This year The Nova Scotia Cycling Summit will be held over three days in Sydney at the Holiday Inn, October 4-6. Starting with a “meet & greet” on Friday evening, the conference will continue with presentations and working sessions, including lunch and nutrition breaks, all day Saturday with special entertainment planned for Saturday night. Indoor valet bike parking is available and there will be an indoor bike washing station. Sunday is a choice between a Making Tracks Training Session organized by Ecology Action Centre or a Bike/Bus Tour. The tour will explore new cycling infrastructure in Sydney including the Open Hearth Park which was developed following the remediated Steel Plant properties and opened September 2013. The route will follow the harbour and the tour includes a picnic lunch.
This year’s summit, based on the theme Building Bridges, is organized by Velo Cape Breton in partnership with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM), Active Transportation Coalition (AcTraC), Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Bicycle Nova Scotia (BNS), MCarroll and Associates, and Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC).
Building Bridges will explore the concerns of engineers and planners versus the expectations of cyclists, looking at the untapped potential in Nova Scotia for cycle transportation, cycle tourism and recreation as it relates to the health & economic benefits of cycling. It will also explore how to build a bridge to bring that cycling culture to the area’s youth.
The keynote speakers will inspire you. Norma Moores and Marc Jolicoeur are both professional engineers specializing in designing for Active Transportation. And they both commute to work by bike.
Norma Moores has 25 years of transportation planning and design experience. She is an instructor for the US National Coalition for Complete Streets policy implementation workshops and a board member of the Board of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. She was raised in Nova Scotia and was the lead designer in the CBRM AT plan and others in Atlantic Canada. She is a member of IBI Group, and cycles to work in Hamilton.
Marc Jolicoeur has been Research Director at Vélo Quebec since 1995. He has trained over 500 professionals across Canada in workshops on pedestrian and cyclist-friendly infrastructure while coordinating technical support to over 300 municipalities and organizations involved in the development of the Route Verte. The Route Verte is an internationally recognized cycling system and is certainly the highlight in Canada. Marc cycles in Montreal and travels with a folding bike.
If you want to be inspired by cycling experts and professionals working in communities across Nova Scotia and Canada, to learn practical strategies to drive cycling forward in your community, and to discuss and share the best practices in an expanded cycling culture, don’t miss the annual Nova Scotia Cycling Summit this weekend at the Holiday Inn in Sydney. Visit Velo Cape Breton for more information or to register.
