The Alberni Valley will celebrate Earth Day on Saturday, April 22 by focusing on cycling.
Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns has chosen to come to his own riding to launch a national cycling strategy—a project he has been working on for the past year. Johns is the kind to practice what he preaches: we featured him last year when he was cycling to work at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, even during the snow.
The Young Professionals of the Alberni Valley will also be launching a cycling project of their own: they have spent nearly two years fundraising and coordinating the inclusion of new bike racks around the city to better accommodate cyclists. The first one will be officially unveiled on Earth Day.
Cycle Alberni is gearing up for Bike to Work Week in May too, and bringing the focus of two-wheeled transportation to the forefront.
The City of Port Alberni is also updating its active transportation plan to see where it’s at in terms of bicycle facilities and other aspects of the plan.
Cycling isn’t popular with every sector of the community, but you can’t fault the efforts of those who are staunch supporters of this mode of transportation. They have a vision to increase the use of bicycles in the Alberni Valley, and they are working in a dedicated manner to educate people on what facilities are available, and what supports are out there for those who want to use their bicycles.
Now we would like to see an effort to educate both drivers and cyclists on how to share the road. Cycling is not a fading fad in the Alberni Valley, so we all need to learn to get along—before something tragic drives home the point.
— Alberni Valley News