For Emily Flynn, the joy biking to work is twofold. She gets to exercise and see the city of Kingston at the same time.

“I use the bike lanes and bike infrastructure in our city every day," Flynn said.

She is the city’s health and wellness director, but recently gained a new title as the project manager for the city’s “Be a Road Hero” safety campaign.

“The city has installed new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in the city so that all users are safer," she said. "And we’re all safer if we use the infrastructure correctly.”

Flynn is part of the effort to educate pedestrians, drivers, and bikers how to safely use it.

Kingston has seen more people use bicycles as their primary source of transportation. And according to Mayor Steve Noble, frequent accidents involving cyclists along a stretch of Broadway made it necessary to add new features to make Kingston safer.

Some of the new infrastructure includes traffic lights at crosswalks specifically for bicyclists. As well as new crosswalk lights to raise extra attention when pedestrians cross busy parts of Broadway.

“They’re called rapid flash beacons and that’s because they’ve got extra lights for pedestrians to be able to cross, because there’s no light at this intersection," Flynn said.

She adds that the changes have made her feel safer biking around the city, and that raising awareness through the campaign will do more to make others more confident in the new features that should reduce accidents between cyclists and drivers.

“It’s imperative that people know how to use this infrastructure," Flynn said. "Not just pedestrians and cyclists, but drivers as well. Everyone needs to know how to use our infrastructure so that they can stay safe.”

You can find more information about Kingston’s new infrastructure at the Engage Kingston website.