Opening of new bike lanes in northwest Calgary sparks intense debate | Globalnews.ca

New bike lanes — one on each side of the road from the intersection of Sunnyhill Lane and 7 Avenue N.W. to 9 Street and 2 Avenue N.W. — were opened in January.

However, Sunnyside resident Stephen Entwisle, who describes himself as an avid cyclist who rides his bike in the area at least found times per week, doesn't think the new lanes are justified by the volume of vehicle traffic in the area.

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"For the people who actually live on 7th Avenue here, it is not only disruptive but has real potential to negatively affect property values," said Entwisle.

"It affects us on a daily basis. A number of people in the community have expressed concerns about their ability to age in place. As you can see, the curb is really prominent, very large. If you're an elderly person and you have the requirement to take your waste management bins out to the road for pickup, it can make it very difficult."

Entwisle said the addition of large concrete barriers separating the road from the bike lane has also removed a significant portion of the parking that's available in the area.

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"We could have taken interim or incremental steps, such as putting in traffic bumps, putting in a less permanent, less fixed cycling infrastructure to try things out. There are alternate ways to calm traffic if that's the concern," Entwisle said.

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Some critics have taken to social media to share their opinions, using such euphemisms as useless, ugly and a waste of money to describe the new bike lane.

But other area residents, like Robert Malcolm, who is also president of the school council at Sunnyside Elementary, believe the bike lane has made the road a lot safer for cyclists by narrowing the road so people drive more appropriately.

"Memorial on occasion has some construction on it, and on these certain occasions, which happen now and then, people tend to cut through the neighbourhood and you've got an elementary school and a bunch of houses, and you know people with mobility needs, so that's really been an issue," said Malcolm.

Critics also point out that the bike lane was unusable for long periods during the winter because it was covered in snow, forcing cyclists back out onto the road.

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Criticism Christie Page of the Hillhurst Sunnyside Mobility Committee described the obstacle as "growing pains."

"It didn't really open until January, which is a terrible time for the city to open a bike lane, and the snow crews hadn't figured out how to remove the snow and there was some real issues with parking signage."

"We have reduced a little bit of parking just on 7th Avenue and having the parking signage not be correct right off the bat made people angry, like they were getting ticketed where the city had promised them parking, and it has been fixed, but people are still upset about that," said Page.

"Almost every house where the bike lane went has an alley. Where they don't have an alley, there was a lot of thought put in by both the community and the city to make sure that they would have a parking spot in front of their house, and the recycle bin also had to get past it, so there are gaps where you can push a recycle bin through," added Page.

"So people either have access through the rear of their property or they have access at the front of their property, which is really just a few houses here on 7th Avenue."

Ward 7 Coun. Mike Atkinson believes the arrival of "true cycling weather" will result in many more people using the bike lane.

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"It was quite a wide road before, so it is like a main throughfare for Sunnyside, right? It connects across the CTrain tracks and into Sunnyside. It's kind of the spine down the middle. It abuts the school. So it's kind of the right network piece right in the middle of community," said Atkinson.

"It was originally a trolley road. If you go back in the history of it, it's where we had a trolley on that road. So it's quite a wide road originally. So these cycle pieces and some of the curb bump outs to allow it — narrowing of the pedestrian infrastructure — have just made it an overall safer space for folks in the Sunnyside area," Atkinson added.

2:10 Bike lanes under scrutiny as Calgary, province explore compromise

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