Residents raise concerns about bike lanes in Riverbend designed to slow traffic
CBC
Some residents of Calgary's Riverbend area are raising concerns about an adaptive bike lane project aimed at slowing traffic, launched on Friday.
The three-week pilot project has reduced 18th Street S.E. to one traffic lane in each direction between Quarry Park Boulevard and Rivervalley Drive S.E. from Aug. 19 to Sept. 12.
Coun. Kourtney Penner says the goal of the bike lane project is to address ongoing concerns about safety in the area that she's been hearing since before she took office.
"We've heard a lot of concerns from residents about excessive speed causing increased vehicle noise and just a hostile road environment, just based on the way that 18 Street is designed," said the Ward 11 representative.
But some residents have taken to social media and even created a petition against the pilot, saying they weren't consulted about the project and the bike lanes don't fix the root cause of the traffic issues.
Aymie Rondeau, a resident of Riverbend's neighbouring community to the south, Quarry Park, says the bike lanes are just adding more traffic congestion to the area.
"It just seems really poorly thought out and really is not solving the root cause of the problems that people have expressed about traffic in the area," said Rondeau.
Tracy Tatomir, a Riverbend resident of nine years, says her main concern is safety — especially for schoolchildren who take the bus.
In a Facebook post, Penner said school buses will come to a stop in the left lane and activate their safety signals so students can cross the bike lane to the sidewalk.
"If the motorist got angry, they could dodge in and speed past until the pedestrian or the rider," said Tatomir.
Tatomir says she's also concerned about how it will affect local businesses as well as emergency vehicles.
"If you're down to a single lane due to adding a temporary bike lane, how are fire and ambulance and rescue vehicles supposed to get through in a timely manner and in a safe manner for all?"
She says the city should have consulted with the community, asking for any solutions they might have, before implementing this pilot.
"Now we have outraged citizens who feel no one's listening," said Tatomir.
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