Saskatoon council approves bike lane for Ave C and reducing speed limit in bikeway areas
Liam O'Connor | CBC News | Posted: December 20, 2023 11:00 AM | Last Updated: December 20, 2023
Plans for Avenue C include protected bike lanes, curb extensions, shared pathways
Saskatoon city council has voted in favour of making the city more cyclist-friendly, giving a green light in a 6-5 vote to a plan to improve the infrastructure for walking and cycling on Avenue C.
The project has been in the works since 2022. It stems from council's 2016 approval of the Active Transportation Plan, which is intended to increase transportation choices in the city. The plan included an item of action to "develop a complete and connected bicycle network for all ages and abilities."
The city had conceptual designs drawn up for walking and cycling improvements on Avenue C from Spadina Crescent West to 45th Street West. In October 2023, the Avenue C bike infrastructure was ranked number 6 in the city's prioritized infrastructure list.
The recommendation before council breaks the project down into three phases:
- Phase 1: Spadina Crescent to Jamieson Street.
- Phase 2: Jamieson Street to 38th Street.
- Phase 3: 38th Street to 45th Street.
The project includes a variety of additions and changes depending on the area, such as neighbourhood bikeway designations, protected bike lanes, curb extensions, shared pathways and widened bike lanes.
The plan is not without detractors, especially for Phase 3 of the plan, between 38th Street and 45th Street.
Some residents showed their support for the bike lane Wednesday and others voiced concerns.
"Safety, cost and impact to business," were concerns highlighted by Keith Moen, executive director of North Saskatoon Business Association.
"Each year, Avenue C and Circle Drive is traditionally among the top five intersections in Saskatoon for vehicle collisions, often leading the way three times out of the past five years as the runaway winner for the most treacherous intersection in Saskatoon," he said.
He also criticized the total projected cost of about $8.8 million.
"It seems to me there is an easy solution to cut costs here. Just don't do it," Moen said at a meeting of the city's transportation committee last week.
Jason Hanson read to council from a letter written by Greg Yuel, a volunteer, philanthropist and entrepreneur in Saskatoon. Yuel said reducing the speed limit will make bikeways safer and active transportation more welcoming.
"The City of Edmonton invested in a bike plan in 1993 on 125th St., allowing me to bike four-fifths of the way to my job from downtown on a dedicated street. Our city is 30 years behind, a simple solution in comparison to a city with identical climate and driving habits," he said.
Jennifer Giocoli, a resident of Rosewood and owner of Precision Auto Body, was opposed to the project due to the cost, land acquisition that would be needed to make the project happen and the potential impact on businesses
Merlin Toth, another resident of Saskatoon, spoke in favour of the project, showing a heat map from Strava — a website and app that allows cyclists and pedestrians to log their workouts — that showed activity in the area.
"This heat map represents only the people who take the time to record their travels on Strava. Many of the people who use active transportation because they have no other choice do not use Strava," he said.
Jason Aebig, CEO at the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, said it is city administration's job to do a pedestrian and cyclist traffic audit along Avenue C North, and that data should have been collected and presented in the meeting.
"We have an administration and consultants to do that, because having this conversation without that information is poor governance and it leads to poor policy decisions," he said.
30 km/h bikeways
City council also approved a motion to reduce the motor vehicle speed limit in areas of the city deemed "neighbourhood bikeways" to 30 km/h.
Right now there are four neighbourhood bikeways being created:
- 23rd Street West Bikeway (Blairmore Bikeway) from Vancouver Avenue North to Avenue C North.
- Dudley Street Bikeway from Avenue P South to Spadina Crescent West.
- 31st Street West Bikeway from Avenue W North to Idylwyld Drive North.
- 14th Street East Bikeway from Saskatchewan Crescent East to Cumberland Avenue South.
James Arnold, a board member of Saskatoon Cycles, spoke strongly in favour of the speed reduction at the transportation committee meeting.
"Actual physical safety will be improved when automobiles are travelling at 30 kilometres per hour versus 50 kilometres per hour," said Arnold.
The design for the neighbourhood bikeways includes signs, pavement markings and traffic calming measures.
Future of parking minimums
In May, council voted in favour of a federal housing accelerator fund action plan.
The main objective of the housing accelerator fund is to create more housing supply and build it quickly, but with affordability, climate change and community in mind.
"The action plan outlines initiatives to be completed by the City of Saskatoon, which are intended to drive transformational change within the control of local governments," states a city report on the matter.
One initiative in the action plan is to reduce parking requirements "with a focus on affordable housing."
In order to meet the action plan commitment and receive federal money, council needs to take action and amend zoning bylaws in early 2024.
On Wednesday, council will looks at four options administration has prepared for council. Administration is recommending an option that would remove all minimum parking requirements for new housing units.
Removing parking minimums does not mean parking will not be provided, but rather that the decision of how many spots to build for a new development would be left to "market needs."
The most radical option for parking spot regulation, called parking maximums, is not being considered in this report, but it says they could be considered in the future.