10th Avenue bike lane to be scrapped when cycle track opens
Trial-basis separated bicycle lanes on nearby 12th Avenue will make other route unnecessary, mayor says
When Calgary's new downtown cycle track network is up and running next summer, a current bike lane will be taken out.
City council voted on Monday to do away with the part-time 10th Avenue bike lane in the Beltline once fully separated bike lanes are set up on several downtown streets.
The recommended network includes east-west lanes on Eighth Avenue S.W. and 12th Avenue S.W. and north-south sections on Fifth Street S.W.
A proposed section along First Street S.E. was dropped from the plan after business owners in Chinatown lobbied against it, arguing it would add to traffic congestion.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi says once the temporary network is in place, there will be no need to keep the contentious 10th Avenue bike lane open.
“I get a lot of complaints about drivers ignoring it, about people confused by it,” he said.
“And frankly if there is a proper, safe separated track just two blocks away, I personally would like to see cyclists migrate to that because it'll be safer than the kind of hodgepodge we have on 10th right now.”
The cycle track will be installed on a temporary basis in 2015 and evaluated after one year.
There is one permanent one cycle track downtown already, along Seventh Street S.W. between the Bow River pathway and Eighth Avenue.
Check out the map below showing the original proposed cycle track. On mobile? Click here.