Edmonton councillors weigh scaling back $100M bike lane expansion, eyeing 14-route removal

Edmonton city council is preparing to dial back its ambitious bike lane expansion, with administrators recommending the city remove 14 routes from the $100-million active transportation plan approved in December 2022.

The proposal comes to council's infrastructure meeting on Wednesday. While the plan originally aimed to build out the network within four years, about 35 kilometres of lanes were completed in 2024 and 2025, with 24 kilometres expected this year and more coming next year. The city now proposes proceeding with only 13 of the planned routes while scrapping 14 others.

Administrators cite two reasons: the provincial government has signalled that changes to the Traffic Safety Act could affect current and planned bike lanes, and residents have increasingly complained about them. Most of the 14 routes flagged for removal are in southeast Edmonton neighbourhoods in Ward Métis.

Cycling advocates and two city councillors who originally voted for the expansion are pushing back. Alison McIntosh, an organizer with Ward Métis Bikes, said she bought her house in Forest Heights specifically knowing the 79th Street bike lane — a two-way lane running north and south from 76th Avenue to 101st Avenue — would be built. "Admin's proposal is really frustrating because as cyclists we advocated to get the active transportation network plan, we advocated to get it funded and now it feels like we have to fight block by block, street by street to actually see it put in place."

The proposed 79th Street lane would eliminate parking in some sections, a point of contention among residents. Michelle Naylor, who lives in Holyrood, supports pausing it: "This feels like it's not been transparent and it's not been based on" resident concerns about safety and traffic flow.

Veteran bike commuter Eddie Carle, who was hit by a vehicle on 95th Avenue on July 31 and left with a bloody face, fractured wrist and sprained thumb, believes infrastructure matters. The route he was on — 95th Avenue from 142nd to 163rd Street — is among those administrators recommend not building in the next two years. "Maybe the lane on its own wouldn't, but the feedback effects of having a lane and increased usage and increased amounts of cyclists on the road tends to make everybody safer."

City administrators propose prioritizing bike routes that don't affect vehicle lanes or parking and that "contribute meaningfully to the broader active transportation network."