In July, the City of Edmonton installed a new protected bike lane in a pilot project for scooters and cyclists on the Victoria Promenade but now that lane is going to be removed.
The city designed the pilot on the stretch of road with beautiful river valley views in an attempt to improve the promenade as an active transportation corridor, making it safer for people travelling on foot, bike or scooter.
The hope was that adding a second westbound bike lane sectioned off from motor vehicles would reduce traffic speeds and make active transportation more comfortable.
But adding that bike lane required space. The street design was changed and it didn’t sit well with everyone. Some even signed a petition, opposing the pilot.
Those residents also contacted ward O’day-min councillor Anne Stevenson.
“(There were) certainly frustrations around the loss of parking and also loading access to the many buildings that line Victoria Promenade,” she said.
Stevenson said there were also concerns about a lack of community consultation, explaining that it’s more challenging to do in dense neighbourhoods like Oliver.
The community league president, Robyn Paches, said they heard from upset residents too, but also from people who loved the changes.
“I would say we probably heard about 50/50, with a little bit more of the majority actually in favour of it. However we did have a lot of loud opposition from a small number of people.”
Stevenson said some aspects of the pilot were successful.
“The two-way bike lane opportunity did lead to more people not riding on sidewalks, to people using the bike lane in the right direction. That’s positive and we can build on that moving forward,” Stevenson said.
This fall, the city surveyed about 1,900 people about their thoughts on the pilot, both online, and in person.
The feedback received there was more negative than positive. Sixty-one per cent of respondents were dissatisfied.
“We have learned that a cross-section of community members are concerned about issues such as reduced impacts to building access for seniors and for people who use mobility aids, loss of convenient vehicle access for visitors, emergency operations, aesthetics, loss of community vibrancy and placemaking, the impact of winter and overall safety,” wrote Craig McKeown, Edmonton’s manager of parks and roads.
Based on that feedback, the trial bike lane will be removed, and parking stalls will be reinstated. The speed limit will also drop to 30 kilometres an hour.
“Ultimately I think it’s a great outcome,” Stevenson said.
“I think the pilot did exactly what it was meant to do, which was to test something out and see how it worked, then take further action based on those learnings.”
Paches said the Oliver Community League hopes that’s the case, and that this isn’t the end of the discussion.
“We do think there’s more creative ways that could make everybody happy there. With, for example, preserving some more of those temporary parking spaces to allow for accessibility needs or caregivers to enter those towers, while also having two-way mobility lanes.”
Changes to the promenade will be made once the weather improves.
The total cost of the pilot, including the upcoming bike lane removal, is $60,000, excluding non-labour staff time.
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