Alternative Transportation

[Ferreth]

Originally Posted by mwalker_mw

And PLEASE people, LEASH YOUR CHILDREN!!
Physically delimited bike lanes on some major roads would be a good start, separated from both pedestrians and vehicles.

http://www.bikexprt.com/bikepol/facil/images/9107N10R16Barrier%20bike%20lane.jpg

and

http://www.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/03_26/paris_bikelane.jpg

for example.

But then I'd be faced with children who suddenly cross the path at the last second, leaving me with an instant "rope fence" with parent and child as the two posts!

I like both of those separated lanes. Calgary's idea of a white line separating you from the traffic and parked cars to your right with door that can swing open at any time - stupid!

[zooropa]

I rode through Southland dog park recently, and i gotta say, huge steps have been made to making it bike/dog friendly. the off leash areas are on either side of the pathway and fenced off. there are well defined crossing zones for dog walkers to move across the pathway, those areas are even highlighted to cyclists with a round about in the middle of the path to make sure everyone slows down and takes notice. makes what was once a frustrating and sometimes dangerous ride, much nicer. hope the dog people like it too.

[mwalker_mw]

Come to think of it, those mini-roundabouts are probably even more effective than speedbumps. They are quite effective at keeping usability while reducing speed where necessary. Wouldn't work for underpasses, but they do well at intersections.

[Riise]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Pretty tacky wording for an official government press release.

Yeah, I was surprised by the informal wording when I first read it.

[You Need A Thneed]

For the pedestrian bridge over McKnight at 47th Street(?) in the NE, the new paths are now paved to the abudtments, just a little bit more railing to complete, and then it might be open.

[Bigtime]

So I've finally gotten my lazy butt in gear and started cycling to work again. Stampede time is usually my major motivation as driving is just a pain in the ass.

I have a beef though, and it is with the section of bike path at Fort Calgary that rounds the corner where the Elbow meets the Bow.

Every year for the Stampede parade they stage a whole bunch of horse trailers and horses on the field the day before the parade. This would be no problem if the people there actually realized that this is still an active bike path. I really enjoy dodging throngs of cowpokes and their horses when I try to make my way through. You ring your bell and these people literally freeze up in the middle of the path and do the whole "move left, move right" not making up their mind thing! Not to mention the copious amounts of horseshit that is lovingly left on the bike path.

Perhaps next year the city could install some temporary fencing on either side of the bike path with a couple of access points to allow the horses and people to cross it? I will be sending my alderman a letter to that effect.

That's my rant.

[reflexzero]

I would like to be able to embrace my Canadian heritage by snowmobiling to work.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

So I've finally gotten my lazy butt in gear and started cycling to work again. Stampede time is usually my major motivation as driving is just a pain in the ass.

I have a beef though, and it is with the section of bike path at Fort Calgary that rounds the corner where the Elbow meets the Bow.

Every year for the Stampede parade they stage a whole bunch of horse trailers and horses on the field the day before the parade. This would be no problem if the people there actually realized that this is still an active bike path. I really enjoy dodging throngs of cowpokes and their horses when I try to make my way through. You ring your bell and these people literally freeze up in the middle of the path and do the whole "move left, move right" not making up their mind thing! Not to mention the copious amounts of horseshit that is lovingly left on the bike path.

Perhaps next year the city could install some temporary fencing on either side of the bike path with a couple of access points to allow the horses and people to cross it? I will be sending my alderman a letter to that effect.

That's my rant.

Ditto...I ended up riding 9th west to 6th st SE and going around so that I wouldn't have to deal with that...even then people were wondering across the road without really looking because they were closed

[You Need A Thneed]

Work to start on Calgary Greenway bike path
Ten-kilometre project will cost $6 million

BY JASON MARKUSOFF, CALGARY HERALD - JULY 8, 2009

CALGARY - Parks Foundation Calgary will today announce it's starting work on a 10-kilometre bicycle pathway along the city's east edge.

The first phase of the East Calgary Greenway will run in the same corridor as the east portion of Calgary's ring road from Airport Trail down to Elliston Regional Park at 17th Avenue S. E., the Herald has learned.

With a price tag around$6 million, it's the largest-ever project for the non-profit parks foundation--and is part of a bigger vision to eventually install a green band of pathways around the entire Calgary ring road.

"This is especially big because there are so few paths for recreation or green projects in east Calgary," Ald. Joe Ceci said Tuesday.

This will add to the 660 kilometres of North America's largest urban pathway system, although this new paved trail won't immediately link to the rest of it.

Cycling in the shadow of a massive freeway might not sound ideal. But much of the new pathway will run by tranquil wetlands and be far removed from the road, said Bernie Amell, who designed the path.

"In many places of this you don't have the sense you're smack up against the freeway," the environmental designer said Tuesday.

Amell was also the stormwater and wetland expert for the northeast leg of Stoney Trail, and while doing that job he got the idea for the pathway.

"We're saving all this wetland and we're creating these over here for the freeway run-off, so there's this continuous chain being created all the way from Airport Trail to Elliston park," he said.

"So a light came on in my head and I thought why not put together a pathway system on this chain of water features."

Officials with the Parks Foundation declined to comment Tuesday on the project ahead of today's announcement at Elliston park.

However, the group has since 2007 been "planning for green space in east Calgary as a continuous pathway that will connect 250,000 people with approximately 40 kilometres of pathway," according to its report to a city committee last fall.

Stewart Midwinter of Bike Calgary said his association was pleased to hear the pathway extension was going ahead, but argued there's more urgent demand for commuter routes rather than recreational paths.

"We are desperately in need of more on-street bike route infrastructure, to provide a network of routes that cyclists of moderate skills feel safe riding on for their daily commute or to run errands, in order to increase the number of transportation cyclists in the city," Midwinter said.

[email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Work+start+Calgary+Greenway+bike+path/1770131/story.html



How is this bike path going to follow along the ring road? Will you have to cross the freeway entrance/exit ramps at grade? Sounds pretty dangerous. Perhaps the paths would just have to cross McKnight and 16th, but it certainly isn't going to cross over 16th at grade either.

[You Need A Thneed]

Project Website from Parks Foundation Calgary.

It looks like the bike path cuts back to 68th Street to cross McKnight and 16th Ave.



Here's the route for the whole thing:

[Wooster]

^So, how do you cross the ring road and major routes like McKnight, 16th, etc on the pathway? Not much of a 'network' if it doesn't actually lead anywhere. Is there a map anywhere of this pathway system?

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by Wooster

^So, how do you cross the ring road and major routes like McKnight, 16th, etc on the pathway? Not much of a 'network' if it doesn't actually lead anywhere. Is there a map anywhere of this pathway system?

From the first image there, it looks like the pathway cuts back to 68th and it crosses mcKnight and 16th at the intersections.

As for a map of the whole thing, probobly not online.

[Bigtime]

Exactly, sure this is all well and good but it doesn't do anything for people trying to get places on their bikes.

[You Need A Thneed]

As I mentioned in the construction thread yesterday, the new pedestrian bridge over McKnight by the former Nortel building in the NE is open.

I rode over it this morning on my bike.

... and it now closed again, a few railings right near the bottoms of the ramps have been taken back off for some kind of repair to the concrete below them.

[You Need A Thneed]

Ok, rant time: The pedestrian bridge over McKnight had been open for a bit (at least not blocked off), but yesterday on my ride home, I checked to see if there was still tape across the opening - there was - so I rode down the path towards the lights, which has been the access across since the path opened. Anyway, they had installed chain link fencing across the path, so one could no longer get to the light without climbing over the fence. Needless to say, I rode my bike over the "closed" bridge, as the options were either lift my bike over the fence, ride across the bridge, or ride WAAAAY around to either 52nd or 36th Street.

Seriously, have some common sense, you can't blcok off every access all at once!

[jeffwhit]

Originally Posted by korzym

Legalize cyclists being able to grab onto moving vehicles!

sorry, off topic but you reminded me of this: http://www.examiner.com/x-2490-Endurance...ng-and-disqualification-old-school-style

[Riise]

Alderman Wants Review Of 'Ridiculously Slow' Speed Limit On Bikes Using Pathways
Current Limits Too Slow, Say Cyclists

February 18, 2010
Calgary Herald
Kim Gottormson

Commuters who ride bikes to work may be able to go a little faster along city pathways, at least during rush hours.

In a proposal going to city council Monday, Ald. Ric McIver is asking for another look at how fast bikes can travel along the pathways, which right now tops out at 20 kilometres per hour.

"Users of the pathway are mutually unhappy with the current rules," McIver said. "Cyclists, especially commuters, think 20 km/h is a ridiculously slow maximum speed. Yet some slower users of the pathway are uncomfortable with cyclists going by them at high speeds.

Full Article

.

[frinkprof]

Nevermind.

[You Need A Thneed]

It doesn't make sense to limit the speed on paths that aren't busy at all, like the paths I ride to work on. Now, sometimes there is people on the path, but it's FAR from crowded.

Where its necessary to have a speed limits to protect riders, a better alternative is to either widen the paths or have separate paths.

[jeffwhit]

^^separate paths are great if people respect them, but the stretch along Memorial in Sunnyside is often full of joggers with strollers running side by side with headphone on.