Alternative Transportation
Time for a thread on Pedestrian and Cycling issues and development!
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Expanded Bike Paths Target Commuters
May 26, 2009 Calgary Herald Eva Feguson CALGARY - A larger, more user-friendly pathway system has been created by the city at a cost of $5 million with the intent of attracting more cyclists. City officials will now be watching for a spike in the number of commuters trading cars for bikes. The three-year undertaking has created a mix of bike lanes, shared lanes and special signals allowing cyclists to stop traffic along secondary routes. As well, several stretches within the city's bike pathway system have been repaired and rebuilt after flooding damage destroyed them in 2005. "It's part of making the whole system better for commuting," said Doug Marter, manager of planning and development for city parks. "The number of cyclists has been increasing consistently over the last few years. But now we're seeing higher usage in the winter months as well." Counters and surveyors will set up at high-traffic locations during peak times over the next several months to see if cycling numbers have gone up and which areas are more popular. After a series of improvements completed over the 2008 summer season, on-street bike routes have been upgraded along seven secondary routes. A long stretch of 26th Avenue S. W. between Sarcee Trail and 14th Street now has markings for shared bike lanes, and there is a section of exclusive bike lanes east of 37th Street S. W. where residents are no longer able to park. "This was a section of the road where not a lot of people were parking anyway, so we were able to make it into a bike lane, dedicated to bikes only," said Marter. On 50th Avenue S. W., at intersections west of Macleod Trail, traffic signals have been added exclusively for cyclists allowing them to stop traffic in a matter of seconds so they can continue through. A handful of secondary routes will see more work done this season, including 5th Avenue N. W. from 9A Street to 29th Street, with a combination of shared lanes and bike lanes to be added and an improved bike path connection at Uxbridge Drive. Meanwhile, the parks department has completed work on a number of pathway upgrades, most of which were sections destroyed by flooding in the spring of 2005. The pathway along the Bow River, paralleling Deerfoot Trail between Southland Drive and Glenmore Trail, was refurbished last year and is ready to go. Concrete retaining walls have been erected to prevent damage should another major flood occur, said Marter. In the northwest, the bike pathway through Bowmont Park, from Varsity to Montgomery, has been upgraded. Several missing links on pathways in all quadrants of the city have also been built in. Work will continue on upgrading bike paths paralleling 52nd Street S. E. between 17th Avenue and Glenmore Trail, helping an increasing number of commuters in the city's southeast industrial areas. Alex MacKenzie, a mechanic at the Bike Shop who cycles to work every day, says he appreciates the work the city's done so far, but adds that so much more has to be done. "The bike lanes are helpful when people don't park in them, but people always do. We need better enforcement to prevent people from parking, but that's not happening." MacKenzie adds that more parking also needs to be made available at collection nodes, such as Edworthy Park, where suburbanites drive, then park so they can cycle to work. "We need more, larger park and rides like that.I know people that drive 10 kilometres away from their house and downtown, just so they can cycle into work." Frans Hettinga, co-chairman for the Calgary Pathway Advisory Council and a member of Bike Calgary, also regularly commutes to work. He says many bike lanes lose their bike-only markings over the winter, because they're covered in gravel and scraped off. He suggests the city look into different coloured paving along bike lanes, like green or red as is done in some European and American cities. "If we want a real change in this city, we have to be willing to spend a little money and do it right. It's probably more ex-pensive to redo the same thing over and over, rather than do it right the first time." Over the next few weeks, city bylaw officers will also be out in full force checking cyclists' speed with radar. Congested, higher-risk areas like Eau Claire, the zoo and Edworthy Park, coming in toward the core, will have radar set up on a regular basis, says Bill Bruce, director of animal and bylaw services. Cyclists will be ticketed $50 if they're speeding at an unreasonable rate, higher than 20 km/h, and if they refuse the bike bell always offered to them by bylaw services. "Our goal is compliance, so we'll offer a bell before a ticket," says Bruce. "We just want to make sure the paths are safe." |
I prefer "active transportation" to alternative.
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Nevermind.
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Legalize cyclists being able to grab onto moving vehicles!
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Nevermind.
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Making connections that are impossible to do by car, makes the pathways attractive to people for whom that connection is very convienient. I think the city should work on making a few longer bike corridors, where you can travel a distance without too much interruption. These could be totally seperate from the road system. Connecting the missing links would be really good too. Also, in some places, there are short sections where there are section of only narrow sidewalk in the middle of what is otherwise a wider bike path. If I would bike down 52nd Street/Falconidge Blvd, like I used to ( a bike path), going past the McDonalds just north of mcKnight, it's only a narrow sidewalk, then, past the Co-op at 64th Ave, it's also only a narrow sidewalk. As well, by the Gas Plus at the corner of 52nd/Temple Drive/44th Ave, also just a narrow sidewalk. Places like that should be fixed up. The last while, I've also dreamed up a system that would benefit bikers when they cross minor residential streets on bikepaths. If a system could be devised that would sense when a biker was approaching, and start the lights flashing so traffic would stop early - similar to train crossings - then the biker could continue on, perhaps only slowing down a little bit, instead of stopping before the road, making sure traffic stops, then (if you want to be "legal") walk across the road, get back on the bike, and start up pedalling again. All that work is a big deterrent to getting people out biking, IMO. The more advantages we can give to bikes, the better. Forcing bikers to slow down and stop many times is a huge disadvantage to bikers. |
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I agree. When I lived in Vancouver, I got hit by bicyclists twice. They were in a rush, running a red, and as a pedestrian I walked when the light turned. Or, walking through a crosswalk and getting sworn at because the bicyclist needed to stop for me too. I don't find the same problems here. Bicyclists are very accommodating from my experience in Calgary. But in Vancouver, well, I think some have god-complexes and think they're above all the laws - not a pedestrian, not a motorist = no rules :koko: |
I bike everywhere, period. I own a car but it has been unregistered for over 6 months because I find that cycling is far more rewarding, fun and easier. However my lifestyle permits this as a possibility, being a student and part time employee I rarely ever find the need to use an automobile.
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On the other hand, when we share the paths with pedestrians, we have a responsibility to them to respect their safety since we're 'the bigger faster' vehicles on the path. If anyone's really interested in biking and biking advocacy in the city, check out and in get involved with something like bikecalgary.org. Sorry for the soap box! With that said, not all speeders out there are just out to get their personal bests! A lot of them are probably like me, whose ass is more spongy than hard and just wants to get home to see his wife & kids, and would gladly get home a few minutes faster (but not at the expense of someone else). If the city will provide reasonably safe, more direct routes for commuters I'm all in since many of the bike paths are designed primarily for recreation, not commuting. And in the summer they are packed (well esp along the river). I have heard of one city (forget which one) that has just recently given cyclists the ability to treat stop signs as yields on certain on road bike routes. I think this could work well, although it would need lots of education of drivers, etc. Stopping and starting does add up a lot on a bike... |
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On another note, I see the city has re-lane marked 11st SE between 46th Ave and 58th Ave (may extend beyond this, but that's what I drove) with three lanes - two driving lanes and a center left turn lane, with the extra space freed being turned into outside cyclist lanes. I'm liking this design as it keeps cars from squeezing to the right to get around left turning traffic, and the cycle lane is of a decent size. I hope to see more of these. |
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I think these may have been two of the previously mentioned cyclists:
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Two cyclist collide under zoo suspension bridge
Let's see - dark, no lights, high speed, blind corner. As a regular cyclist through that stretch, I'm disappointed there will be no Darwin award for those two.
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As someone who has finally started cycling again and exploring many of the paths/bike lanes both for recreation and transportation I really think some further thought needs to go into the pathway speed-limits. 20km/hr across the board is simply not logical nor practical, especially given only a small number of cyclists actually have speedometers. Imposing a rule that no one can realistically follow (due to no way of comparing themselves to the metric) simply creates a feeling that the rule should be ignored as an insult to common sense.
Open, clear sections of trail with separated pedestrian paths can easily handle much higher speeds whilst the many underpasses and blind corners require one to go very slowly to be able to safely stop in the event of something unexpected. The only way to effectively moderate this is through education and physical design - I suspect simply posting a speed-limit has minimal effect. I, personally, would like to see the city remove speed restrictions (or at least raise them) on areas where there are dual paths and clear sightlines. In exchange I think it would be reasonable to create strict limits as well as physical barriers (speed bumps, rumble strips, bollards, whatever) on sections where lower speed is necessary. Riding on the road remains a fairly dangerous proposition - while most drivers are actually quite respectful there are still more than enough that are either clueless or actually intent on causing harm. For cycling to take off as a means of transport there needs to be safe areas where bicycles can be used to their max. For now that is largely restricted to pathways. It is good to see the effort that is being put into expanding and renovating the cycling network but there is still a long way to go. (The rapidly appearing and disappearing bike lanes are a pet-peeve of mine, they almost do more harm than good) That being said, there is a lot that can be done by pedestrians to increase their own safety on the pathways. You do not need to walk 4 people wide. You do not need to let your dog run wild. You do not need to stop suddenly in the middle of the path. Try walking on your side of the path when you see oncoming traffic. Try walking on the "pedestrian" part of the divided path. Try actually moving to the side when you hear a bell (to the RIGHT side of the path - this is North America, we learn this in Kindergarten). And PLEASE people, LEASH YOUR CHILDREN!! Anyways... I try to be a respectful cyclist on both the pathways and roads - but a quick ride on a weekend around downtown & the Elbow and my concern for the lives of others (and others children...) goes down rapidly. As long as the rules and social behaviors continue to be biased against cyclists people will take the easy way out and use their cars (or become agressive, ornery, cyclists). I'm not advocating complete freedom but I think some more creative solutions can be developed and implemented... for much less than the cost of a single interchange. Physically delimited bike lanes on some major roads would be a good start, separated from both pedestrians and vehicles. http://www.bikexprt.com/bikepol/faci...ike%20lane.jpg and http://www.streetsblog.org/wp-conten...s_bikelane.jpg for example. |
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