The City has started to release plans for bike route improvements along the West LRT:
"Planning for Phase 1 was initiated in the spring of 2011 and includes the 45 Street, Westbrook, and Shaganappi Point LRT stations. The City of Calgary engaged a stakeholder group comprised of representatives from the area communities and the cycling community to develop a system of improvements that will provide cycling routes leading into each of the West LRT station areas.
Planning for Phase 2 will begin in early 2012 and includes the 69 Street, Sirocco, and Sunalta LRT stations."
Previous discussions of the plans can be found here and here.
I had a perusal of the
Submitted by metropetrolitan on
I had a perusal of the documents and it looks really promising. I like the concept of "family-friendly" routes. Essentially these seem to me like novice level routes that are much the same as green circles at a ski hill. They have a combination of roundabouts and speed humps and are generally on low flow traffic volume streets. It also involves turning stop signs to allow for cyclist right of way and it is clear that City of Calgary paid attention to continuity. Great job to Bike Calgary for providing input on this project!
Think it Looks Great
Submitted by Smokey Crow on
I have looked at the most recent, and more detailed plan and think it looks great! I like the idea of family friendly routes (I will probably still use 45th, but for those who don't like traffic other options are a great way to get people out).
The bike parking along the LRT lines is also a great addition - connecting bikes and transit will hopefully encourage more people to think about alternate forms of transportation and I think the addition of these new improvements to the bike infrastructure should have the desired effect of getting more people out there.
So nice to see this happening in my area of the city - can't wait. Perhaps this will help convince my wife to go on rides with me!!!!
I also like the bike parking
Submitted by metropetrolitan on
I also like the bike parking along the LRT lines. One of the regulations that I thought could be changed as well with respect to bikes on LRT's would be to allow bikes on LRT lines in "off-peak" directions. I have noticed many of the outbound LRT's in the AM, and inbound LRT's in the PM are nowhere near full.
West LRT Bike and Pedestrian Route Information Session
Submitted by amf673 on
There was an information session for the planned bike and pedestrian improvements in the area of the Westbrook, 26 St/Shaganappi and the 45 St Station.
The details are available here:
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TP/Pages/Cycling/Cycling-Route-Impr...
I had attended the previous consultation sessions so there were not too many surprises.
The Spruce Drive/12 Ave lanes will be good. They will provide a nice East-West link between Edworthy Park and Crowchild. Those are both low traffic volume roads so added paint bike lanes will work. Narrowing the roadway (with bike lanes) should do some traffic calming as well. The exisiting road is wide and clear with lots of speeding, that residents have complained about.
With the existing lanes on 26 Ave and a MUP along the LRT there will be good east/west travel options.
North/south is not as good. There are two "Family Friendly Routes" Identified on 42 St and further west. I can't comment too much about those as I don't know that area very well. I use 45 St when I travel there, which is not exactly cyclist friendly during rush times. Anyone else have thoughts?
I had hoped that 26 St and/or 29 St would become a main bikeway. There will be a southbound lane on 29th as far as 26 Ave. Northbound there will be a lane on 26 ST between 16 Ave and 19 Ave. The remainder of 26/29 will have sharrows. IMHO sharrows are next to useless. On other streets with sharrows I rarely see much bike activity (5 Ave NW, 19 St NW) so I don't feel that they will do anything for the "interested but concerned" cyclists. I suspect that 'loss' of on street parking is the issue here.
There is also some confusion (in my mind at least) around the connection between the MUP at Shaganappi Hill and the new pedestrian bridge and from the bridge to 25 A St. There are acres of roadspace on 24 St, very little traffic and very little parking (will change with the LRT unless some restrictions are put in place) so I always figured they would just extend the MUP along the west side of 24 to connect to the bridge. It would be nice to feel the love. Local residents have concerns over the alignment of path on the south side of the bridge. I have concerns that the curb cut for a north bound cyclist requires you to make a blind turn into a one-way street. A desire path has already started to form where the cut should probably be but once the street cleaner makes its rounds the dirt ramp will be gone.
Any else who was there or who has perused the documents have any thoughts?
Agree
Submitted by Smokey Crow on
I went to the Open House last night and the sharrow is the way they obviously want to go. The roads themselves are fairly quiet, but I am note sure if it will make anybody hop on their bike if they didn't do so before (some routes are pretty jagged or short). The 'traffic calming' measures such as speed bumps and round-a-bouts are nice, but that is the only thing that is really being done to the 'family friendly' routes - but a very positive thing that should slow people down.
I understand that they don't need separated bike lanes throughout this area, but just painting a bike on the cement doesn't neccesarily make people feel more comfortable sharing the road with cars and in a way I see it as the city just making it seem that they are doing something for the benefit of cyclists. But it is a step forward and better than what is currently there. I imagine I will be sticking to 45th Street when I head down to Edworthy though.
West LRT Bike Routes and Winter Riding
Submitted by margaretmary on
My main concern is shoulder season/winter riding and ease of access to the LRT during the shoulder season/winter. I don't really see these routes as facilitating safe easy access as they mostly seem to consist of stencils on the road.That means sharing icy roads with cars. Also, assuming I can read the map, it looks like the route from my house to the Westbrook LRT involves going north to Spruce Drive, following it around, and then going over the existing pedestrian overpass. Hmm. I live in Wildwood so the ideal West LRT bike route improvement really would be a plowed Quarry Road. Then I could forget about the LRT and loss of super convenient and direct bus service to downtown completley and just ride all year. (I know some will say, "get studded tires." I've done that, I just don't weigh enough to stay on the bike.) Did these themes come up at the Open Houses? Any thoughts re: winter riding and LRT access?