[2wheeler]

It’s my understanding that bicycles are permitted on all roads unless prohibited. Deerfoot has received that special designation, and hence has signs in place indicating that. Municipalities have the ability to ban certain types of transportation (bicycles) on certain roads. But they can’t just ban cyclists willy nilly. Rockyview county banned cyclists from a road in Springbank back in 1996. The Elbow Valley cycling club took them to court and won ( https://www.vehicularcyclist.com/springbank.html ). The court found that the county discriminated against cyclists with the ban and overturned the bylaw. Since then, municipalities haven’t been as quick to ban cyclists. Recently the municipality tried to ban bicycles from a stretch of road with a gravel pit construction project out by Bearspaw but changed their minds when they were educated.

So basically you can ride on any road unless it’s banned.

[2wheeler]

Not sure why this response from Darren isn’t shown on this page:

DarrenB wrote:

2wheeler is correct – all City of Calgary streets are legal places to ride as a cyclist unless a specific prohibition is created. Part of Deerfoot Trail is prohibited to cyclists, but that roadway is actually owned by the province, not the City of Calgary, which is part of the history regarding that prohibition.

Another good example of a bicycle ban that was overturned occurred a few years ago when Ward 2 Councillor Joe Magliocca tried to ban cyclists from a stretch of road in the NW that was used heavily by construction vehicles (they found cyclists to be a nuisance because they had to slow down to pass them). IIRC, it lasted less than a month before it was challenged and the ban was removed.

Our culture seems to think that roads are for cars, but for the most part, we still hold the same legal rights to access our public roads as any motor vehicle. But there has been a noticeable shift in the culture at Alberta Transportation in the last decade or two that really seems to want to marginalize cyclists and not respect those rights. If you have concerns about the Ring Road (which is a Alberta Provincial Highway, not a City of Calgary-owned roadway), I encourage you to contact your MLA or the MLA of the affected area first, and be sure to copy your correspondence to your City Councillor.

[DarrenB]

Thanks 2wheeler – glad you had a copy, as I ran out of steam trying to type all that in again after my original post disappeared!

[2wheeler]

Since this thread started I’ve ridden Stoney Trail across Fish Creek onto 146 Ave SW then down 53rd St to get across 22 X. I can say without reservation that this is the worst section of gravel road I’ve ever ridden. Huge potholes, washboard and lots of traffic. I won’t try it again.

James Mckevitt is now open and provides access across 22X with nearly a 10 km detour. Then you can take Spruce Meadows Green west all the way back.

There is a nice pedestrian cycling bridge that’s been installed crossing Stoney Trail at the Tsuu T’ina gas station South of Anderson Rd. but it doesn’t appear on City of Calgary maps. I’ll use this to access the southbound lanes of Stoney Trail to cross Fish Creek Park.

Once again it’s a pretty poor showing of Calgary’s cycling infrastructure and has breated a bunch of dead-ends and detours where we used to be able to travel by bike.

[Author]

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