Cycling and Active Transportation in Edmonton

[Daveography]

Downtown bike lanes put premium on parking — for cyclists
Cycling in Edmonton has gotten easier due to the city's newly opened downtown bike lanes. But as more cyclists are expected to commute downtown this summer, riders are already calling for more bicycle parking.

"I feel that I lock my bike more often to a random road sign post compared to a bike lock up spot," said downtown cyclist Andrew Ritchie.

The city opened part of the new system of bike lanes through the urban core two weeks ahead of schedule on June 16. All of the protected bike lanes south of 105th Avenue are now ready for two-wheeled commuters.

Construction began on the network of new lanes in April. Lanes in outlying areas of the city are expected to be completed by August 26.

But some cyclists say they are having difficulty locking up a bike at the end of the ride.

Bike messenger Mariah Hoy locks her bike wherever she can find a spot while working downtown. She is glad that the new commuter bike lanes are finally open and hopes the city adds more racks.

"Hopefully, they will add more," Hoy said. "I just lock up on ramps and posts and anything I can find honestly."

A spokesperson for First Capital Realty, a property management firm, said Friday the company plans to install new bike racks in the Brewery District next week after complaints that the existing city-approved racks were not working.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/bike-cyclist-bike-rack-edmonton-bicycles-1.4175738

 

[Daveography]

All ages and abilities Downtown bike lanes now open!

June 23, 2017

The Downtown Bike Network is here! The City of Edmonton is pleased to announce the protected bike lanes south of 105 Avenue are complete and ready for use.

The phased opening of the Downtown Bike Network began Friday, June 16, two weeks ahead of schedule. The routes now open are:

• 96 Street from 103A Avenue to 104A Avenue
• 99 Street from 102A Avenue to 103A Avenue
• 100 Avenue from 103 Street to 110 Street
• 102 Avenue from 103 Street to the Railtown shared use path (110 Street)
• 102A Avenue to 96 Street to 99 Street
• 103 Street from 100 Avenue to 103 Avenue
• 106 Street from 100 Avenue to 104 Avenue
• 107 Street from 99 Avenue to 100 Avenue
• 110 Street from the Railtown shared use path to 104 Avenue
• 103A Avenue from 101 Street to 96 Street shared use path

The shared use path on 96 Street from Jasper Avenue to 101 Avenue will also open next week after paving is completed. The protected bike lanes on 99 Street and 102A Avenue are both dismount zones for the festivals and events surrounding Churchill Square until September 6. The final portion of the Downtown Bike Network opening this summer will be 105 Avenue, which is scheduled for completion this August.

The protected bike lanes separate cyclists from other modes of transportation. There are changes to the road that everyone should be aware of. To help answer these questions, the Downtown Bike Network Street Team will be out throughout the summer to help everyone understand the new changes. The Network is adaptable to respond to major shifts in traffic and infrastructure. The evaluation and monitoring program is ongoing and adjustments will be made as needed to ensure the Downtown Bike Network stays a safe and accessible transportation option, while minimizing impacts on all other modes of transportation.

Construction for the Downtown Bike Network began April 5, 2017, with new concrete curbing, flexible bollards and pavement markings. A large portion of this project was the signal upgrades, which also included additional signals specifically for cyclists. A grand celebration event, Cycle in the City, will take place Saturday, August 26.

For more information:
Visit Edmonton.ca/BikeDowntown

Complete the survey

Media contact:
Kristi Bland
Communications Advisor, City of Edmonton
780-495-9904

 

[Daveography]

Edmonton unveils green energy tricycles to water bike grid planters

JEREMY SIMES / METRO
Peter Mueller, a parks operations coordinator with the city, stands beside Edmonton's new green energy trike, which is used to water flowers along the downtown bike grid.

Every 10 to 14 days, Peter Mueller hops on one of the city’s new green energy tricycles to water flowers along the downtown bike grid.

“It’s a little tiring,” said Mueller, a parks operations coordinator, with a grin. “But it’s beautiful to be out in downtown Edmonton. It’s an amazing place to be.”

The city unveiled the two battery-powered trikes on Friday, as part of ongoing efforts to promote the new 7.8-kilometre network. They each feature a 70-litre tank that uses solar power to pump water out through the hose.

Each tank can water about 15 to 20 planters, Mueller said, adding the team receives regular fill-ups to completely douse all 100-to-200 planters within two days.

“Once it’s done, we leave for about 10 to 14 days and come back to water again,” he said.

The tricycle has been in the works ever since the city began planning for the grid, according to Olga Messinis, the downtown cycle track project manager.

“It was not an ideal solution for obvious reasons,” Messinis said, noting the trucks couldn’t fit in bike lanes, and would also cause traffic jams when using the car lane.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...een-energy-trike-water-bike-grid-planter.html

 

[Daveography]

It's (bike) party time!

July 24, 2017

Ready, set, let’s roll with the official launch of the Downtown Bike Network! We’re throwing a party to celebrate the opening of the protected bike lanes, and the collaborative work that the community and City of Edmonton have accomplished together. It’s your bike party, and everyone’s invited! The event, called Cycle in the City, will feature children’s games, tours, and five “pit stops” located along the network.

Date: August 26, 2017
Time: 10 a.m.- 3 p.m., opening ceremony at 11 a.m.
Location: Pit stops located throughout downtown. Opening ceremony at the Legislature Grounds.

Program: The Five Pitstops

Main Stage
(Federal Building Plaza, 9820-107 Street)
Kick off at the Legislature Grounds (Federal Building Plaza) with the opening ceremony at 11 a.m.. Here, you can rent a bike, grab a bite at a food truck, and much more. This is also your starting point for the themed bike tours.

Education Avenue
(102 Avenue between 107-108 Street)
Learn how to roll through the Network! Our Bike Education Street Team will be on hand to step you through all the new features on the network, giving you the confidence to ride it on your bike. Edmonton Transit Service will also be on hand to demonstrate how to ‘rack’ your bike on buses.

Go Green with Blatchford and MacEwan University
(SW corner of 105 Street and 105 Avenue)
Enjoy the sweet (sustainable) life with bike games, music, local food and more.

Urban Commuter Zone
(The Armature, 96 Street between Jasper Avenue and 103 Avenue)
Make bike shorts cool again while you do free HIIT (High Intensity Interval training) classes, try on some commuter gear, and see some amazing local performances.

Family Fun Zone
(Downtown Edmonton Community League, 10042-103 Street)
Bike decorating, music, games, and more for the whole family!

But wait...there’s more!

• Take the scenic route on one of the free or low-cost bike tours featuring Downtown art, architecture and food.
• Salivate over the food trucks at each of the pitstops.
• No pedals? No problem! We’re celebrating how the new Network will benefit cyclists, pedestrians and motorists alike. We’ll also have bike rentals available.

For more information:
edmonton.ca/CycleintheCity
edmonton.ca/BikeDowntown

Media contacts:
Lesley Vaage
Communications Advisor, City of Edmonton
780-495-0651

 

[archited]

I am very happy for you @Daveography -- I feel that this is particularly important to you.

 

[Daveography]

I'm very happy about the new grid indeed. Great work by Stantec and the City of Edmonton teams that worked so hard to make it a reality.

 

[archited]

It makes downtown just a little bit more livable and a little more street friendly, no question.

 

[Daveography]

Use of Edmonton's bike lanes nearly doubled in first month, numbers show
Tammy Pidner whips around downtown Edmonton for the first time using the city's new bike network.

In the past, she wouldn't feel safe riding downtown during the lunch rush.

"I love that Edmonton is becoming more accessible on the bicycle," Pidner says while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. "As a new person riding the bike grid downtown I feel a little more comfortable."

City numbers show the number of bikes on downtown streets jumped a month after the network opened.

Before the bike network was built, the city counted 2,454 cyclists on May 31. On June 30, the numbers jumped to 4,711, said Olga Messinis, bike network project manager.

Messinis expects ridership will only grow when university and college students return in September.

"The early numbers showing the increase is positive," she said. "I feel good that people are using the grid."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...sage-traffic-car-bike-city-friendly-1.4242814

 

[archited]

Excellent news!

 

[Daveography]

83 Ave. bike lane & retaining wall for Mill Creek connection.

 

[Daveography]

Bike lane guide changing minds ahead of election
A handy guide is changing minds on bike lanes, one city council candidate at a time.

Advocacy group Paths for People is distributing its new Five Reasons You Want Bike Lanes guide to municipal election candidates, and has turned one suburban candidate from an opponent to a fan, said Paths for People’s co-executive director Anna Ho.

Part of the reason they created the guide is so candidate's are knowledgable on the downtown bike grid and can provide reasoned responses when doorknocking.

“The conversation (about the bike grid) in Edmonton has been fairly adversarial. We’re hoping to shift that from bikes versus cars to allowing people more choices in their transportation options," Ho said.

She said the guide came out of a social media discussion with Ward 9 hopeful Payman Parseyan.

“Often when we think of bike lanes, we think that they’re just for the cyclist. And what we’re trying to do is bring some awareness about how it benefits all user groups,” Ho said.

Some of the guide’s pro-bike lane points include freeing up car traffic, reducing cyclist injuries and lowering healthcare costs by encouraging active transportation.

Ultimately, it argues, the infrastructure will save tax dollars for all Edmontonians.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...e-guide-changing-minds-ahead-of-election.html

City street parties highlight perks of sharing downtown roads
Declan Sheridan is a six-year-old daredevil constantly looking for outdoor adventures.

Cycling over a bike teeter-totter and weaving around plungers in a downtown Edmonton parking lot Saturday didn’t faze him a bit, and neither did Edmonton’s newest bike lanes.

On Saturday, Declan was at Bike Party, one of two city events to draw people to contentious downtown projects — the bike lane network, and the Experience Jasper Avenue pilot project.

It was one of the first times Declan’s mom, Coreen Sheridan, used the 7.8-kilometre network of protected bike lanes that stretch from Oliver to Boyle Street after opening mid-June.

“I think it’s very important to have it, for safety for everybody. I think cars don’t know how to deal with bikes half the time,” she said.

Her friend, Amanda Pennell, said the protected lanes are essential to bring new life downtown. Otherwise, families who live in Edmonton’s core might not feel safe biking down the street with children, she said.

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...ies-highlight-perks-of-sharing-downtown-roads

 

[Daveography]

Easy to forget there's still lots of bike lanes under construction right now, haven't really been updating on them lately.

Here's 102 Avenue through Oliver:

Currently under construction or recently completed that I haven't checked out yet: 105 Ave, 83 Ave, 106 St, 76 Ave, 127 St

 

[Daveography]

'Definitely excitement': More people hoping to use bike grid this winter

KEVIN TUONG / EDMONTON FREELANCE
Chris Chan, Executive Director for the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society is looking forward to continuing use of the bike lanes throughout winter.

There could be more people braving the ice and cold from the back of a bike this winter, according to local cyling advocates who say they've seen an uptick in interest in winter cycling.

This is the first winter the city's newly-installed bike grid has been operational, and according to Keegan Brooks with Hardcore Bikes, it's got many customers thinking about winter biking.

“They haven’t really started riding yet, but they are already thinking of what to get for the winter which has never really happened before,” he said.

“People are coming in with questions already in mind which is kind of interesting.”

According to the city's network monitoring data, there were 2,454 people on bikes downtown on May 31. By June 30, the week after the grid opened, that number had jumped to 4,711.

But many people have wondered what would happen once the snow started falling.

City officials say the grid will stay open all winter, and have committed to plowing it within 24 hours after the end of a snowfall.

Chris Chan, executive director of the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters Society, said he expects the number of daily riders to drop, but predicted there would still be more than 1,000 people using them every day.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...ople-hoping-to-use-bike-grid-this-winter.html

 

[Daveography]

City of Edmonton to provide bike lane plan for Strathcona this winter

New bike lanes in downtown Edmonton, May 10, 2017.
Global News
The city has been able to track how many cyclists have used the new bike lanes downtown, and it’s given them the confidence to come up with a plan for south of the river sooner than anticipated.

Coun. Ben Henderson, during the inaugural urban planning committee of the term on Wednesday, complained that a long-awaited plan for the University area and Strathcona seems to always get pushed back for other priorities.

“The downtown piece worked so well and so briskly, I’m worried now that we’re taking as much time as it took to do the downtown piece to figure out what we’re going to next, rather than actually getting on with it,” he said.

A report was due in March on next steps, however the committee was told, after Henderson’s complaints, that something could come earlier from the administration.

Senior planner, Peter Ohm, told the committee that bicycle ride counts taken this season showed how the numbers “doubled” after Canada Day when the downtown grid was in place.

The downtown bike grid monitoring web page shows numbers like 2,454 on May 31, climbing to consistent numbers in the high 3,000s to low 4,000s through July and August. The outlier was Sept. 4 when 16,684 rode the grid, however that was in conjunction with the Tour of Alberta where a family fun ride covered part of the course.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3851046/...de-bike-lane-plan-for-strathcona-this-winter/

 

[Daveography]

O Christmas Tree (on a bike): Photos of unusual transportation gain steam online

SUPPLIED / ERIN WRIGHT
Daniel Vriend and his son Arlo take home a Christmas tree using a cargo bike.

When it came time for Daniel Vriend to pick up the family Christmas tree this year, he left the car in the garage.

Instead, the Oliver resident opted to make the trip on his three-wheeled cargo bike, propping the bundled up tree into the front box for the ride home.

“It wasn’t so much of a big deal,” he said. “It’s something everybody does, every year. The difference is maybe the vehicle that I chose.”

Indeed, Vriend wasn't the only one using a bike to transport a Christmas tree this month. The website Modacitylife collected over a hundred pictures from Twitter of trees being cycled home for the holidays and gathered them into a widely-shared album.

Vriend’s photo, taken by his wife, made the cut, alongside people in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany and Canada with trees strapped, tied and balanced on bikes -- all embracing the two (or three) wheeled holiday tradition.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...unusual-transportation-gain-steam-online.html