Construction is wrapping up for the season on the City of Edmonton's 132nd Avenue collector renewal project.

But the work has not gone unnoticed.

The project has captured the attention of Canada's urban planning community as the renewal aims to strike a balance between pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

The renewal is a five-year project that spans three wards between Fort Road and 127th Street to better align with city initiatives such as the speed limit reduction, Vision Zero and the Edmonton Bike Plan.

Construction started earlier this spring and is wrapping up for this year.

The work involves intensive transportation network expansion by narrowing roads and adding dedicated bike paths, new sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

The project gained attention after Ottawa engineer Matt Pinder posted about it on social media.

That post — on X, formerly Twitter — has over 1,500 likes and has sparked discussion on how innovative urban planning can be.

Ryan Kirstiuk, director of neighbourhoods planning and design with the city, said the stretch of road was due for an overhaul with a history dating back to before the First World War.

A collector road serves to move traffic from local streets to arterial roads, which work as a connection to highways.

"The corridor, it's actually four lanes, so it's very wide. It's overbuilt for what a typical collector road is," Kirstiuk said in an interview.

The project runs 7.3 kilometres and connects nine neighbourhoods: Kensington, Calder, Rosslyn, Lauderdale, Glengarry, Killarney, Delwood, Balwin, and Belvedere.

"What's really unique about it is, if you walk, you have your own space to walk down the corridor. If you bike, you have a dedicated space to bike. If you drive, you have a dedicated space to drive."

The final design for the project includes a roundabout to the intersection of 132nd Avenue and 90th Street with a separate space for each mode of travel, like driving, biking, and walking.

He also noted that after the city implemented a citywide speed limit of 40 km/h, the broad road construction resulted in more speeding incidents.

"A key driver of us going in to renew this is to actually change the design of the road to reflect that residential context, to promote the proper driving behaviour or better safer driving behaviour," Kirstiuk said.

Building a narrower road will allow space to be retained for parking.

"We're also able to install active transportation or bike lanes along the entire corridor of 132nd Ave," Kirstiuk said.

"You can imagine basically a very wide road in the past, will now be a much calmer road with better amenities and infrastructure for people who bike, walk or roll."

There are 12 schools along the corridor, so installing wider sidewalks and bike lanes allows for more options for people who access schools, churches and daycares, Kirstiuk said.

Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford is on the city's Urban Planning Committee, and her ward also encompasses part of the project.

Community engagement started in 2020, and Rutherford said she's heard various responses.

"I've definitely heard mixed feelings. Some folks are not happy with the design that they are seeing. Others are very excited for it," Rutherford said.

She noted concerns expressed by residents about the reduction of two lanes in either direction to one lane in either direction.

"And that is intentional. 132nd Ave, is really meant to be a residential road, not an arterial, and it's not taking on the traffic volumes that you would expect for that size of a road," Rutherford said.

But she added that it was essential to encourage diverse choices of transportation.

"I met with a seniors' residence, and I was really surprised about how excited they were for this project. Because they're excited for the shared use paths and the bike path to be able to better access some of the stores and areas along 127th Street that are harder for them to traverse on the current sidewalks."

Stephen Raitz is a board member with Paths For People, an Edmonton-based group which advocates for safe and accessible transportation year-round.

"When we're talking about that balance between all the different users, I think it's important to remember that vulnerability of different users," Raitz said.

"When you're driving, you're pretty safe, you're in a steel cage, and you're able to move pretty quickly. When you're walking or biking, you're a lot more vulnerable."

That vulnerability makes it crucial to reallocate road lanes for a more "efficient use of a public right of way."

"Edmonton can and is being a leader here," Raitz said.

"We can be innovators and the ones leading the charge on building safer, more livable streets in North America."