Still, cycling advocates say this kind of innovation needs to be embraced — with some pointing to the success of the West Toronto Railpath, a two-kilometre stretch of pedestrian and cyclist-friendly trails adjacent to a north-south line where GO and UP Express trains are running.
Nancy Smith Lea, a road safety advocate and director of the Centre for Active Transportation, says both that project and the High Line in New York City — a public park built on an elevated freight line — are instances where community-driven ideas eventually became reality.
“If we just shut these ideas down from the beginning, we’re never going to achieve them,” she says.
Read full article: Bike lanes alongside train tracks could beef up city’s cycling network, architects say