be able to navigate the City using direct, efficient routes. This is why Gordon and College will receive protected cycling infrastructure, and Eramosa is being studied. Often arterial roads are the most efficient way to travel from A to B, and where practical, we feel they should accommodate all modes of transportation. 

Page last updated: 06 Jun 2022, 09:33 AM