Complete Streets & Active Transportation

Ryan Martinson

We all need to move around our cities to take advantage of what they offer us in terms of living, working, playing, and learning. With our cities growing, our transportation systems need to grow as well. And that’s why cycle tracks are so great. Check it out!

Rock Miller

Cycle track is a relatively new form of bikeway that is being built in urban areas, particularly in downtowns. It’s basically a reassigning the way the street is used to dedicate some space for bicycles in addition to the space for cars, and one of the most important features of it is there’s some kind of a physical separation between the bicyclists and the cars.

When you ride a bicycle in a facility like this it feels a lot more comfortable to people riding a bike, so people who are nervous about riding in a city will ride in a facility like this.

Ryan Martinson

As I travel through downtown Calgary, there’s a lot of people moving around by different modes. It’s busy, but everyone’s getting around safely. This is something we had to consider when we were planning and designing the cycle track network. So why aren’t more people doing this? Well like everything, there’s challenges.

Rock Miller

We’ve heard a number of people, particularly people that are used to commuting by cars express a lot of concern over taking away the lane of traffic. Another issue of concern that we’ve heard from a number of people is that it basically has resulted in some loss of parking along the street.

One of the things the City did to address the parking shortage is survey nearby streets and they actually found places where they could provide some additional parking and they’ve actually come up with a net increase of about 100 stalls total for the overall project area.

The bicycle traffic to the downtown has been increasing, the car traffic has actually been decreasing, and the City’s really established a lot of goals to increase bicycling and decrease single occupant car traffic in the downtown.

Don Mulligan

To be a great city, you’ve got to take some risks, you’ve got to go out on a limb, you’ve got to try new things, and lots and lots of people are resistant to change. You can give them some comfort by saying “it’s a pilot, we’re going to try it, it’s not permanent, if it doesn’t work we can either adjust it or abandon it…” And so there’s a huge power in creating a pilot project that is truly a test.

Ryan Martinson

So clearly there are a lot of challenges with implementing cycle tracks. Why bother?

Don Mulligan

When we ask people “why cycle?” the vast majority say “for exercise”, but it's not just about exercise, it's about a whole new lifestyle.  I've been to many other cities all over the world and the cities that are best at cycling, people use it for everything. It becomes their way. We call it "All day, all purpose trip". So, it's not just about going to school or going to work. It's going to visit friends, it's going to get groceries, it's going out at night.

Ryan Martinson

So they’re an all-around good idea, so how can other communities get started, and who can help?

Rock Miller

Stantec has helped cities implement cycle tracks in many communities throughout the US and Canada. We know it’s worked where it’s been done in cities before, and we have no doubt that it’s going to be working here. And the early returns really are confirming that already.

Ryan Martinson

So give us a shout if you want to learn more about cycle tracks in your town.