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Cycling and Active Transportation in Edmonton

For those wondering what $100 million to build the infrastructure over the next 4 years looks like:

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And once built it will easily be the most affordable, viable transportation option we can provide (other than walking).
 

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TAS said:
For those wondering what $100 million to build the infrastructure over the next 4 years looks like:

View attachment 445649

And once built it will easily be the most affordable, viable transportation option we can provide (other than walking).
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Can someone run the numbers for me on that? Quick and dirty I see 100 mil/ 4 years = (25 mil/yr)/~1mil ppl = $25/person/year?

I think it's important to be careful with the wording around this stuff as it is an option that many folks don't even have be it due to disability and many other valid reasons. Having a solid and safe bike network will certainly induce demand which is great for so many reasons, I just hesitate to get into arguments around using numbers as a justification as I don't think that is a winning argument in the end (but happy to be proven wrong).
 
BASE said:
Can someone run the numbers for me on that? Quick and dirty I see 100 mil/ 4 years = (25 mil/yr)/~1mil ppl = $25/person/year?

I think it's important to be careful with the wording around this stuff as it is an option that many folks don't even have be it due to disability and many other valid reasons. Having a solid and safe bike network will certainly induce demand which is great for so many reasons, I just hesitate to get into arguments around using numbers as a justification as I don't think that is a winning argument in the end (but happy to be proven wrong).
Click to expand...
Personally it could be 100 million, 200 million, and so on, I’m just happy it’s getting investment. As for Janz’s numbers, I imagine it takes into account that not all city revenue is property taxes, and not all property taxes are residential so the explicit amount each individual pays for it through taxes wouldn’t be 25 per year. (If I’m completely off on this please let me know cause taxes aren’t my area of knowledge)
 
BASE said:
Can someone run the numbers for me on that? Quick and dirty I see 100 mil/ 4 years = (25 mil/yr)/~1mil ppl = $25/person/year?

I think it's important to be careful with the wording around this stuff as it is an option that many folks don't even have be it due to disability and many other valid reasons. Having a solid and safe bike network will certainly induce demand which is great for so many reasons, I just hesitate to get into arguments around using numbers as a justification as I don't think that is a winning argument in the end (but happy to be proven wrong).
Click to expand...

Many of the city's capital projects are through debt servicing. Like most, this project will not be paid off by 2026 so can't use 4 years in calculations - similar to Lewis Estates rec centre and many more.
 
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BASE said:
Can someone run the numbers for me on that? Quick and dirty I see 100 mil/ 4 years = (25 mil/yr)/~1mil ppl = $25/person/year?

I think it's important to be careful with the wording around this stuff as it is an option that many folks don't even have be it due to disability and many other valid reasons. Having a solid and safe bike network will certainly induce demand which is great for so many reasons, I just hesitate to get into arguments around using numbers as a justification as I don't think that is a winning argument in the end (but happy to be proven wrong).
Click to expand...
This is a really classic arguement that’s really frustrating tbh. A significant number of people also can’t drive due to disabilities…and old age…and cause their youths. Yet we rarely hear people critique car dependent infrastructure this way. We can’t choose to become accessibility advocates when people are suggesting a 100kms of bike lanes to be added to a transportation system with 11,000kms of roads. Same way everyone suddenly caring a lot about homelessness when the bike plan is discussed is sort of sus because no one seemed to care when we dropped 2bil on yellowhead, terwillegar, 50st and 23ave to essentially move cars a few mins quicker.
 
thommyjo said:
This is a really classic arguement that’s really frustrating tbh. A significant number of people also can’t drive due to disabilities…and old age…and cause their youths. Yet we rarely hear people critique car dependent infrastructure this way. We can’t choose to become accessibility advocates when people are suggesting a 100kms of bike lanes to be added to a transportation system with 11,000kms of roads. Same way everyone suddenly caring a lot about homelessness when the bike plan is discussed is sort of sus because no one seemed to care when we dropped 2bil on yellowhead, terwillegar, 50st and 23ave to essentially move cars a few mins quicker.
Click to expand...

Great point, and just for reference (this from Coun. Hamilton on Ryan Jespersen show today)
The 2023-26 budget contains $21.6 billion in capital and operational spending including:
$4 000 000 000 for roads
$2 000 000 000 for transit
$100 million for bike infra (not including bike lane maintenance) which is 1.64% of our total spending on transportation and moving people around

Which one of those budget line items are taking away spending on homelessness? Oh right, it's the bike spending.
 
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TAS said:
Great point, and just for reference (this from Coun. Hamilton on Ryan Jespersen show today)
The 2023-26 budget contains $21.6 billion in capital and operational spending including:
$4 000 000 000 for roads
$2 000 000 000 for transit
$100 million for bike infra (not including bike lane maintenance) which is 1.64% of our total spending on transportation and moving people around

Which one of those budget line items are taking away spending on homelessness? Oh right, it's the bike spending.
Click to expand...
And our spending on housing, addictions, policing, security, downtown, shelters, etc is actually huge. People don’t realize there are hundreds of millions going into this already. Not to mention that a lot of it is provincial responsibility.
 
engaged.edmonton.ca

Victoria Promenade

Update: December 19, 2022 As soon as the weather and extreme temperatures permit, adjustments will be made to the Victoria Promenade Pilot Project. The timing of this will be driven by temperatures and ensuring that working conditions are safe for our staff (ie. City
engaged.edmonton.ca engaged.edmonton.ca

Update: December 19, 2022

As soon as the weather and extreme temperatures permit, adjustments will be made to the Victoria Promenade Pilot Project. The timing of this will be driven by temperatures and ensuring that working conditions are safe for our staff (ie. City crews cannot safely perform the work in temperatures lower than -25 degrees).

We have seen a positive impact on speeding, shortcutting and cyclist behaviours as a result of this project. The installation, however, did not meet the needs of a cross-section of community members and highlighted opportunities for improvements. We are committed to listening and learning, and we want to thank Edmontonians who have shared their experiences with the Victoria Promenade pilot project.

The fall engagement report summarizing the results of the public engagement and the technical analysis is now available here(External link).

Planned Adjustments:

  • We will begin removing the north side bike lane along the Victoria Promenade from 100 Avenue and 117 Street to south of the intersection of 100 Avenue and 121 Street.
  • The speed limit along Victoria Promenade will be lowered to 30 km/h.
  • 19 of the 20 original loading and parking spots will be re-installed on 100 Avenue.
    • The loading zone in front of the Mayflower building will be re-installed on 100 Avenue, so the loading zones on the side street near the Mayflower building will return to their original two 2 hour parking stalls.
  • The bike lane on the south side of the street, as well as the traffic calming on 100 Avenue east of 117 Street and between 116 and 117 Street, will remain in place.
Once the adjustments are complete:

  • People driving and cycling west will use the street in a single file until the intersection of 121 Street and Jasper Avenue. Cyclists will then move into a protected bike lane to allow for a safer transition through the intersection.
  • People cycling east will continue to use the protected bike lane on the south side of the Victoria Promenade.
Snow and Ice Clearing:

  • As you may have noticed, snow does accumulate around and on top of the adaptable traffic measures on the street. This is expected and not unsafe.
  • Snow and ice is maintained as part of the standard Snow and Ice operations prioritization schedule, which can be found at edmonton.ca/SafeTravels(External link).
If any issues are experienced with the remaining adaptable traffic measures, residents are encouraged to contact 311 for the most efficient response.
Click to expand...
 
Bout time. What an idiotic waste of money and resources when commonsense could have prevailed.

I am ALL for bike lanes where and when they make sense, but this transformation was embarrassing on so many fronts.

What I want to know is IF Anne drove this and WHO at admin (or otherwise) supported it without reasonableness.

Newfangled must be rollin' - what a sad day.
 
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I would argue the removal is the complete waste of money. So is the long-term plan to move both cycling lanes to the south side of the Promenade? Now that accelerated Bike Plan implementation is funded, I highly doubt the Promenade will return to the status quo for long.
 
This was surely shared last year but I found it trying to gather some literature on what to expect in Edmonton with this funding.


Building a bunch of lanes is no silver bullet and some of the biggest challenges even with new lanes I see are:

  • People need a simple, safe, and secure way to store their bikes at their destination
  • Habits are very engrained so people need to be really taught about new route connections and they will have to be easy to navigate
  • Winter cities can have a bike culture but bike lane clearing as the network grows will continue to be important and convincing people to bike in the winter is a habit/culture change that could be the biggest lift.
 
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