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Who is responsible for designating these? I’d really like a route I take to be added, and it makes sense as a route. It basically goes from Confederation Park, south on 6th st to 16th ave. From there you can ride through to Crescent heights, down the bluff and straight to the Peace Bridge. It’s a really nice direct route with little traffic, and you only have to cross 20th ave(has a pedestrian light), 16th ave(full signalized) and Memorial(pedestrian light) so traffic interactions are minimal.
Why do I want it a bike route? Well, I put in a few 311 requests to get 6th ave plowed, becuase it is very difficult to ride in these conditions. Their unhelpful response was to direct me to the designated 2nd street bike lane, which is obviously way out of the way. It also is not plowed. I pointed this out, and that 7th st is plowed. I also now see 5th st is also plowed. This makes no sense, as 6th st is the only one that connects with 16th ave, and a proper crossing. So their response this time was:
“roads maintains designated bike lanes and does not make these decisions on which road they are on.. ”
So who makes these decisions? I’ve been extremely disappointed with the roads dept over the years, and this kind of response is not helpful at all.
In general, I think a designated bike route every 4 blocks on the grid system is ideal, and having it offset from the main roads like 4th st helps. If you are wondering why I don’t take 10th, well, I do on my way home becuase I can resort to the sidewalk if necessary, but in these conditions it is treacherous downhill. It is also incredibly unreliably cleared, and has no easy alternative southbound if you find it has instead been used as a snow storage area.
Sorry for the long post, kind of frustrated here.
Hey @Fuzz, great suggestions. We will raise this idea with Bike Calgary’s Infrastructure task group, and look into the correct City department. I agree, it’s not obvious which department would handle this. we have a few contacts at the City and will look into this.
Thanks,
Gary
President, Bike CalgaryHi Gary, I actually contacted Druh Farrell’s office, as it is in her ward and I got some positive responses from them. So hopefully this leads to this being added as a route one day.
Hi @fuzz! We are working on launching a recruitment for the Ward and Community Reps program, and this may be a good fit for you. Check out community-engagement-team-by-wards to see if you want to join us. Working on getting more content up now, so stay tuned 🙂
where’d my post go :O
Thanks for bumping this. Forgot about it.
So the comment you got about roads just seems like miscommunication. There is certainly a lot of overlap and confusion on who presides over what when it comes to the bike infrastructure and maintenance. But I think what they meant was the roads team responsible for clearing does not make the decisions on where they clear.
Calgary has transportation engineers working on transportation planning and livable streets. When I get in contact with 311 about bicycle infrastructure my notes are almost always redirected to Kaely Dekker.
This might be a good starting point for you.
Most of these were addressed in some fashion (albeit some only recently, so the turn around is upwards of 2+ years depending).
Here is a sample response from one of those emails:Thank you for taking the time to contact The City of Calgary regarding bicycle connections in Silver Springs. Information from citizens such as yourself is valuable and we will review the locations and improvements you identified. Thank you for providing such detailed information with supporting maps and context about how cyclists are travelling through this area. Making cycling a safe and convenient transportation option supports access to important community resources and amenities, often smaller scale improvements can make a big difference for people travelling by bicycle.
If you have any further suggestions related to improvements that you feel would reduce barriers to active transportation such as walking or cycling, please feel free to submit them via 311.
Kind Regards,
I’m not that familiar with the area you are showing. But if I understand correctly, isn’t the road you’re describing not well cleared in winter, and mostly a side road? I thought using the 2nd str route was just as fast (even if it feels out of the way)?
I might be wrong. I’ve only gone through that area once or twice. Google recommendations are usually pretty good, so I’m going to use it as reference to draw a line on where I think you meant.I do agree about 10th. I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better off as a protected cycle track. It would be quite spooky going down that in the winter if it was not cleared. But I’d probably treat it like Home Road, where we take the lane on the downhill.
Sorry, been away for awhile and haven’t checked in. This is my route:
So it’s a bit more direct, which makes a big difference in the winter. In those conditions I prefer to avoid as much traffic as possible.
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