The new pedestrian/cyclist bridge over Bow Trail at 24 St SW opened last fall, just as winter was setting in, so the north side ramp did not get paved until last week. In addition some bike infrastructure was added to 24 St SW to allow for a connection between the pathway coming up the hill beside Shaganappi Golf Course and the Bow River Pathway (BRP) and the new bridge.
The bridge is very nice and is designed to evoke a chinook arch. The bridge is wide and has nice wide access ramps at either end; a big improvement over the old bridge.
The infrastructure on 24 St consists of sharrows and painted bike lanes. Here is the view as you proceed southbound.
You can see how the lane starts away form the curb, then cuts in, then fades. The existing curb cut is beyond the end of the lane, but some spray paint may indicate a new curb cut on the way.
The roadway here is very wide, but ...
As a rider comes north over the bridge and coasts down the ramp they see this:
You can just see the southbound lane as it merges into the sidewalk. One presumes that you are supposed to cross at the sidewalk and join up with the northbound lane on the other side. It is difficult to see above but a bike lane emerges from the curb along Bow Trail and curves around on 24 St.
At the south end of the bridge there are pathways going east and west. The west bound path takes a rider to 25 A St which is a good connector to get up to 26 St, 14 Ave or 29 St. The problem here is that the if a rider is approaching from the south they need to turn a blind corner into a one way street to access the curb cut. There is a desire path on the east side that is a better location for the access ramp.
This is one of few ways for cyclists to get from the south west to the BRP (Others are Edworthy Park and some east of Crowchild) and is heavily used. The hill down to the BRP is steep and can get icy, but it is cleared in winter. Some riders go up Soveriegn Crescent and cross at the lights at 26 St, but the light cycle there is very long. 24 St is a light traffic road with really only local residential traffic and it likely sees more bike traffic than car.
What do you think?
The land immediately west of
Submitted by amf673 on
The land immediately west of 24 St is the "Jacques Site". As far as I know it will become a seniors' residences. http://www.mcfhousing.com/Files/ContentVersionFile/50034/Silvera_EOI_Fin... The maps in that document show the area well.
Out of the Box
Submitted by Smokey Crow on
I just rode over the Bow Trail bridge (nice that it is finally paved) onto 24th (northbound) and am sad to see that the city can't think of anything different then putting a bike lane on both sides of the road. This would have been the perfect spot for them to add a 2 way bike lane on the west side of 24th as it is very unlikely that a bike will ever want to turn east onto Bow Trail so having to cross 24th at south side to cross bridge is unfortunate. I really don't know why they had to keep parking on west side of 24th....there is plenty of parking all around and it doesn't even get that busy. I did like however that they acctually did paint those sharrow symbols on Sovereign Crescent just to remind motorists to share the road (wouldn't have seen if a street worker hadn't asked me to buy him a Coke so I went to the Shaganappi Golf Course to get him one, haha, then we talked for about 20 minutes).
plenty of parking now
Submitted by Cword on
but wait and see what happens when the lrt station opens.
True.
Submitted by Smokey Crow on
Yes, that is true. Even more reason to have made a dual bike lane and eliminate parking on the west side getting rid of the door zone.
Expensive Bridges NEED Good Access
Submitted by bclark on
It is imperative that good design principals are applied to bikeway/pathway access to these expensive structures. Unfortunately this doesn't look to be the case. Southside southbound access looks to be addressed (with the painted curb cut marker) but this should have occured in the design stage, not as remedial work. Southside northbound access is critical but doesn't look to have much hope unless significant curb work is done. Imagine, driving your car down an highway interchange only to find there is no way to get from your ramp to the lane you need without crossing a curb?! It wouldn't happen...it shouldn't happen for cyclists.
remedial work might be necessary
Submitted by critninja on
I was speaking with an unnamed Transportation employee who has been working on the West LRT bicycle integration projecrt since the beginning. We were chatting about the progress along the West LRT route and he mentioned something interesting - since the entire project is running behind schedule and delays cost lots of money in penalties, he said that it will actually be cheaper for the City to remediate bike infrastructure than to get it done right the first time.
So, try not to be too harsh in our judgements until the changes have been made on the ground (coming from the guy who tends to harshly critique the city regularly). :)
Interesting.
Submitted by bclark on
I hadn't considered that angle and I'll definitely keep it in mind. I do know that building bike infrastructure, of the level being called for, is a relatively new thing for the City so there are bound to be some oversights. Hopefully they do get the remedial work done to ensure seamless bike access to the new structure because it does sound like people coming from the SW are happy to have it. Thanks!
As I was going down 24 St
Submitted by barnecut on
As I was going down 24 St from Sovreign Cr I spotted a guy who was clearly a traffic person. I deliberated got off my bike, lifted it over the curb, and walked towards him. He greated me with "You're getting a ramp!" He explained that this bicycle portion was designed after the LRT contract was in place so it couldn't be done before now. (Remember the 16 Ave project whose scope constanty changed during construction. I recall everyone lost track of the expenditures.) We talked about the eastbound bicycle traffic turning from the pathway onto 24 Street. About this time Tom Thivener approached walking his suv through the rocks along Box Trail. I'm sure they will come up with a workable solution.
-Norm
This is terrible. Calgary has
Submitted by wizbiz on
This is terrible. Calgary has the worst bicycle infrastructure of any major Canadian city
Bow Trail Bridge - Herald Pedal Blog
Submitted by bclark on
http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/08/03/new-bike-lane-links-to-one-side-of-pedestrian-bridge-but-what-about-the-other-side/
25 A St on the south side
Submitted by amf673 on
25 A St on the south side seems to be getting some bike improvements -- at least that is what the sign said. It looks like a sidewalk/pathway on the east side of 25 A.
MUP? Yellow line?
Submitted by critninja on
MUP? Yellow line?
Cement poured
Submitted by sherryrunswest on
OK, so the cement is poured for the sidewalk on the east side of 25A street, not paved for a pathway link to the bridge. I didn't even see a ramp of any sort at the end of the sidewalk so that cyclists could use to get onto the existing pathway. Maybe I missed it this morning but it looked like full sized curbs, no transitions. I'll check again on the way home tonight.
I'll still be using the road going north, however, with no curb ramp put in I'll have to keep going to the end and turning left (a blind corner) onto the narrow side street briefly to catch the ramp near the bus stop. That could become dangerous if cars were coming east down that street just as I'm about to turn left to head for the ramp. Thought they would address this with the so-called bike improvements. Then again, maybe I've spoken too soon, as they aren't quite done the work.
yay! sidewalks!
Submitted by mikewarren on
As you know, I just *love* sidewalks bike paths ;)
we need to start a forum
Submitted by snowandscience on
we need to start a forum topic dedicated to this. there are enough of them in the city... will try to do this tonight if I remember.
Rode up to the bridge
Submitted by bclark on
On my way home last night I rode up to the new 24th Street bridge. Here's a few observations...
There is a gate blocking over half the pathway at the top of the climb from the River to 24th Street. It's time to stop blocking pathway junctions with gates. Use either one bollard (centreline) or three bollards (centreline plus each edge) and provide clearance for cargobikes and chariots.
The curb between the pathway and bike lane still needs to be cut. That aside, the pathway leading onto the bridge seemed to have nice lines into and out.
Going up the hill to 25A Street is pretty easy but my biggest complaint is that the pathway junction is (as usual) designed as if all pathway users are pedestrians, i.e. as a sidewalk. Let's keep with the new theme (3rd Ave / 8th St SW) of recognizing the need for cyclists to travel between the pathway and roadway as cyclists (i.e. vehicles) not as pedestrians.
Coming back north was fine except there really needs to be a plan to get northbound cyclists back onto 24th St without the need to ride against traffic or hop the big concrete median.
Nice bridge
Submitted by Tucker on
I rode across the new bridge just last week while construction was still going on, and I love it, the pathway connecting to it is now wide enough for me to ride my recumbent across with no sharp turns, that may be different when they add the handrails, needless to say its much better than the old one.
Update
Submitted by amf673 on
Work is continuing in the area of the 24 St Bridge over Bow Trail.
The bridge seems to be getting good use from both cyclists and pedestrianns.
12 Ave SW Taking Forever
Submitted by themacneils on
The one-way lane on the S side of Bow (12 Ave?), which is supposed to be getting a bike lane in it, is taking forever for the concrete work to finish at both ends: near Westbrook Mall and near 26 St. Does anybody have any inside scoop as to when they hope to complete these sections?
when ctrain opens?
Submitted by critninja on
The City staffers who ran the meetings that I attended said they were aiming to have all of the West LRT improvements completed for when the line opens.
Soooooo - fingers crossed everything is done before winter.
IMHO I think they will get everything done because the pace of change in the area is amazing to watch.
Update
Submitted by amf673 on
Last week work crews knocked the concrete out where the bike ramps on both the north and south ends of the bridge will be. I guess the holes need to breathe a while before the concrete can be poured for the ramp.