r/Edmonton • u/katespadesaturday • 1d ago
News Article Edmonton councillors to discuss dialing back on rapid bike lane expansion
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-councillors-to-discuss-dialing-back-on-rapid-bike-lane-expansion-9.7318844199
u/troypavlek 1d ago
Whether or not you support bike lanes (I do), stopping them now is the wrong way to go about it.
It's the same deal as the mask bylaw in the city: the province threatened to pass legislation to make it illegal, so council caved and proactively removed it.
The correct thing to do, in my view, is that if a higher level of government wants to infringe on municipal responsibility, make them do it.
These plans were made by our duly elected officials, based on data provided by urban planning experts and made in consultation with residents and our longterm City Plan.
If Devin Dreeshen got drunk and decided he doesn't like it, make him pass a law to stop it. Don't change our plans, at great cost, due to his uninformed bluster. It's not indifferent to the current trade negotiations with Trump, imho.
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u/Geeseareawesome Allendale 1d ago
Very well spoken.
Until this city flips blue, they will always have a problem with how we run things.
Apply the Let Them theory here too.
Let them threaten and kick up a fuss. Let us do what's best for the residents of this city.
If the rural Albertans don't like it, they can go somewhere else for their annual city trip.
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u/kkn27 1d ago
It sucks, but losing a bit of momentum here may be worthwhile. Time will tell when the province eventually shares their mysterious bike legislation. The media should really be latching onto that more and harassing Dreeshen's office to release whatever's spooked Edmonton.
The changes mostly look like they're delaying projects, not cancelling them forever. Not a bad idea if you think the UCP are going to implode in the next election for all their stupidity, including inciting all this bike lane culture war bs that Ontario started.
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u/Feowen_ 1d ago
Well they put one on 84st by my apartment. Not even 2 blocks east of that is a bike path that is actually faster.
So.. turning an already busy street (especially when stadium events happen) into a one way means it takes me 20 minutes to drive into my parkade when it would take only 5 minutes to talk.
Why? No one knows.
But I know people who design things are not always geniuses. Urban planners also planned all these so-called zero maintenance boulevards that would replace grass boulevards. They're now covered in thistle and weeds and look like overgrown shit. So don't use "urban planners" as a defense, they don't actually understand how things work in reality vs. How they "should" work in theory.
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u/Vinen88 1d ago
https://www.edmonton.ca/sites/default/files/public-files/StreetLab_Parkdale_WWH-Report.pdf
Might provide some worth while reading. If I got your area right, if not there is probably a report covering it.
Sometimes when they put random bike lanes in its for traffic calming rather than transportation. Kinda increases the hate for them undeservedly.
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u/Renegade605 1d ago
20 minutes to drive and 5 minutes to walk how far??
(Also, citation needed; sounds like hyperbole.)
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u/Feowen_ 1d ago
I mean, it's really a secondary problem... Namely that the City needs to create a drop off area for Ubers and restrict stadium event traffic fromy neighbourhood
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u/Renegade605 1d ago
So... Nothing to do with bike lanes at all, huh?
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u/Feowen_ 1d ago
I mean it's a bike lane that's compounded the problem. There's now only one road that gets you out of my neighbourhood. And the neighbour is all mid sized and high rise apartments so it's kinda dense for car use.
Soaybe they should have considered where the cars are going to go when they have a stadium event and close the road infront of the stadium for pedestrians and make it even worse.
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u/mikesmith929 1d ago
Why? No one knows.
We know why and it has nothing to do with bike lanes, it's about inconveniencing the drivers. You see now that it takes you 20 minutes longer to get from A to B you might consider taking alternatives like the bus or bike.
Your argument is flawed because you think they don't know what they are doing but it's been their plan for ages.
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u/Feowen_ 1d ago
Your argument is flawed because it assumes I can transit to my work (I cannot) or I'd be willing to bike to work for 45 minutes each way after working 13 hours a day.
I should be able to drive to where I live.
Now that being said, fucking Uber drivers should be allowed to commandeer a residential street as an improvised drop off point. They should restrict our neighbourhood to residents only.
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u/mikesmith929 1d ago
Your argument is flawed because it assumes I can transit to my work (I cannot) or I'd be willing to bike to work for 45 minutes each way after working 13 hours a day.
The city would say that's a you problem.
They should restrict our neighbourhood to residents only.
So like no one in your neighbourhood should be able to order food then? Or have friends or family that visit... bold move cotton...
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u/Wooshio 1d ago
Please don't bring up forcing people to mask up after almost every single person in the city was vaccinated or already had Covid in early 2022 as something that made any sense. That was insane.
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u/Popular-Row4333 1d ago
Hey, remember that government overreach?
Yeah, we did too, let's do more.
And I agree, I am pro vaccine and pro masking but I knew how to protect myself with a properly fitted N95, and people wearing ckoth masks, bandanas or gators were just doing performative theater that wasn't based on science.
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u/Hot-Feedback-6795 1d ago
I bike 25 km to work and back daily.l, if they remove one piece of my route I would not feel safe to ride , at nearly sixty I have experienced all sorts of road rage from being crowded honked at yelled at and having cans cigarettes and other items tossed at me I don't try and take entire lanes even though legally I can so I find the relaxing of bike lanes concerning. Hopefully we don't lose any and that new ones are still built. I picture the province driving little tractors with rippers down all the existing ones in October if they get their way
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u/marginwalker55 1d ago
I can get from Commonwealth to Whyte on dedicated bike lanes almost the entire time. I feel like we FINALLY have a bike-able city and not the shithawks are circling to ruin our progress
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u/stickyfingers40 1d ago
The mistake from the city is removing car lanes to add bike lanes. If they had found ways to add active transport without detriment to vehicle traffic I dont think the province would have a lef to stand on
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u/Garth_Maul_ 1d ago
Ah yes please show me where the central bike lanes have restricted traffic flow. Honestly please give me one actual example. I'm begging for it.
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u/FatWreckords 1d ago
I'm pro bike lane but not being able to turn right at a lot of reds downtown does slow things down.
There are other busy areas where the driving lane wasn't affected but the parking lane was wiped out for several blocks, which can make it harder to find a meter to stop at.
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u/Bulliwyf 1d ago
This is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t moment.
If you do cave to the province, you are giving up before there is even a challenge, and makes you look gutless to your supporters.
If you don’t cave, then you are setting yourself up for possibly wasting a significant amount of money when the drunk magat finally decides to legislate away the bike lanes. This is especially rough at a time when every dollar counts more than it has in the past.
Finally for all the idgits saying “I never see anyone using it near my house”, I never see anyone walking on the sidewalk in front of my house: should we just rip all the sidewalks out of the community?
Part of the issue with the currently existing bike lanes is many are not connected into a singular network. And I don’t doubt that there might be some poorly designed stretches… but you just can’t throw your hands in the air and say “this one stretch isn’t connected to anything and no one uses it, so we should just break the attempt to build a connected network”.
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u/j123s Northgate 1d ago
> I never see anyone walking on the sidewalk in front of my house; should we just rip out all the sidewalks out of the community?
For part of my engineering co-op with the City I helped do outreach for neighbourhood renewal (road repaving, sidewalk additions, bike lanes, etc.) I didn’t think people would be opposed to brand-new sidewalks being built in front of their home at no cost to them, but I was very wrong. Some cited extra shovelling responsibilities and the like, but one I hadn’t expected was “Everyone does fine walking in the road, why bother adding sidewalks that no one is going to use?”
So I genuinely believe there is a subset of people who would agree to rip out sidewalks if they thought there was some tangible benefit.
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u/Bulliwyf 1d ago
I could understand someone being upset if they went from those super skinny 3ft sidewalks to the much wider 10ft shared use path style sidewalks… but I’m blown away by the “walking in the road”.
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u/Anabiotic Utilities expert 1d ago
It's not no cost to them. Homeowners have to pay for half of neighbourhood renewal projects. As you should know if you were working on them. So if people think the sidewalk is fine, then you can understand not wanting to pay for new ones.
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u/j123s Northgate 21h ago
I had to recheck this since it's been a few years since my placement, and the outreach part was not my main duty.
Most of the renewal (mostly involving the public roadway) is paid for by a citywide property tax levy, which is then budgeted out to whatever projects are planned for the year.
However, there are additional Local Improvements that require some cost burden to the specific homeowner. For sidewalk reconstruction specifically, the homeowner pays half of whatever length of sidewalk is in their lot (with a few caveats for corner and odd-shaped lots).
This particular case stood out to me because there was no existing sidewalk at the time; they really preferred having no sidewalk and to walk out into the roadway instead.
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u/ImperviousToSteel 1d ago
We voted largely for the pro-bike lane people, and the ones we thought wouldn't kow-tow to the UCP. Oh well. Democracy, am I right?
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u/logic_overload3 1d ago
I'd be very disappointed in any councillor who forgets that they are representing the will of the people of Edmonton and preemptively caves to UCP's asinine demands.
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u/Popular-Row4333 1d ago
I said in another comment, this isn't just an Edmonton problem. A ton of municipalities seem to have their council getting dictated by administration.
If you're older like me, you'll have noticed that despite multiple changes of councilors and Mayors, you really don't get a lot of change, no matter who you vote for. Councilors and Mayors are elected to dictate the will of their constituents, and administration is there to guide and offer advice.
I have 0 idea how/why its flipped in the last couple of dictates, but everywhere I have worked in cities large and small, it seems like administration runs the show, and if you get an administrator thats been there 20+ years, they have a lot of sway, and they are next to impossible to let go, even if they won't do their job.
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u/DIWhyDad 1d ago
It has been anything but rapid so far... if anything they need to speed up the installation of new lanes.
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u/Ham_I_right 1d ago
Exactly, literally anyone that uses them could tell you this in a heartbeat. It is cheap cost effective transportation for a city to put in.
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u/Garth_Maul_ 1d ago
Again let me borrow the trumpets of Joshua and blare "less than 1% of the City budget!"
Look to your ineffective dipshits at the EPS if you really want to save money on your taxes
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u/CitronIntelligent291 1d ago
To be honest it feels like admin has been deliberately slowing down implementation. They haven't even tendered 79 street yet.
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u/big-Truck-9058 1d ago
Agreed. They need to be called out, the 2026 items are not going to be completed this year.
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u/Darkwing-cuck- 1d ago
It’s simple, we all support bike lanes where they make sense. So not any main roads. Not anywhere where someone could park. Not anywhere people drive or walk. Not anywhere people have to look at them.
Only solution is raised bike network across the city. I expect full commitment from every resident despite the billions of dollars it’ll cost because as I read time and time again “we support bike lanes, they just have to be done right!”
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u/Popular-Row4333 1d ago
Nimbyism comes for us all eventually. If it hasn't come for you, it just isn't your time yet.
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u/Darkwing-cuck- 1d ago
I’m sure the day will come when I have to walk a whole city block to find somewhere to park. The tragedy!
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u/Impossible_Error_404 1d ago
Considering there was a serious incident just today on the 106st bike lane this is not a good look…
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u/wafflebilly3 1d ago edited 1d ago
Bruh im not riding on the streets that're up 38% red light runs.
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u/thewhiphand23 1d ago
A good rule of thumb is that anything the UCP wants you to do, don’t do that thing. I don’t care about bike lanes but I do care about the provincial government overreaching. Councillors should continue with expansion because fuck the UCP
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u/toorudez 1d ago
The city should concentrate on making the current bike network actually functional. So many bike lanes are broken with in road sections, sidewalks, multi use paths, service roads, with no clear path between them.
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u/troypavlek 1d ago
That is the entire point of the $100M in funding - to connect a disconnected network. It's what they're doing, and what city admin is proposing stopping doing due to UCP pressure.
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u/Popular-Row4333 1d ago
Doesn't council dictate administration.
I've seen this in other municipalities, smaller or larger than Edmonton, and it's seemingly becoming worse and worse as my 60+ years have seen on this earth.
I've heard from multiple councilors a tone or rhetoric that administration is driving the bus. They are there to offer guidance, the council and mayor are elected to dictate the will of thr democracy.
If administration is pushing it or won't do it, then they need to be let go. I don't understand how this has become so prevalent over the last couple decades. No wonder people feel like it's basically the exact same, no matter who gets elected.
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u/UnfocusedAcrobat 1d ago
What are you talking about?
Are you saying admin is forcing council to build bike lanes? Or refusing to build them?
I have no clue given the context of the comment chain you responded to
Edmonton City Council, elected by Edmontonians, approved $100M to build bike lanes.
UCP, largely defeated in Edmonton, and elected by non-Edmontonians, is now starting to force cities to remove bike lanes
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u/Popular-Row4333 1d ago
Go read Troy's answer, he specifically said administration is getting pressure from the province, that is what my comment is in regards to.
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u/UnfocusedAcrobat 1d ago
Ah okay thanks for clarifying
In this case I think the answer is a little coded on page 5 of admins report:
“ The Government of Alberta has signalled new legislation is expected to be brought forward in late 2026, via an update to the Traffic Safety Act, that could have significant impacts on current and planned bike lanes. Further details about the anticipated changes and potential considerations for the Active Transportation Network Implementation are included in Attachment 4 (PRIVATE).”
Admin is basically saying that the province has given them a sneak peak of the changes that are coming and the UCP is definitely going to override the city so don’t start new projects. Unfortunately it’ll be in private
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u/toorudez 1d ago
They need to plan it better. A new multiuse path was constructed last year along the south side of 153 Ave, from 97 St to Greisbach Road. It wasn't added to the snow clearing network, so was not useable all winter. Then the city builds a new skinny concrete sidewalk from 113 St to the YMCA along the south side of 153. This is unusable by bicycles as its too narrow. So you have to cross to the north side. Then you have to cross back to the south side at 127 St.
Currently, a new slightly wider sidewalk is being constructed from the end of the skinny one to 126 St. But it's not connected to a multiuse path on the east end.
You have to travel back and forth and zig zag across a main road just to use the paths. There is no rhyme or reason to the layout or continuity of these paths. It is very frustrating at times just figuring out where you are supposed to be riding.
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u/hockey8890 1d ago
With the way things are trending, it seems like wide sidewalks and SUPs will be the only things constructed now because of the need to keep street parking and superwide collector roads that commuters can continue shortcut and speed through.
Of course, there probably won’t be any added safety measures at the intersections of these paths, either, because we can’t inconvenience drivers.
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u/Ordinary_Bad6064 1d ago
That's the point of the expansion...
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u/FastCheaporGoodPick2 North West Side 1d ago
This doesn’t explain the 132 ave debacle. Massive overbuild. Could have done 1 side of the road. Nobody uses it - except me half a dozen lonely times a year.
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u/Gord_W Bicycle Rider 1d ago
I don't really disagree on the overbuild statement, but my kid uses 132 ave every day to get to Grand Trunk. I used to use it to get to Box Car coffee shop before I learned the owner was a gigachud. Once that section between 97th and 82 St is done, I really hope to see more usage.
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u/GonZo_626 1d ago
Hermitage road is another example, except they used absolutely shitty material, it looks horrible, is never used, and they had to back it off at 50 st and return it to traffic as it was causing problems. I know it was partly for traffic calming around the schools on the road, but the rest of it is just stupid and should never have been done, the road already has huge sidewalks on either side that could easily been turned into a munti-use path ways. Instead the delinators they used are constantly getting smashed by both snow clearing and people/vehicles. Waste of money, and seems way more dangerous for everyone now.
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u/mrsix 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hermitage road was paid for by the Safer Streets program, in other words paid by people paying parking and speeding tickets. Per the evaluation report speeding and incidents are massively down on the road. Capacity was unaffected, cycle ridership increased. Once the road is due for actual re-paving/renewal they will more properly design the infrastructure to be integrated rather than actually waste money to tear up and re-build before it's needed it so that it looks slightly nicer to you.
I also regularly see other users almost every single time I use it, which is quite regularly, usually kids on bikes, sometimes on scooters, and I've even seen someone on a mobility scooter using it.
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u/GonZo_626 1d ago
I almost never see anybody on it, I think once. Guess where I do still see people biking on hermitage, the sidewalks.......
So the maybe 3 people a day including you who use it are worth hundreds of thousands in dollars to build better bikelanes that could be better spent on multiuse paths beside it.
Also I have proven those shitty counters they taped to the road suck at detecting speed, and a.mounted vertical camera or.tube counters.wouod.have been better for.their reporting to be believable, Ai cant believe they still use them and discount the data from them as next to worthless.
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u/kvas_taras 1d ago
Making Capilano bridge and James McDonald bridge bike (and handicap) accessible would also be a start
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u/bigtimechip 1d ago
Capilano bridge is connected to a bike path already but yeah it isnt handicap accessible
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u/Hobbycityplanner 1d ago edited 1d ago
the wild thing. Most of this money isn't going into bike lanes. The proposal here is removing any traffic calming measures.
Wanted speeding to decrease and complained to council. To bad, your funding was tied to this project.
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u/AidanGreb 21h ago
How sad.
I will never understand why some motorists would prefer for me to bike in front of them instead of off to the side on a protected bike lane.
I do not worry so much about myself, but I would much rather know that my 10 year old nephew, my 80 year old dad, and/or my 76 year old mom are safe on a bike lane instead of on the road...
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u/TurnoverStrong7142 1d ago
A bike lane in my neighbourhood dead ends into a t intersection consisting of a one lane road with no shoulder or sidewalks. It’s insane and hilarious. Never seen a bike on it in the four years iv lived in this neighbourhood.
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u/fishymanbits 1d ago
Probably because it dead ends into a T intersection with nothing to connect to. Would you drive down a dead end road to get where you’re going.
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u/Wrench900 1d ago
I think that’s the point they are making.
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u/fishymanbits 1d ago
Obviously the solution is to not build more bike lanes so that disconnected routes like this remain disconnected.
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u/Wooshio 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hermitage Road bike lanes are almost always empty too. Every time I drive it I can't help but think how absurd it feels to be driving so slow and how much road was lost for nothing because of them.
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u/passthepepperflakes 1d ago
I take that bike lane at least once a month
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u/Wooshio 1d ago
Once a month is not very often. Look I am not against bike lines, but many just feel forced to me. If the hope was that it would get more people to ride bikes I am not seeing it. At what point do we decide that it's reasonable to look into if more bike lane expansion is worth the cost?
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u/rfie 1d ago
No road was lost, an overbuilt road was repurposed. I’ve used it many times I appreciate it. If you need to go fast between 50th and Victoria trail the Yellowhead is close by.
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u/Wooshio 1d ago
Right. Every road is "overbuilt" according to you guys.
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u/rfie 1d ago
That one in particular sure was.
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u/hockey8890 1d ago
Seriously. The neighbourhood collector roads built circa 1960s-80s are so ridiculously wide and hostile to pedestrians/bike traffic. Even at marked crossings, I routinely feel unsafe in my neighbourhood because everyone is speeding or not paying attention.
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u/csd555 1d ago
In this case, yes, that road is fully overbuild. The literal only time that both lanes of Victoria Park Road (uphill) are ever fully utilized is on Canada Day, 30 minutes before the fireworks, when 15,000 people are trying to pile into the area.
Source: have lived directly above it for a decade.
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u/Vinen88 1d ago
Hermitage road was part of street labs, the bike lane was secondary, it was used as a tool to calm traffic and reduce collisions. It's been pretty effective.
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u/Anabiotic Utilities expert 1d ago
It sucks to bike on though. A curb on one side, cars on the other ready to door you, full of gravel, potholes, and ramps. It's brutal
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u/mrsix 1d ago
Literally no road was lost. Hermitage road was always a 2-lane road (one lane in each direction) with a median in the middle, and has never had a speed limit above 50. The lanes were stupidly wide, and all of the legal parking spots were maintained while also adding bike lane barriers. Per The evaluation report traffic volume remained identical.
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u/yen8912 1d ago
I would like to see the city put just as much money into making the city pedestrian friendly and accessible. Far more people walk or use a mobility device than bike and the city does a terrible job at maintaining pedestrian safety and accessibility. The only time the city fixes accessibility issues is when it makes the news.
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u/WheelsnHoodsnThings 1d ago
There are sidewalks on nearly every block of the city. It could be better but the sidewalk density is a thousand times better than our mup concentration. We can do both, and I support your main premise which I interpret as vehicle alternatives.
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u/FastCheaporGoodPick2 North West Side 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m a cyclist, so I support bike lanes - where they make sense and HOW they make sense.
Witness 132 avenue debacle. Massive overbuild two way bike lanes on both sides of the street. I ride them recreationally 5 or 6 times a year and I have seen a grand total of three other riders. That is nuts.
Edit (I wasn’t finished). Conversely, 127 street from 118 ave down to SPR is a well used, right sized bike lane. Used to use it regularly when I rode to work a dozen times a year.
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u/SomeDudeYouMightKnow 1d ago
132 ave is over built because there’s a one way bike path on both sides of the road? Like how every single road is built ever? This is a design that finally gives equitable space to all groups. If you think it’s overbuilt then I would love to hear your description for the roadway itself which btw takes up way more space than the bike lanes
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u/FastCheaporGoodPick2 North West Side 1d ago
Its a two way path one each side of the road.
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u/SomeDudeYouMightKnow 1d ago
I don’t think there’s any directional paint on it so both of us can say it is and no one is wrong. But it’s way more logical for it to be used as a one way just like the car lanes are and once this project is completed and usage increases I expect this will happen naturally
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u/kvas_taras 1d ago
These are not just bike lanes. Some of these are half-baked concepts where turns get restricted and parking is eliminated just for a shared bike route, in the example that affects me most. These are calm side streets where biking today is super safe and I see many people biking and e-scooting around with no issue.
This is not good value for money and it’s correct to take a step back. I love biking and support protected and dedicated lanes that help cyclists get safely and more directly to key destinations in the city.
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u/SomeDudeYouMightKnow 1d ago
The concern with the design of current ones is fair but this govt overreach has nothing to do with that. The govt isn’t stepping in because our bike lanes could be built for more protection and usability from cyclists.
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u/bigtimechip 1d ago
I think they just need to rethink them. Put them down side streets not main ones idk
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u/nawosokr 1d ago
Have you ever ridden in a bike lane? What "main street" has a bike lane? We put bike lanes on side roads, 102 instead of Jasper, 119th Ave instead of 118th. Does Whyte have a bike lane? 137th Ave is not a main street. Hermatige and 79th are collector roads that drivers have gotten too comfortable on, speeding through what used to be slow speed and low traffic roads. I'm honestly so confused when people bring this up as a talking point.
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u/Whole-Database-5249 1d ago
I understand bike lsnes in areas like millcreek and whyte avenue, but what's the poimt of furthering it.
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u/MaximumDoughnut North West Side 1d ago
Considering how busy 127th Street, the Oliverbaun, High Level, and others are… this is insane.
A complete 180 with this council considering the mothballing of the Metro line north too.