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Bike lane advocates outnumbered opponents at Edmonton City Hall on Wednesday as councillors considered but ultimately rejected a proposal to drop more than a dozen planned routes from a bike lane network expansion plan.
Dozens of cyclists made their case to councillors at an infrastructure committee meeting to keep building the planned routes.
“We need to push on. We need to expand the network. We need to do more, not less,” said Everett Horner, a Ward O-day’min resident.
Everett said he hasn’t owned a car since 2024 and bikes to and from almost everywhere, even Costco.
City council approved a $100-million bike network expansion plan in December 2022. But in a report prepared for Wednesday’s meeting, city staff suggested modifying the plan by dropping 14 routes amid more public pushback and incoming bike-lane-related legislation from the province.
After hearing from speakers and spending most of the afternoon discussing the issue, councillors on the committee decided not to pursue the city’s recommendation.
Many of the bike lane advocates told councillors separated lanes are much safer for cyclists.
Alex Brooker, who lives on 79th Street in Idylwylde, told the committee he’s excited about the plan for a bidirectional bike lane on that road.
“Every day I see kids and people of all ages biking up and down 79th Street and I just think to myself, ‘I hope they don’t get hit by a car and I hope the city provides them a safe place to ride on the road,’” he said.
Brooker said he hopes his son can use the lanes to bike to school once he’s old enough.
WATCH | How many people use bike lanes in Edmonton?:
Edmonton’s bike lanes by the numbers
Edmonton’s bike network has put the municipality on the map as a leading cycling city in Canada. But not everyone is on board. The CBC’s Emily Williams took a look at bike counters across the city to break the issue down by the numbers.
Alex Bisbee, 13, told the committee he would like to see bike lanes on 79th Street and on 50th Street so he can make the 45-minute ride alone to see his grandmother in Fulton Place.
“She’s probably one of my favourite people in the world and I want to be able to go see her without having to get my parents to drive me,” he said.
Bisbee told councillors taking public transit would take nearly two hours and require three transfers.
Bike lane advocates told councillors they don’t think the province’s plans for bike lane legislation should deter the city from building out the network.
“Edmonton voted for the council that is in right now and it voted for the previous council, who made the active transportation network promises that they did, and I think that should be honoured,” said Emily Stremel, who proceeded to read a paragraph about not obeying in advance from On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder.
The infrastructure committee also heard from some speakers opposing bike lanes, in particular the lane planned for 79th Street.
Forest Heights resident Kristen Constable said she believes the planned bike lane has turned off potential buyers of her home and that the city did not communicate enough with residents about it.
“We would like you to pause and review,” she said.
Cindy Westerhout also urged the committee to approve administration’s recommendation, saying the Holyrood community is already managing traffic friction, LRT signal delays and rapid infill density squeezing street parking.
Coun. Ashley Salvador brought forward a motion reaffirming implementation of the plan, advancing procurement for tender-ready routes and completing design work before the 2027 construction season but it was defeated.
Councillors heard that some of the proposed routes that were scheduled to be built have little chance of being done due to weather delays and other factors.