Saskatoon cycling group lauds ‘courage’ in bike lanes plan

Despite opposition to pilot project, city proposes connected routes downtown

Cycling advocate Cathy Watts says a proposed network of protected bike lanes in that city’s downtown is aimed at more than a small group of cyclists.

The city unveiled plans for four connected bike lanes downtown, despite the opposition that dogged a two-year pilot project.

“It’s catering to the health of our community,” said Watts, who is co-chair of the Saskatoon Cycles advocacy group. “Is that a small group? We have to look at it in a more rational way.”

The city plan proposes bike lanes on Fourth Avenue and 23rd Street, where bike lanes were installed for the pilot project, as well as on Idylwyld Drive and 19th Street.

Saskatoon city council will debate and listen to residents speak about the proposal at a special governance and priorities committee meeting on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Watts said she’s lost track of how many different renditions and maps she’s looked at over many years of planning a cycling network.

Providing safe infrastructure for cycling promotes active transportation, which reduces carbon emissions and can help address rising obesity rates, she said.

She’s aware of the opposition to the bike lanes, but thinks it’s not unusual. She noted a debate is raging in Toronto over the number of cyclists and pedestrians killed in collisions with motor vehicles there over the last two years.

“We’re so thankful that council has had the courage and the conviction to move forward after all the talk,” Watts said. “There’s always resistance to things like this, but that’s change.

“If they don’t pass this, we are going to be set back for a long time.”

Watts said the downtown bike network is a key plank of the city ’s active transportation plan, a multi-year, multi-project strategy priced at about $250 million. She also noted council endorsed the active transportation plan in 2016.

The elimination of parking stalls remains one of the main issues with the downtown bike network plan. This pain would be felt even more acutely on Fourth Avenue, where the pilot project took away 19 parking spots.

The permanent bike lanes would result in the loss of 39 more stalls on Fourth because the lanes would cover two more blocks. Some stalls would also be eliminated for safety at intersections and driveways, for an overall loss of 58.

Brent Penner, executive director of the Downtown Saskatoon business improvement district, said he has not yet had time to survey downtown businesses on the cycling network.

However, he thinks it’s premature to pass judgment on the lanes before a final decision is made on where bus-only transit lanes will be located downtown, he said.

The current transit plan, which will also be considered at Wednesday’s meeting, calls for bus-only lanes on Third Avenue, but Downtown Saskatoon has suggested they be considered for First Avenue instead.

“The buses need to be decided first and then the bike lanes,” Penner said. Third might be a better location for bike lanes if the city opts to relocate the bus-only lanes to First, he added.