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Cycling and Active Transportation in Edmonton

Edmonchuk said:
And how do you change the culture? By introducing bike infrastructure.
Europe hasn't always been a bike paradise land. It took a lot of time to change the mentality.

There are many cities in Europe that are not bike friendly at all. You wouldn't want to bike in Rome.
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I agree with you, but my (and others) point is that, if you don't need to spend extra money to build ot with some extra degree of protection, why not do it?

We actually said the same thing, too. We need to build the infrastructure and change this (hideous) car-centric culture and, as we build it, drivers will become more respectful and biking will become safer. I just believe that the best way to start this movement is by building protected bike lanes, for several reasons:

1 - it's flat our safer for bikers.
2 - it enhances safety, walkability and comfort for pedestrians as well.
3 - it sends a message to drivers that bikes are here, they're not going anywhere, and they have as much priority as the cars.
3.1 - because of this, it will, eventually, sink into driver's habits that cyclists are not just kids or "woke" people
4 - It can be just as cheap as unprotected (just by using parking protected lanes)
5 - In some areas where you can decide to build dedicated, specialized infrastructure, it can have a significant urbanistical and architectural impact and revitalize some areas, becoming a positive banner for the biking cause.
 
I think it would be great to have more bike/pedestrian bridges in some parts of the river valley. For example, I’d like to see some kind of bridge over Connors/Rossdale Road at the crosswalk and traffic light by the Grierson Hill overpass.
 
Bro. I'm super pro cycling. I'm a part of Paths for People and very engaged in the edmonton bike culture. I'm not critiquing what happened in 2009-2015 as some sort of blanket hatred of bikes.

I'm saying, as a cyclist, I saw the damage done to public trust and perception of biking infastructure when the first rendition of it was poorly done. Its OK to criticize and expect better of something we support. I'm currently working with Knack and others to get a protected bike lane back on 95ave from 142 to 178st. But its going to be such an uphill battle cause there were back lanes there already. And they were dangerous, inconvenient to drivers (which is hard to justify when almost no bikers used them), and expensive to rip back out. It made the city look incompetent and gave fodder to the anti bike people out there to sway the masses to their view.

Thankfully, as the articles explain, after 2015 the city took a new approach. They did concentrated networks in DT and now the Southside univeristy/whyte area. These are high quality, protected bike infastruxtures that actually increase cycling numbers. But even those networks have been a fight to get public support of because of past blunders. Trust is hard to build and easy to lose. The city lost trust by doing it bad the first time.

Also, I've attached the pic above man and I literally grew up there. There were painted bike lanes all over terwillegar. The majority got removed except select areas like the rec center. Thats just the "mistake" im pointing to as evidence of where the city made mistakes. And again, the article says 35million was spent on painted bike infastructure in the suburbs. Nothing to disagree about. It's just facts.

I'm really hoping the 23-26 capital budget will include multiple build outs for bike network zones. Especially the west side.
 
Big bike advocate here too and I support new infrastructure for many reasons.

I still can't wrap my head around why painted bike lanes cost so much based on those figures and news articles shared above. it scares me to think how much it must cost to paint lines on all our roads for vehicles to separate lanes or the shoulders on highways.
 
thommyjo said:
This is the 95 ave one. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmo...to-remove-bike-lanes-on-95th-avenue-1.3142737

I lived in terwillegar, and all along the roads leading to schools and the rec center and bus station they did lanes (painted bike gutters).

This was all done before the downtown network was created. You can still see the remnant of the lanes in some neighbourhoods that kept a few secrions, or where just the edge of a roadway has been repaved after paint removal.

This article from 2009 pegs about 35million for painted bike lanes. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmo...-100m-plan-for-bike-lanes-and-trails-1.817889

This one from 2014 highlights 3 painted gutters on arterial roads that failed and were removed: https://edmontonsun.com/2014/10/15/gunter-city-needs-to-give-up-on-bike-lanes
Click to expand...
Late to this, but here is another example of the Saddleback Road (in the SW) painted bike lane near the 23 Ave intersection, earlier this year. Street parking right beside it, 2 parking lot access points (sightlines obscured by parked cars), and a busy intersection ahead of people making turns out of the neighborhoods onto 23 Ave.

I do realize that I am going faster in this video than most cyclists (probably around 40km/hr in this vid) but I think the video illustrates how unsafe the old painted lanes can be due to the many potential conflict points with vehicular traffic, coupled with poor sightlines. I am pretty sure I would have gotten hit in the intersection if I was in the lane in this instance. And when you add on the fact that a good number of drivers here are unaware of their surroundings, can't keep their lane, don't signal, and have a 'must get in front' mentality...

https://imgur.com/a/VwHYm0h
 
ntt1 said:
Late to this, but here is another example of the Saddleback Road (in the SW) painted bike lane near the 23 Ave intersection, earlier this year. Street parking right beside it, 2 parking lot access points (sightlines obscured by parked cars), and a busy intersection ahead of people making turns out of the neighborhoods onto 23 Ave.

I do realize that I am going faster in this video than most cyclists (probably around 40km/hr in this vid) but I think the video illustrates how unsafe the old painted lanes can be due to the many potential conflict points with vehicular traffic, coupled with poor sightlines. I am pretty sure I would have gotten hit in the intersection if I was in the lane in this instance. And when you add on the fact that a good number of drivers here are unaware of their surroundings, can't keep their lane, don't signal, and have a 'must get in front' mentality...

https://imgur.com/a/VwHYm0h
Click to expand...

Going at that speed on the painted lane (or any street for that matter) makes you invisible to drivers. I've had countless near misses (or near hits) with people pulling out of driveways, opening doors, even drivers speeding way past the speed limit just to get in front of me and turn right. I usually move right to the middle of the lane way before intersections like you did there, it angers drivers but keeps me safer.
 
RH van der Rohe said:
Going at that speed on the painted lane (or any street for that matter) makes you invisible to drivers. I've had countless near misses (or near hits) with people pulling out of driveways, opening doors, even drivers speeding way past the speed limit just to get in front of me and turn right. I usually move right to the middle of the lane way before intersections like you did there, it angers drivers but keeps me safer.
Click to expand...
Definitely, I've ridden enough kms on roads in this city to know various strategies to keep myself visible to drivers and anticipate certain manoeuvres. It seems that there is a general lack of understanding on the part of many drivers on what it's like to ride a bike on the road.

This lane can particlarly be bad when cars are queued up to turn left at busy times, you're pretty much forced to slow down and take narrow bike lane through, and pray that nobody hits you in the intersection. Some cars also come mighty close when passing me in these painted lanes as well, almost as if the paint were some sort of barrier or something...

As for other horrible painted bike lanes in the Southside, the ones on 106 Street through the Ermineskin area (south of 34 Ave) are downright hazardous due to how bad the road conditions there are.
 
To continue airing my grievances about cycling infrastructure on the southside, here is an example of a completely unnecessary slip lane, leading into the Skyrattler neighbourhood going off 111 Street SB onto Saddleback road (photo is looking eastbound). The turn radius to cross the road and crosswalk is very unfriendly for cyclists, along with certain sightlines as it is a decently busy intersection.

The 111 Street MUP goes along the west side of the road and I can't even count how many times I've almost been hit by people trying to turn right on the red to get on 111St SB. Often times there will also be a long queue of vehicles stopped in the bike lane trying to turn right as well.

Really hoping that this intersection is completely overhauled when the LRT construction comes through here... but perhaps I shouldn't get my hopes up.
Screen Shot 2021-11-09 at 11.54.49 AM.png
 
Platinum107 said:
🤬

Mad more so at the city than the drivers for not putting up good signage and not building enough separation from the street for this to happen!
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Yeah, looking at the picture I honestly can't tell that there's even a bike lane there. I definitely get how drivers would miss this, especially those who parked after a vehicle was already there.
Alleged bike lane.jpg
 
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In this phase of engagement, we want to hear your thoughts about the draft concept plan. Review the narrated presentation and information boards (10MB) then provide your feedback in our online survey before November 30, 2021.

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Platinum107 said:
🤬

Mad more so at the city than the drivers for not putting up good signage and not building enough separation from the street for this to happen!
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I saw this a couple of weeks back before the snowfall. Cars parked there right from the start because the city left the original parking signs there. As noted, poor job rolling this out.
 
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As someone why bikes a lot, I parked here a month ago. Haha. Literally no signage, and its new construction, so there's uncertainty about the changes, mixed with seeing other cars parked, so I dont blame anyone thats parking there haha.

Also don't get why it's raised here, but around the corner is street level. No markings, signage, consistency. Just silly. Do better city.
 
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