Calgary Bike Lanes and Bike Paths

[artvandelay]

Just sent an email to the mayor and other councillors about keeping the 3rd ave bike lane. Project Calgary has a petition too.

Week 7 Update: Will Mayor Gondek be the Rob Ford of Calgary?

www.projectcalgary.org

The idea of deleting a bike lane in 2023 seems crazy.

LOL so dramatic. Will Gondek be the Rob Ford of Calgary?!?!?

I kind of hope so... would be extremely entertaining!

Honestly I bike through here all the time and those bike lanes on 3rd are hardly ever used. If you don't use it, you lose it!

 

[darwink]

She voted against a bike lane (perhaps lanes) while Councillor that Farkas voted for. She just had better branding for her boring conservatism.

 

[artvandelay]

She voted against a bike lane (perhaps lanes) while Councillor that Farkas voted for. She just had better branding for her boring conservatism.

It's funny, I crossed paths with her when she was running the RE program at Haskayne and she seemed fairly centre-right and market oriented. Then an election rolls around and she's suddenly a hardcore lefty.

 

[badc0ffee]

She voted against a bike lane (perhaps lanes) while Councillor that Farkas voted for. She just had better branding for her boring conservatism.

But that on its own doesn't mean much of anything. It doesn't mean she's anti bike lanes or anti "war on cars".

That projectcalgary link is full of hyperbole. Really, tying the climate emergency to this little-used bike lane on a low traffic avenue close to the river? Maybe this is the kind of rhetoric you need to get more people to support your cause, but it is kind of having the opposite effect on me.

 

[Ramsayite]

LOL so dramatic. Will Gondek be the Rob Ford of Calgary?!?!?

I kind of hope so... would be extremely entertaining!

Honestly I bike through here all the time and those bike lanes on 3rd are hardly ever used. If you don't use it, you lose it!

Dramatic, maybe, but it sure isn't a good look to be presiding over a net loss of bike infrastructure during as mayor. Have you never seen a headline before? you seem disproportionately surprised.

by "don't use it, you lose it" you mean that just because you personally haven't seen me with my toddler using that bike lane that it should revert back to car parking as the default? Why should that be the default? Because you lack imagination? Because you'd rather be bitter and "entertained" by a city that is regressing than actually care about the quality of that city?

Honestly a pretty dumbass take.

It's funny, I crossed paths with her when she was running the RE program at Haskayne and she seemed fairly centre-right and market oriented. Then an election rolls around and she's suddenly a hardcore lefty.

Gondek has never been particularly progressive, anybody who is paying attention knows that. She appeared during the election to be the best option for many, which is to say she's more progressive than the csec shills and that one obstructionist crybaby. That's about it.

Labeling her as a lefty is almost certainly a strategy by more conservative forces in the city to undermine her. She hasn't really done anything which suggests she is a "hardcore lefty," it's clearly just a talking point that has been fed to stupid people for regurgitation; a deliberate narrowing of the overton window.

So it's not crazy to imagine that she could be compared to more regressive mayors; you don't even have to cross over the center line of the political spectrum to get from Gondek to Ford. Question is just how far do you have to go?

 

[Ramsayite]

City is now looking for feedback on your experience using the bike lane. Unfortunately it seems like a certainty it's coming out.

The wording the city has used is also interesting, "The purpose of this information gathering is to better understand what The City needs to consider when 3 Avenue S. becomes a permanent bikeway. "

3 Avenue South Walking and Wheeling Upgrades

www.calgary.ca

This is useful.

I suggested that before the 3rd ave lane is taken down, another temporary lane should be built on 4th or 5th.

As it stands, 3rd avenue is the best east-west connector north of the tracks, and frankly, the only route for modes that don't involve leisure. Eliminating such a useful route even momentarily should require a new detour be built first.

Then only once there is a detour built, they could dismantle the temporary third ave lane and get to work immediately on building its permanent replacement. It should not be dismantled and turned back into a lane for parked car in the interim.

I honestly couldn't care less whether it was envisioned as temporary in the first place. There's been so little progress with bike infrastructure since the first wave of bike lanes and this is a clear opportunity to avoid a backslide.


Anything less than that is quite honestly bullshit in 2023.

 

[artvandelay]

Honestly a pretty dumbass take.

Brilliant contribution to the discussion! May I interest you in SSP Local Calgary.

Just stating my observation that the lane is sparsely used - the river pathway close by is a much more pleasant ride so people tend not to take the bike lane - and 3rd Ave is not particularly close to centre ice for bike commuters either. The interface through Chinatown is poor and the pathway connection at the east end is awkward. As a regular cycle dork, I don't think this is a huge loss and it's impact will be negligible. Sounds like you have a differing opinion, which is great! It would be nice if you could articulate that opinion without being a wiener.

I've mentioned this a few times - but my preference for an E/W protected bike lane is on the north side of 5th Avenue in lieu of this one. It would have great tie-ins to the river path, goes through the heart of downtown office country, and would improve the pedestrian streetscape by taking away an overbuilt traffic lane.

 

[lemongrab]

Brilliant contribution to the discussion! May I interest you in SSP Local Calgary.

Just stating my observation that the lane is sparsely used - the river pathway close by is a much more pleasant ride so people tend not to take the bike lane - and 3rd Ave is not particularly close to centre ice for bike commuters either. The interface through Chinatown is poor and the pathway connection at the east end is awkward. As a regular cycle dork, I don't think this is a huge loss and it's impact will be negligible. Sounds like you have a differing opinion, which is great! It would be nice if you could articulate that opinion without being a wiener.

I've mentioned this a few times - but my preference for an E/W protected bike lane is on the north side of 5th Avenue in lieu of this one. It would have great tie-ins to the river path, goes through the heart of downtown office country, and would improve the pedestrian streetscape by taking away an overbuilt traffic lane.

There's a reason 3rd Ave was chosen as a DETOUR...it's the next closest option to the river path.

River path is about 250 meters longer, while 3rd has a stop sign and 8 traffic lights. It would only take 60-90 seconds of stationary time before the river path is faster, even at a slow cruising pace. And it's definitely more pleasant.

 

[Ramsayite]

Brilliant contribution to the discussion! may I interest you in SSP Local Calgary. !

Oh I lurked on that forum for decade(s) well enough to know the problem there wasn't the occasional harsh word to describe a bad opinion.

I've mentioned this a few times - but my preference for an E/W protected bike lane is on the north side of 5th

I agree, but that doesn't run in contradiction to cycle infrastructure on 3rd avenue as well. Why in lieu of? Why is that the default condition? You should be anything for dedicated cycle infrastructure every two to three blocks throughout the inner city.

If you yourself are a cycling dork and use that route all the time, why advocate for giving the right of way back to cars? That implicit assertion requires justification, beyond just an appeal to some vague default. The best I can do to understand you is to think back when I was 25 on a road bike. I was happy to weave lanes on any car-infested road, lane split and hop curbs, no interest in dedicated infrastructure or following any road rules; just some libertarian cyclist fantasy. The calculus becomes a bit different when you have kids and start thinking about this city as a whole rather than just yourself. And thankfully the city has changed in the last 20 years too.

Anyway, you are arguing for car parking in lieu of a cycling lane, I maintain that's a dumbass take. Sorry to hurt your feelings. I just think it's time we stop hiding behind the status quo as a default that needs no justification.

It would be nice if you could articulate that opinion without being a wiener.

Yet you appear to be the one with a transparently thin skin.

Sorry, I'll stop now.

 

[Ramsayite]

River path is about 250 meters longer, while 3rd has a stop sign and 8 traffic lights. It would only take 60-90 seconds of stationary time before the river path is faster, even at a slow cruising pace. And it's definitely more pleasant.

I don't find this to be true in practice at all.

All you've done is doubled the length and duration of the trip below.

It's one thing to compare the two cycle paths by length from where they intersect, it's another entirely to consider the types of destinations that require east-west movement, especially given that there is no reliable north south connector on the east side of downtown. If either end of the trip is south of 3rd avenue then the Riverwalk becomes quite the detour.

Try this when the river path is at its most congested and it will most certainly not be a pleasant detour.

One could detour south on to 8th avenue, but that leaves a pretty rough north south leg on Center Street.

To artvandelay's point, a fifth avenue cycle Lane would fill this niche as well but leave a broken connection for two blocks on center street. So it would need an upgraded north south route (ideally, a bike lane down 1st st E / MacLeod trail from river to river rather than center street itself.)

 

[badc0ffee]

Cut it out, @Ramsayite

 

[Ramsayite]

Cut it out, @Ramsayite

Sorry didn't mean to talk so passionately about bike lanes in the subforum dedicated to bike lanes, my bad.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I would be much more okay with the 3rd ave path going away if the city was considering another bike path along 4th, 5th or 6th. 6th would actually be pretty nice as it goes right through EV, and has the ability to connect to the river path at the west or east end of downtown.

As far as timing goes, I often use the 3rd ave pathway as it's often faster than the river pathway even with the lights. The River pathway section thru Eau Claire is very nice, but not great for commuting traffic.

 

[ByeByeBaby]

I use the 3rd ave pathway because I go to places on 3rd Ave. Not sure how riding on the river pathway solves that. Not shopping and dining in Chinatown will be what solves that in the future, I guess.

In other news, the permanent cycle track on 12th avenue has been removed between 3rd and 4th Ave SE. Not sure why; there's Green Line construction in the area, but the car lanes are being restored during breaks in construction, so they could restore the cycle track if they wanted to. The cycle track removal seems permanent, with a must-turn sign on 3rd Ave and absolutely no detour or cycling facilities beyond that. I only ride through this area occasionally; at least twice during this project so far, the cycling detours have been so confusing I've unwittingly ridden into oncoming traffic (fortunately there is little car traffic in the area, which is good for my safety but poses the question as to why all the lanes need to be maintained but the permanent cycle track doesn't.)

Is this the first council in the city's history to oversee a net reduction in cycling facilities? Somebody should tell them about the climate emergency.

 

[Nimbus]

Riding westbound on 3rd there are only 2 sets of lights I usually have to stop at, Centre street and 6th street. You can easily ride a green wave for the rest of it.