Mountain Man
Senior Member
This is on the city website, not the easiest to navigate but seems to have it all. https://maps.calgary.ca/PathwaysandBikeways/
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Calgary Bike Lanes and Bike Paths
- Thread starter Cowtown
- Start date
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Thank you! Pieced it together in medium rez...
Col du Edworthy
Active Member
I am not optimistic with this design. You have 3 completely different cycling orientations that now require users to transition from a 2 way track to one way tracks and then onto a shared road. This "detour" is for the riverwalk pathway so we are expecting casual users to now try and navigate this hodgepodge. The block west of center is busy with traffic and I'm not sure how comfortable someone will be going from a separated bike lane to suddenly 'sharing' the road with impatient drivers. At a minimum for this to be successful the city needed to maintain continuity through the entire stretch. Another cycling infrastructure miss IMO where the city refuses to be bold enough.
EDIT: After looking at the engagement slides I'm confused what will happen b/w center and 1st st SW. One image shows separated one way lanes the other shows a shared lane. And I also noticed the city has separated one way lanes north of 3rd on 5th street - which would be really nice except they are once again forcing users to somehow merge diagonally from one way tracks to 2 way tracks across traffic crossing 2 lanes of vehicle traffic
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Mountain Man
Senior Member
Well done Chad, shows the massive extent of our system! Hope to get to cycle most of the river pathways this summer.
I used the 2nd st cycle path today for the first time. I don't know why it took me so long. It's great, and it's so nice that it goes all the way to 26th ave and the river. If only the 5th street track was like that. It also seems easier to time hitting the green lights than it does in the 5th street track.
ByeByeBaby
Active Member
The adaptive lane program is back for this summer -- it has been for a while -- and it's not as secretive as it was last year. Most of what's there now was there last year as well; the Memorial Drive lanes in Sunnyside, the lower deck of the Centre Street Bridge, 12th St in Inglewood/Ramsay, Elbow Drive, 50th Ave and Crescent Road.
There's a new lane as well, on the Bow Trail Connector from Pumphouse Road to 10th St W -- this lane is reversed on weekday mornings to run eastbound into downtown, and now on weekends it's opened to cyclists, pedestrians and other active mode users.
It's kind of a fun road, the bridge under 14th St is cool, and it's a busy pathway, especially the east end, which was the single busiest pathway segment for cyclists in the 2018 counts. (It's a missed opportunity that they didn't take this lane all the way to the Louise Bridge, because that's the busiest end of the pathway, and they could easily have diverted the traffic south on 9th St.)
Unfortunately, in my experience, it's not being used -- probably 85% of the cyclists I've seen in two trips on this corridor were on the pathway, where on Memorial it's more like 85% on the roadway. I suspect this is partially the signage's fault.
From the east end, here's the signage -- the arrow on the sign is actually pointing away from the adaptive lane:
From the west end, it's worse; the arrow also points away from the road, but you also have to backtrack to go onto the road from the main pathway connecting from the Crowchild bridge. This is what it looks like (as you approach at 15+ km/h):
And in the middle, there's no way to connect near the 14th St bridge at all other than going across a bunch of grass and down a curb -- there is a great spot about 150m west of the bridge where the pathway and road come together with a wide shoulder space on the road just before the jersey barrier starts, and a plausible spot about 200m east of the bridge. At 11th St, which is a bike corridor and by far the busiest street, the signage is:
There's the pathway sign on the sides of these posts, so if you're already using the lane you know it continues, but not even a clue to those who aren't.
It's a good route, it could be better with tweaks (extend it to Louise and open it Friday at 6 PM) and much better signage and access. But I'm worried that people won't understand it's open, so the ridership will be low, so it'll be cut.
There's a new lane as well, on the Bow Trail Connector from Pumphouse Road to 10th St W -- this lane is reversed on weekday mornings to run eastbound into downtown, and now on weekends it's opened to cyclists, pedestrians and other active mode users.
It's kind of a fun road, the bridge under 14th St is cool, and it's a busy pathway, especially the east end, which was the single busiest pathway segment for cyclists in the 2018 counts. (It's a missed opportunity that they didn't take this lane all the way to the Louise Bridge, because that's the busiest end of the pathway, and they could easily have diverted the traffic south on 9th St.)
Unfortunately, in my experience, it's not being used -- probably 85% of the cyclists I've seen in two trips on this corridor were on the pathway, where on Memorial it's more like 85% on the roadway. I suspect this is partially the signage's fault.
From the east end, here's the signage -- the arrow on the sign is actually pointing away from the adaptive lane:
From the west end, it's worse; the arrow also points away from the road, but you also have to backtrack to go onto the road from the main pathway connecting from the Crowchild bridge. This is what it looks like (as you approach at 15+ km/h):
And in the middle, there's no way to connect near the 14th St bridge at all other than going across a bunch of grass and down a curb -- there is a great spot about 150m west of the bridge where the pathway and road come together with a wide shoulder space on the road just before the jersey barrier starts, and a plausible spot about 200m east of the bridge. At 11th St, which is a bike corridor and by far the busiest street, the signage is:
There's the pathway sign on the sides of these posts, so if you're already using the lane you know it continues, but not even a clue to those who aren't.
It's a good route, it could be better with tweaks (extend it to Louise and open it Friday at 6 PM) and much better signage and access. But I'm worried that people won't understand it's open, so the ridership will be low, so it'll be cut.
Thanks for the update. I'll have to get over there and check it out.
New cycle infrastructure on 24th Ave NW. Took has been on it today.
Here's a short video clip of riding down the new cycle infrastructure.
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
Still putting the curb extensions *next* to the crosswalks as opposed to making them part of the crosswalks. 
Urban Outdoorsman
Active Member
Love it! I grew up in that neighborhood and I'm really glad to see 24th get some love. That road used to be really awful to walk/bike along.
Also I'm pretty sure some of those curb extensions are supposed to have trees planted in them later on.
Also I'm pretty sure some of those curb extensions are supposed to have trees planted in them later on.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
I've noticed lots of people with dogs off leash on the pathway in pumphouse park, has this always been the case? There's a sign there that I'm not sure I noticed before, pretty dumb place for dogs off leash IMO.
googspecial
Active Member
I agree it's a pretty dumb place for off-leash, but I do frequent it every now and then with mine. The river access is nice. There's a worse off-leash area just to the east - on the west side of 14 ST inside one of those pretzel loop ramps.
https://maps.calgary.ca/OffLeashDogAreas/
Col du Edworthy
Active Member
My interpretation of the bylaw is regardless if it's off-leash anytime a dog is on a city pathway they must be leashed. Complicated when the pathway runs through an off-leash area
My personal pet peeve is the off-leash area below Crescent Road. Always nerve racking coming down the pathway when dogs are running across. And without fail the owners see a bike coming and react by frantically calling their dog who then runs right in front of you rather than just leaving them be
Edit: Found this link https://www.calgary.ca/csps/abs/animal-services/dog-leash-guidelines.html. Not sure what "If there are signs indicating that this is allowed" means
A dog can be off-leash:
- In areas designated by signs as off-leash areas.
- Some pathways cut through off-leash areas. On some of these pathways, dogs may be off leash if there are signs indicating that this is allowed.
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Mountain Man
Senior Member
It should only be on pathways that get little traffic, pumphouse probably has a few thousand 2 wheel users a day! (and some 4 wheel users as well).
Edit, I'm retracting the above. Dogs should only be off leash in open areas, no pathways at all!
Edit, I'm retracting the above. Dogs should only be off leash in open areas, no pathways at all!