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Cycling less expensive, better for your health

Dear editor, “If you build it, he will come.” Well, I’m already here. I’m one of the cycling enthusiasts referred to in the Have Your Say section of the Record of May 25.

Dear editor,

“If you build it, he will come.”

Well, I’m already here. I’m one of the cycling enthusiasts referred to in the Have Your Say section of the Record of May 25.

Bike lanes or not, I will be riding a bicycle as long as I’m upright. Some friends have suggested that that attitude will bring me to horizontal sooner than I expect! Without improved cycling infrastructure, they may be right.

It is expensive to drive a car. Transit is not always available. Why not use a bicycle?

Factors such as physical fitness, inclement weather, lack of changing rooms at work or school, are all seen as barriers. These problems can be fairly easily overcome with exercise or appropriate clothing or improved facilities.

However, it is more difficult to address the entirely rational fear of being vulnerable when sharing a lane with a car. If prospective cyclists don’t feel safe, they won’t take to the road.

The population of the Comox Valley is growing. Traffic counts show that most cars have one occupant. Compare the cost and traffic disruption required to build bike lanes on Comox Avenue to that needed to build four lanes along Cliffe Avenue.

An increase in car noise, pollution, and the cost of maintaining a road network is not inevitable. A healthier and pleasanter environment doesn’t happen only in the movies. We can build it.

Steve Allen,

Courtenay