Saskatoon council shelved bike corridor on street where cyclist later killed by cement truck
Council now to consider motion for safety audit of fatal intersection
Almost a decade before a 33-year-old Saskatoon cyclist was killed at the corner of a busy Saskatoon street, city council deferred the construction of a cycling corridor that would have run through that intersection.
Natasha Fox, 33, was hit by a cement truck at the intersection of Wiggins Avenue and College Drive, in front of the University of Saskatchewan, at about 4 p.m. CST on May 24. She was declared dead at the scene.
It was rush hour on College Drive, one of the city's busiest stretches.
Both the University of Saskatchewan and City of Saskatoon have previously considered a bike path at that intersection.
Daniel Fuller, an associate professor with community health at the University of Saskatchewan and a cycling researcher, said he was sad to hear of Fox's death, but not surprised to hear something had happened at that location.
"This intersection has been one that's been identified as one of the busiest in the city, so there's obviously a lot of things we can change," Fuller said in a recent interview, as vehicles clogged College Drive's westbound lanes nearby.
The Saskatoon Police Service said in an emailed statement that it had no updates to the investigation into the crash.
The last update police offered said the truck driver isn't facing charges and none are expected, but that the investigation into the crash is ongoing.
What happened to the Wiggins corridor proposal?
A report included in a January 2014 city council agenda had a recommendation from city administrators to develop Wiggins Avenue into a cycling corridor to improve access to the university. This was in response to calls to connect the city's southern neighbourhoods with the U of S.
In the corresponding council meeting, now-Mayor Charlie Clark — a city councillor at the time — put forward a motion to defer the Wiggins Avenue retrofit and use the money for other areas of cycling.
Council was spurred by a petition from a local cycling group asking separated bike lanes be built downtown.
"The sort of feeling at the time was if we're going to try and do something for cycling, we should do something in the more high-profile area of the downtown," Mayor Clark said Wednesday.
The Wiggins cycling corridor gradually made its way to the bottom of the pile of potential city developments as other roads were considered for bike infrastructure.
"Wiggins is clearly a real pressure point, and so I don't have a good explanation except for what I described for how the focal point was taken off of there," Clark said.
"I still see the real value — given that it is this crossing that we have so many cars, pedestrians and cyclists going through and it's such a narrow intersection — to make improvements."
A mother, a teacher, lost her life at that intersection, and I do want to make sure that we learn from that.- Mayor Charlie Clark
Clark said the intersection is only one of the long corridors with safety issues the city has to address. He pointed to Eighth Street, where he said it's a challenge to cross in some areas.
A 2013 report from the university found providing a bicycle lane on the north side of Wiggins Road would reduce issues between cyclists and others travelling to campus.
A 2015 report from the University of Saskatchewan found cycling to campus was "prohibitively difficult" and found Wiggins Avenue was an ideal location for improvement — though the University said it didn't own land around the roadway to add a bike path and that the existing road was too narrow to do so.
A spokesperson for the university said in a recent email that the school is committed to improving the intersection.
"As part of the current [Bus Rapid Transit] planning, the [university] and the City of Saskatoon have together agreed on a three-metre wide pedestrian and cyclist pathway along the north side of College Drive, and traffic-calming measures along College Drive," a University of Saskatchewan spokesperson said in an email.
The College Corridor Plan, as it's called, is expected to be presented to council later this year.
Saskatoon needs protected bike lanes: bike advocates
Fuller is advocating for protected bike lanes, meaning lanes that are separated from the roadway with boulevards or other barriers.
These protect cyclists and avoid confusion between cyclists and drivers, Fuller said.
He also said cycling infrastructure needs to be a coherent network that is connected across the city, rather than small, disconnected sections.
Saskatoon Cycles board chair Gordon Holtslander said protected bike lanes would be ideal, though a network of pathways would suffice.
He said the city's infrastructure doesn't meet basic needs in most areas, but also that the issue isn't only in infrastructure. He said how people perceive cyclists and other road users is also important.
For the Wiggins and College intersection, he said paint and a change in the light system could remedy the danger "almost immediately," while bike lanes would be a longer-term solution.
"Wiggins and College has been identified as a concerning intersection for at least 10 years," Holtslander said.
"We don't want another incident where somebody dies at a corner that we know is problematic because we just haven't got around to it yet."
A representative from Saskatoon Cycles is among the people expected to speak at Wednesday's city council meeting.
Council will consider a motion from Ward 6 Coun. Cynthia Block that includes a request for a third-party road safety audit at the College Drive and Wiggins Avenue intersection.
"A mother, a teacher, lost her life at that intersection, and I do want to make sure that we learn from that and take action as a result," Clark said.
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