Cyclists riding on Groat Road Bridge to face crackdown
A crackdown is coming for cyclists riding through the construction zone atop the Groat Road Bridge, say City of Edmonton peace officers.
They’ll start handing out $100 fines this month.
But that’s sure to inflame frustrations for those using the corridor to commute by bike. Getting off a bike to walk across the 325-metre stretch adds roughly four minutes to the journey.
Edmonton is in the first year of a three-year construction project to rehabilitate one of Edmonton’s key river crossings.
But the work has narrowed the shared-use paths that both people walking and biking use to head north and south.
Traffic officials put in “cyclist dismount” signs after several construction workers, including a former project manager, and
I guess if that’s what it takes, we should have that conversation. It would be frustrating to bring that to council.
other pedestrians were hit or narrowly missed, said Keith Scott, coordinator for the city ’s community standards peace officers.
They reclassified the narrow shared-use path into a sidewalk, where city bylaws prohibit cycling. Then his officers set up six times over the past two months to hand out warnings.
“We need to be able to make sure people are safe,” he added, explaining the decision to start giving tickets now. They ’ll be there as soon as the team can schedule a visit.
Cyclists are frustrated because they don’t see the need to dismount when there are no pedestrians present.
On social media, many of them have been arguing for “Slow, Yield to pedestrian” signs instead, which is what some other cities use.
If a person walking goes about four km/h and a person cycling on a bridge like that goes about 15 km/ h, that works out to a delay of 3.6 minutes.
In comparison, Edmonton’s pedestrian-friendly Jasper Avenue experiment was criticized for adding two minutes to a vehicle commuter’s travel time last summer. Many drivers said it felt like 10 minutes.
Coun. Andrew Knack, who often cycles to work, said he thinks a sign that tells cyclists to go slow and stop to wait for a pedestrian to pass would be more appropriate. That’s easier for everyone because a slowly-rolling cyclist isn’t going to accidentally swerve, and a cyclist stopped on a bike is easier to pass than one holding a bike beside them.
But city officials say allowing cyclists to yield or roll at a walking pace on what’s classified as a sidewalk would require a bylaw change.
“I guess if that’s what it takes, we should have that conversation,” said Knack, thinking there must be a common sense solution.
“It would be frustrating to have to bring that to council.”