Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas wants the province to pump the brakes on any plans to rip up local bike lanes.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen confirmed on Monday the province plans to introduce a bill this fall that would give it more oversight to approve future bike lanes, and the power to remove existing lanes.
Decisions of where to introduce bike lanes typically rests with municipalities planning their own transportation networks.
On Tuesday, Farkas said while he is open to input from the province, he’s bothered by the idea the Alberta government could tear up bike lanes that kids use to commute to school and that make roads more safe for cyclists.
“Anything that the province wants to do that could potentially make roads less safe for kids right now, I’ll strongly be pushing back,” said Farkas.
He urged the province to focus on what he considers to be more substantive issues, noting pedestrian safety specifically. Last year, the city saw its highest number of pedestrian deaths in Calgary police records, dating back to 1996.
‘We’re concerned when municipalities use taxpayer dollars to reduce road capacity at a time when our province is investing billions to expand it,’ said Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen. (Helen Pike/CBC)
The mayor said he had requested a meeting with Dreeshen about pedestrian safety, but after it was cancelled last minute, he’s still waiting to hear more from the minister on the issue.
“I think the latest debate over bike lanes, it follows up the debate over time changes: nobody is talking about this,” said Farkas.
“When you see the province focusing on more of these symbolic virtue-signalling things like which books belong in libraries, what time the clock should be adjusted to, even the latest stuff about bike lanes, it’s a lack of focus on the priorities that matter.”
Farkas said he thinks the bike lane debate is a “channel changer” away from other controversies the province currently faces.
Dreeshen floated the idea of reviewing municipal bike lanes last summer, when he said he was actively reviewing cycling infrastructure that had received public complaints.
While Dreeshen said his government supports some bike lanes, he argues other lanes are poorly placed, and that he’s received a lot of complaints about bike lanes replacing parking spots or worsening daily commutes.
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CBC News asked Dreeshen’s office for a response to Farkas’s concerns about its proposed legislation and about a future meeting on pedestrian safety. In an emailed statement, Dreeshen said some municipal decisions move in the opposite direction of the province’s attempts to reduce traffic congestion.
“We’re concerned when municipalities use taxpayer dollars to reduce road capacity at a time when our province is investing billions to expand it,” said Dreeshen.
Council members want to see more data
A large portion of the city’s bike lanes are in neighbourhoods represented by Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt. He doesn’t necessarily see the province’s actions as overreach, but Schmidt said he thinks the province is taking on a “non-issue” if it pursues legislation about bike lanes.
“We don’t get a large volume of complaints and correspondence about taking away bike lanes,” said Schmidt.
“Is it good policy? That’s what I would take issue with. Because we haven’t seen any data, we haven’t seen a lot of good information about why this needs to happen now.”
Alberta’s plans for a new bill on bike lanes comes as the Ontario government awaits a ruling on its appeal of a successful challenge to similar legislation. The province planned to rip up three stretches of bike lanes in Toronto, but a group of cyclists successfully argued the plan presented an unconstitutional risk to their safety.
The provincial government appealed that decision to Ontario’s highest court, arguing it effectively creates a right to bike lanes. Both sides are awaiting a ruling on the appeal.
Bike Calgary president Doug Clark said he wouldn’t rule out pursuing a similar court challenge in Alberta. He said the province’s legislation could lead to roads being less safe for cyclists, and that municipal governments are better suited to planning local transportation systems.
“I don’t see any reason why the provincial government should be getting into it in this level of detail,” said Clark.
He argued the city should instead plan more bike lanes to improve connectivity and redundancy for Calgary’s 290 kilometres of existing on-street cycling infrastructure.
“Experience tells us that more connectivity is better than less,” said Clark. “Because all it takes is one bridge to be out for restoration or maintenance or some flood condition in an underpass, and it wipes out a key part of the network. So having that redundancy is key.”