Pete Spearing

14Jan 2021 by Pete Spearing No Comments

14 & 15 Avenue S.W. Mobility Improvements

Infrastructure

The City of Calgary is looking to improve the 14 Avenue S. and 15 Avenue S. corridors. Impacting our communities in Beltline, Connaught and Victoria Park (Wards 8 and 11) from 12 Street SW to 1 Street SE. The survey ends on Sunday, January 31, 2021. https://engage.calgary.ca/1415ave As part of the 17 Avenue S.W. Construction Project, 14 Avenue S. and 15 Avenue S. were converted to one-way roads, with street parking preserved on both sides of the road, to provide detours during construction. This also provided an opportunity to improve the pedestrian experience and add wheeling facilities by reducing the widths of travel lanes to encourage a reduction in traffic speeds. Currently, 14 Avenue S. accommodates one westbound traffic lane with parking on both sides of the street, and 15 Avenue…

11Jan 2021 by Pete Spearing No Comments

The Future of 16 Avenue N.W.

Infrastructure

PROJECT UPDATE - JANUARY 2021 The City of Calgary wants to hear from you again on the Main Street options for Montgomery section. In fall 2020, you learned about the benefits and concepts, and evaluated them against the project’s goals. The shared ideas from the last survey have been turned into concept options for this important main street and transportation corridor. Now, they are looking for further feedback on the Main Streets options in the Montgomery section. After the fall engagement concluded, they discovered there were technical errors in the engage portal page that interfered with the ability to collect comprehensive feedback on all of the options. 16th Ave is one of the major crossing intersections for the Bow River pathway To ensure that project decisions and plans are based…

30Dec 2020 by Pete Spearing 7 Comments

Bike Calgary 2021 Wish List

Advocacy

With a new year approaching we have much to hope for, drawing on what we have seen, mostly in 2020, this is a time for change and progression, which needs to focus on moulding our futures for the better. Bike Calgary would like to therefore take a moment to reflect on where we are going and what a 2021 wish list could look like for us; A funded 5A Network (Always Available for All Ages and Abilities.), This could be delivered through phases and projects, which we hope would primarily look to connect the orphaned pathways, isolated communities and our education facilities.We wish for the successful completion of the pilot scheme of our Ride to School program at E.P Scarlett High School. We look forward to acquiring the funding required…

29Dec 2020 by Pete Spearing No Comments

Renaming our cycle tracks!

#sharedstreets, Advocacy

On December 16th the City Council voted to direct the Administration to "explore formally changing the name of our cycle tracks to mobility tracks or another name to better reflect their current and future use, and return to Transportation and Transit Committee with recommendations and next steps no later that Q1 2021." So let's have a poll and help our Administration with some free input to help that decision. We are asking the communities of Calgary to see what you would call them and as part of that process, what else needs to be changed with it? Should they be categorized better perhaps? http://petespearing.survey.fm/calgary-renaming-our-cycle-tracks We will share the results here and also with the City of Calgary.

16Dec 2020 by Pete Spearing No Comments

Panorama Hills – Engage

Community

The City of Calgary is testing a Neighbourhood Streets pilot policy with the goal of creating local streets where neighbours can connect and choose travel options, no matter their age or ability. As part of the Neighbourhood Streets Program, The City is working with the community to improve streets in Panorama Hills for everyone to travel around the community. You can complete the survey and stay connected through email updates by clicking on the link below. The survey closes on the 27th December. https://engage.calgary.ca/panoramahills Panorama Hills is a residential community established in 1996. It is located in northcentral Calgary bounded by Stoney Trail to the north, Harvest Hills Boulevard to the east and Council Hills Boulevard to the south. According to the 2018 Civic Census, Panorama Hills has the third…

14Dec 2020 by Pete Spearing No Comments

The pathway factor: active transport of growing importance for homebuyers

#sharedstreets, Advocacy

According to the article in the link below from the Calgary Herald, and based upon the study by Zolo, communities with plenty of opportunity for active transport are viewed as being increasingly desirable. https://calgaryherald.com/life/homes/new-homes/the-bike-path-factor-active-transport-of-growing-importance-for-homebuyers Despite its significant amount of kilometers of pathway, albeit over a large area, Calgary scores only 79th in the survey. The score is compiled using metrics such as the quality of bicycle and walking paths, mass transit, precipitation and elevation change. Edmonton was ranked 36th. The factoring of our elevation change seems to perhaps penalise the outcome a little, but are our orphaned pathways more the real factor? The Greenway just ends East of Livingston in the North ........waiting for development of a road, although now split by the widening of Center Street with no direct…

04Dec 2020 by Pete Spearing No Comments

Ride to Remembrance – Thank you!

Events, Uncategorized

On behalf of Tegh Singh, his family and Bike Calgary we would like to thank everyone who contributed either by helping us on the event or to raise funds and awareness for the Veterans Transition Network and Field of Crosses. The total received by Bike Calgary alone was $3,300 which has been split equally to each charity. We are also aware that a lot of direct contributions were also made to each organization, so thank you! "The Beast" has been retuned to its owner, pampered and is out on its normal daily Winter travels on our pathways, and we are pleased to hear that Tegh has a set of studded tires for his TWV bike and he intends to carry on riding in the Winter months! For Tegh, Bike Calgary…

01Dec 2020 by Pete Spearing No Comments

12 days to the Calgary Bicycle Film Festival!

Events

The 20th Anniversary of Bicycle Film Festival is going virtual and is arriving in Calgary virtually on December 12-20, hosted by Ridley's Cycle. Bicycle Film Festival has been celebrating bicycles through art, film and music the last 20 years. The physical BFF spanned the world in over 90 cities worldwide to an audience of over one million people. The festival has an incredible history of working with the most important artists, filmmakers, venues, and institutions around the world. BFF Calgary is presenting an international selection of short films. BFF Select Shorts Select Shorts appeal to a wide audience from film connoisseurs to avid cyclists and everything in between. Let the BFF curated collection of select shorts take you on a journey around the world as we learn about a charismatic…

24Nov 2020 by Pete Spearing No Comments

Strategic Review Feedback – Have your say!

Research

You are invited to participate in our survey to review the Bike Calgary 2018-2020 Strategic Plan. In this survey Bike Calgary members and YYC riders are asked to answer questions that discuss the progress of our previous goals and objectives in order to help us make necessary adjustments for our 2021-2023 plan. It will take approximately 10 -15 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The focus of this survey is on strategic priorities, i.e. our big picture strategy and not on operational priorities. The survey can be accessed here If you wish to review the 2018-2020 Strategic Plan, this can be found here: https://bikecalgary.org/strategic-plan/ The survey will close on the 14th December 2020 and thank you for your feedback and input.

23Nov 2020 by Pete Spearing 1 Comment

City sidewalk and pathway budget to be cut by 56%!

#sharedstreets, Advocacy

We all realize that the current economic situation is difficult, but these are also times for progressive change. Calgary's very own Council approved transportation plan states that pedestrians and those on two wheels should be prioritized in all future transport / infrastructure spending, yet the 56% cut to sidewalks and pathways for 2021 is the 4th deepest cut across the 36 categories. So how does this compare? Under the budget allocations for "A City That Moves", the following is proposed: Parking, No Reduction (2021 Budget $13.9m) Public Transit, a reduction of -13% (2021 Budget $368m)Sidewalks and Pathways a reduction of - 56% (2021 Budget $25m)Specialist Transit, No Reduction (2021 Budget $90k)Streets, a reduction of only 15% (2021 Budget $194m)Taxi, Limousine & Vehicles-for-hire, No Reduction (2021 budget ($330k) Lets remind ourselves…

Author: Pete Spearing