The Clean Air Partnership is pleased to announce the publication of a research report titled Bike Lanes, On-Street Parking and Business.
Contrary to common public perception, the evidence shows that removing
on-street parking to install a bicycle lane or widened sidewalk would
likely increase not decrease commercial activity. "This report should
alleviate concerns that downtown business owners have about on-street

The Appleton Foundation's GreenApple SMART Transportation Ranking
Report (now in its second year) was launched to attempt to provide an
accurate measurement of the sustainability of transportation systems in
Canada’s urban areas.

The 2008 report's top four ranked urban areas are Victoria, BC,
Vancouver, BC, Ottawa-Gatineau (Ontario – Quebec) and Montreal, Quebec
— all four of these urban regions have demonstrated a commitment to
directing significant public resources to address urban transportation
in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Luke Siragusa, a cyclist in Ward 29, wrote a
report that details hazards
endangering cyclists on the Bloor St. viaduct and makes suggestions for
improvements.

Cycle 26, a group of Ward 26 cyclists released a report
that tracks the progress of the Bike Plan in terms of planned versus
existing cycling infrastructure and makes suggestions for improvements.

1. Prompted by our e-bulletin last week on the benefits of walkability,
a TCAT supporter shared this excellent publication by Go for Green in 2004 documenting the economic benefits of walking and cycling. In these
times of fiscal restraint, one of the wisest investments our
governments could make is in active transportation infrastructure.
According to the report, the economic benefits of everyone who engages

The UK government has just issued an urban design compendium
that offers guidance for designing for walking and cycling. Click on
"urban design principles" and go to the section "making the
connections".

Todd Litman's Economic Value of Walkability, released last year, is a great resource describing ways to evaluate the value of walking and walkability.

1.  As reported in CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking, a new browser-based presentation called "Barriers to Walking: What You're Up Against," has been posted on the Active Living Resource Center (ALRC) web site. This 10-minute audio-visual presentation describes some of the barriers that block people of all ages from being more active. To view "Barriers to Walking," click the associated link on this page.