A work in progress (3 photos)

Bicyclists are now enjoying new lanes set aside for them on Queen Street East, from Pim Street to the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club, even if all the lines still have not been painted on the newly reconfigured road.

That stretch of road on Queen, from Pim to the Golf Club,  now consists of one lane in each direction for motor vehicles with a continuous two-way left turn centre lane, with bicycle lanes adjacent to each curb.

Queen Street was fully reconstructed from Pim to Pine Street, while the area east of Pine was resurfaced, with the intention of having all lines painted by the end of October.

"The line painting is a work in progress, primarily because we're fighting the weather," Don Elliott, city director of engineering services, told SooToday Wednesday.

"It's unfortunate, because this is something that could have been done in October, but we had way too much rain."

"We have the yellow centre turning lane lines done, but we don't have the lane markings for the bicycle lanes, the turn arrows or the white lines at the intersections yet…we were going to try to do work on it today (Wednesday) but it looked like the weather was not going to cooperate." 

"We do need to get the turn arrows in because I understand that a couple of people have been making left turns without getting into the centre lane," Elliott said.

Another factor led to the delay in line painting, Elliott said.

After public input sessions were held in regards to the reconfiguration of Queen, and after council approved it in March, a resident filed what is known as a Part II Order with the Minister of the Environment as an appeal.

"The Minister only recently denied that request and gave the city the green light…. we had to wait, which is another reason why we couldn't get the markings down.  We had to wait to hear from the Minister but I'm not saying the Minister held us up, because our contractor still had some work to do," Elliott said.

Some opposition at public input sessions was raised, mainly over concerns that motor vehicle traffic would be slowed down on Queen.

"We recognize that level of service for cars and trucks will go down, but not down to an unacceptable level…according to the traffic experts who have run the numbers they don't anticipate any major issues," Elliott said.

"We're not saying we haven't made any changes, the commute along Queen Street will be a little slower, but if our traffic division sees fit they can probably change the traffic signal timing to longer green lights."

A Sault Ste. Marie Cycling Master Plan Update, which consisted of public input, was approved by city council in 2007.

In 2008, a transportation planning consultant retained by the city concluded it was feasible for Queen Street to be reconfigured from four lanes down to three, with provisions for cyclists, based on projected reduced traffic volumes for the area.