EDMONTON – The City of Edmonton will be taking a closer look at how it implements bike lanes.
“I think the dedicated, on-street paths have failed,” said Neil Dunwald, with the Southwest Area Council, which represents a number of communities in southwest Edmonton.
From the reduction of parking and driving lanes to a lack of public consultation, the introduction of bike lanes has been met with resistance in several Edmonton communities.
“Most of the people in the Southwest Area Council would very much encourage better infrastructure and especially on the corridors. If you’re going to commute to the University, you need to go north/south, you don’t need to go around in the residential areas. You don’t need special paint on the roads to do those things.”
When the bike lanes were installed on 106 Street south of the Whitemud, residents spoke out in high volume, saying they were not consulted about the lanes.
“There may be a place in the city for dedicated, on-street bicycle paths. But where is that? Under what circumstances? We don’t know,” Dunwald explained at a City Transportation Committee meeting Wednesday.
Ward 10 councillor Michael Walters held a public meeting with area residents after he was elected.
WATCH: Bike lane discussion in south Edmonton draws big crowd
Walters admits more public consultation is in order in the future.
“This is not a question of do we build bike lanes or do we not build bike lanes. It’s how communities and citizens contribute to the connectivity of the network.”
“When you run routes through neighbourhoods and you want communities to be involved, you don’t take a map to them and say ‘this is where it’s going to be. And we’re here to consult you,’ but we’re really not. You have to allow them a set of choices that allow them to buy into the strategy overall. And we didn’t do that as a city.”
READ MORE: Edmonton community continues its fight against bike lanes
Mayor Don Iveson says there needs to be a shift in direction on how bike lanes are implemented, which includes more public consultation and focusing on building the lanes where there is demand for them.
“I don’t think there’s a silver bullet for bike lanes. But I think the consensus that’s emerging … is that what we should be really doing is focusing our scarce resources where demand is highest and building some really good, high-quality bike facilities that are going to work for more than just the hardcore commuter, but are also potentially going to work for families.”
Those in favour of the lanes agree. Now that bike lane connectors have been established in some suburban areas, cyclists say the City should focus on busy, core areas.
“It definitely makes sense now to focus really on the core and making that high-quality, high-comfort infrastructure downtown and in Strathcona,” said Christopher Chan with the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters’ Society. “There is that demand. And once we actually have safe infrastructure you’ll really see people using it.”
The City has put the brakes on construction of its bike network. With the exception of a section on 96 Street, there will not be any additions to Edmonton’s network of bicycle lanes this year.
According to the City, as of last October $11 million had been spent on establishing 46 kilometres of on-street bike routes and 18 kilometres of shared-use paths.
With files from Vinesh Pratap, Global News.
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