TOURING THE NEW DOWNTOWN BIKE NETWORK
Series of protected bike lanes will connect through downtown Edmonton.
1 105 Avenue link
Most pieces of the downtown bike grid will be open before July. However, the 105 Avenue corridors will wait until the end of the summer. It's still being designed, said project manager Olga Messinis.
2 LRT Construction
Messinis said her team is working with LRT contractor TransEd to determine what bike connections might be possible along 102 Avenue during LRT construction.
3 Accessing the funicular
City planners are still considering options for connecting cyclists with the new funicular. That could involve a new connection along 100 Avenue and the Heritage Trail, said general supervisor Daniel Vriend. The team will report back to council's urban planning committee with options this fall.
4 Stop light for bikes?
Coun. Scott McKeen worries increased bike traffic heading northsouth on the shared-use path here will back up traffic on 100 Avenue “Cyclists cannot expect to have freeways,” he said, while the city’s project team promised they will be watching traffic impacts in the area. McKeen is suggesting lights for bikes on the path to hold them up while the light is green for east-west traffic at the nearby 109 Street intersection.
5 No right turn on red
Motorists will now be banned from making a right turn on red at many downtown intersections, such as 100 Avenue and 109 Street. “This is a busy intersection and there's a lot going on. We want to play it safe," said Dot Laing, the project's education coordinator. Also, she said, the provincial traffic act prohibits turning on red when crossing lanes of traffic. The bike lanes count as traffic lanes.
6 Traffic monitoring
City crews installed new traffic monitoring stations to follow the impact of the new lanes. University of Alberta researchers are doing a full evaluation, which will come back to council in 18 months. Bike counters will also be installed by the end of July.
7 Yield to bikes
New signs and green pavement markings warn drivers to yield to cyclists when crossing the bike lanes to turn into a driveway, such as at the Holiday Inn on 100 Avenue. "There are going to be a lot of tight right shoulder checks," said Dot Laing, the city's education coordinator. Provincial traffic law dictates turning vehicles must always yield to vehicles going straight. In this case the cyclists are heading straight.
8 Bike boxes and button hooks
"This is very new," warned Messinis, demonstrating the new turning boxes. Vehicles are required to stop behind the green painted boxes at intersections. Cyclists use them to get in position for a two stage turn, important because coming out of a two-way bike lane would otherwise mean crossing two directions of traffic just to merge when a bike lane ends.