Meeting A Demand: Celebrating Our Downtown Bike Lanes
Edmonton is the youngest major city in Canada with a highly educated workforce. That’s a huge competitive advantage for our city, and this demographic wave is changing how we think about, plan and build our city. The truth is, young Edmontonians can choose to work in almost any city in the world – and if we don’t start building our city for the next generation, more will decide to move elsewhere, and fewer talented people will chose Edmonton. As our city grows, it’s vital we provide people with a suite of transportation options which includes good road infrastructure, efficient public transit, safer, more enjoyable pedestrian experiences and – yes – great bike lanes.
In 2013, our work to increase cycling opportunities stalled as the city went back to the drawing board to re-examine where we were putting bike lanes and how we could make them safer. I agreed with Council that our efforts needed to be focused on first establishing high quality cycling routes that connected our core neighbourhoods like downtown, Oliver, Strathcona, and our post-secondary institutions. This is where demand is already the highest, but it’s also where the potential is highest to attract new riders. And so, I was pleased to see Council unanimously approve construction of a network of downtown bike lanes last fall.
And here we are, celebrating the opening of these lanes – slightly ahead of schedule and modestly under budget. Since the downtown lanes opened, our statistics show that the number of people riding into the core has quadrupled. Clearly, there is a demand for a safe cycling network judging by these usage numbers and by the number of people (themselves taxpayers, I might add) that showed up to ride in Saturday’s grand opening.
As we grow, we need to build Edmonton with a big city outlook. The way we think about growing and moving, how we are working and living and the ways in which we’re responding to social, environmental and economic changes are shifting. As our city grows, transportation options must also evolve. We’re on the right track with LRT, our transit system improvements are ongoing and our active transportation options – including bike lanes – must also expand as well.
As our city grows, like any major city, traffic congestion will only get worse. The same question I asked in my recent LRT blog also applies here: what are the right strategies to get ahead of this coming congestion? New transportation choices reduce the pressure on our roads and lead to a healthier city and cleaner air. As Mayor and Council, we need to keep this big picture in mind as we make these transitions.
The bike lanes along 98 ave. go unused most of the time, and create a lot more traffic congestion. And for how many millions?
I think many more people may avoid coming downtown to dine & drink, and it will only be busy during big concert events, since the parking has gone up 300%, and traffic is so bad now because of the barely used bike lanes that have been added.
You can’t leave your bike locked up anywhere for more than a few minutes or part of it will be stolen by a vagrant.
I had been wondering if something had happened recently to increase the profile of the new bike grid. My route in from the west end went from being a bit busier, but still pretty sparse, to heavy bike traffic since last week. Can’t wait for 102 ave to be completed. Heading west through Oliver is still a very unpleasant riding experience.
And Stella, there is no bike lane on 98th Ave. I’ve been riding downtown 3-5 days per week for the past decade. Number of bikes stolen: zero. Your comment so fits the stereotypes of anti-bike infrastructure posts that I have to ask: is it intended to be parody?
My comment vanished after leaving it unattended. But my bicycle has been stolen along with another family members bicycle …so …not anti bike infrastructure, just a comment on the lack of attention to to certain areas. Help this area sucks!
It is not realistic to expect thousands of people to start riding today as there are still barriers. Getting to the downtown network is still challenging for many. I urge you to keep the growth of the network outside the downtown to connect to downtown/university a priority. As accessibility to the network becomes easier for people further afield I think we will see ridership steadily increasing. I have to say though that changing/showering facilities and lockers would be welcome. Employers don’t want sweaty-stinky staff in offices! Working with downtown employers to offer such amenities would be a good step forward.
I applaud council’s efforts to expand Edmonton’s bike infrastructure and urge them to continue their work. As we think of alternatives to car travel, we need to consider connectivity. The urban LRT is a big win but will it facilitate cyclists? Will I be able to put my bike on the train? Careful consideration of the connections to and from the expanding LRT grid is vital. We need to facilitate people travelling the “first and last mile” of their journey or we won’t be taking full advantage of our investment in transit.
Mr. Iveson – I appreciate what you are trying to do for the city but I am really concerned about how the bike lanes have been built. I live and commute to work downtown everyday and there are some real safety concerns because of the bike lanes. Here are three that I hope you take a look at:
1) The bike lane on 102 ave has made the car lane so narrow that when a person parked on the street opens their car door and a car approaches – they could get hurt
2) On 103 street between Jasper and 100 ave, when turning into and out of parkades, vehicles cannot see bicyclists because of the cars parked on the road
3) Police do not monitor bicyclists following traffic sign – watch 103 ave to see if anyone on a bike stops at a Stop sign.
I am really concerned that someone will get hurt. I would really appreciate it if you can look into this. Thank you.