City council took another look at the proposal for the first street cycle lane on Monday.
The plan calls for the construction of a two-way cycle track in the east travel lane of 1 Street S.E. between the Bow River Pathway and Elbow River Pathway.
The city says the dedicated bike lane offers a more predictable and safer roadway for people walking and cycling in the east end of downtown.
A city committee voted down the track but because the vote was a tie, the issue came before council again on Monday.
The lane will cost about $3M to complete and council has voted to include the proposal in the master plan for all bike lanes in the city.
The mayor says the bike track is a good idea but wants to see a trail phase put in place first.
“I’m still skeptical about it but having looked at the modeling very carefully, I think we really are at a point where we sort of have competing models and it’s going to be very difficult to assess which of those are correct without trying it,” said Mayor Nenshi.
A group representing concerned citizens and merchants in Chinatown sent a letter to council on March 7th saying that they strongly object to the proposed plan along 1 Street S.E.
The Calgary Chinese Elderly Citizens' Association, the Calgary Chinese Community Service Association, the Calgary Chinese Merchants Association and the Chinatown Cycle Track Concerned Citizens Group all say that they were not consulted before the route was chosen.
The group is also circulating a petition in opposition of the proposal and says the city should concentrate on flood mitigation in the area first.
The whole cycle track plan will be back before a council committee in April.
For more information on the proposal, visit the City of Calgary website.
