How do you build the longest bicycle greenway in the world? You can ask Jean François Pronovost, one of the architects (figuratively speaking--he was originally trained as a biologist) of Quebec's 5000km La Route Verte at next month's Alberta Bicycle Commuters Conference.
The conference takes place September 26-27, 2015 at the Coast Canmore Hotel and Conference Centre. More information, including registration and accommodations, can be found on the conference website.
Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is coming up on October 4, 2015 and to prepare we're recruiting for some positions on our board of directors. If you or someone you know have experience in not-for-profit governance, or you would love to work behind-the-scenes to grease EBC's organizational gears, please apply to be on our board!
Applicants will be considered by our membership at the AGM and voted in.
Applications can be completed online at: http://edmontonbikes.ca/nominations
The Fringe is on again from August 13-23! You can bike down and use the bike parking at 84 Ave and 104 St, where we'll also be providing minor adjustments and safety checks from 4-7pm on Friday evenings.
From The Yards, Edmonton's quarterly magazine about downtown Edmonton’s transformation and growth, comes an in-depth conversation on Edmonton's bike lanes and road culture:
Recorded just weeks before City Council voted to scrape off the largest on-road bike route in Edmonton, a writer and former bike courier discusses the progress and set backs of building decent bike infrastructure in Edmonton. Is there enough political will to deliver on this key element of the city's active transportation strategy?
Here is your chance to join the team at EBC and get paid to help make Edmonton a better city while working with volunteers and with youth.
The Program Coordinator is a new position within EBC and will be the touch point in the organization for The Spoke and You Can Ride 2. The primary duty of the Program Coordinator is to manage the ongoing operations of both The Spoke and YCR2 programs. The Coordinator’s role includes supporting volunteers, coordinating events, fundraising, working with community partners, and reporting on program activities to the Executive Director.
This position is 40 hours a week.
Full job posting: EBC Job Posting - July 2015 - The Spoke & YCR2 Coordinator
Are you headed to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival this weekend? There will be no on-site parking in the Cloverdale community, and private vehicles are not permitted to enter the Cloverdale community for passenger drop-off and pick-up. ETS is providing a shuttle service if you wish to park & ride.
However, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival also provides secure, supervised bike parking. EBC is pleased to be providing free air and minor adjustments for your bike as well. We'll also be selling bike lights for $2.50. You will find our volunteer mechanics at the festival bike lock-up during these times:
See you at the festival!
Trial modifications of 106 St and 109 St are being implemented as part of the Pleasantview Community Traffic Management Plan. The key changes for 106 St, which has an on-street bike lane, are:
You can view the full details of the plan here.
Ward 10 Councillor Michael Walters has also written a blog post about the changes.
This is a trial, and may or may not be kept or modified at the end of the trial period. You can send your feedback to the City of Edmonton [email protected].
We are also interested in your thoughts from a cycling perspective. You can leave a comment here, via Twitter, or e-mail us.
The City of Edmonton has just announced the new redesign for a protected, physically separated bike lane (also known as a cycle track) along 102 Ave downtown, in the same corridor as the Valley Line LRT.
The road safety review proposes a redesigned corridor that maintains the important multi-modal nature of 102 Avenue and increase safety for all road users. The proposed concept plan includes:
- A South-side two-way cycle track
- A North-side two-way LRT
- A centre-running one-way motor vehicle travel
- Sidewalks on both sides
You can read more about the plan, and view cross-sections and the concept plan, on the City's website.
Please be advised that from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Thursday July 23, Groat Road will be completely closed from 107 Avenue to River Valley Road for work on the 102 Avenue Bridge project. The shared-use path along the west side of Groat Road will also be closed from north of Government House Park to south of 107 Avenue.
Please see detour map here: http://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/roads_traffic/102-ave-over-groat-rd-closures-detours.aspx
Groat Bridge and Victoria Park Road will remain open during this time.
The City of Edmonton thanks residents for their patience while we carry out this road work.
The 4th year of Sustainable Food Edmonton & Edmonton Bicycle Commuters community garden bicycle tours are here! Discover the people power and plants production in some community gardens in Edmonton. Each garden will have a host to share the stories of their garden – how the garden operates, how it came to be, and its impact on the local community.
Each tour will visit a different route with approximately 12-14 kms of leisurely riding. You must be comfortable with on-road cycling (light traffic only). Experienced cyclists will lead and tail.
Please bring your own:
Registration is FREE but required and you will be asked to sign a waiver and photo permission form before participating.
Register at:
http://
Sunday July 19, 2015 11 am – 2 pm
Optional 10am: Meet at Culina Cafe in the Muttart Conservatory for brunch at the Garden Bike Tour table (at your own cost)
Meet at Muttart Conservatory (north end of parking lot by the pedestrian bridge), 9626 96A Street
Tour route map https://goo.gl/ySpzlM (subject to change) with the following stops:
Registration: http://
Saturday July 25, 2015 10 am – 2 pm
Meet at Century Park LRT/Bus Station (walk south along 111st and we'll be on the grass in front of Starbucks Coffee), 2397 111 Street
If you want to arrive via LRT or bus, here is the easy way to bring your bike on transit: http://www.edmonton.ca/
Tour route map https://goo.gl/iTE92I (subject to change) with the following stops:
Registration is FREE but mandatory at: http://
BikeMaps.org is a crowdsource tool for global mapping of cycling safety. Add your own data on cycling crashes, near-misses, hazards, and thefts.
Here are two maps showing where people ride in Edmonton. The first is an interactive heatmap generated by Strava, a smartphone app. Strava compiles the maps using GPS data from app users who record their rides. As such, as a data source, it has limitations (the record is skewed towards the type of person that is more likely to record their rides using a smartphone app), but is still informative and very interesting:
The second is a map we compiled using City of Edmonton 2014 census data. This data also has significant limitations, namely, the question asked is "Main Mode of Transportation from Home to Work". For many people, if they primarily bike for 5 months of the year, and then drive for 7 months, their answer will appear as "100% driver, 0% bicycle". Similarly for people who bike 2 days a week and drive 3 days: their cycling trips aren't represented at all in this data.
Additionally, most trips by bike are not for work (in the US, only about 13% of bike trips are for work), but our transportation network should still be accessible to everyone, regardless of the purpose of the trip. So census numbers greatly under-represent cycling. Still, they do offer a baseline for comparison between neighbourhoods.
The shared-use path along Saskatchewan Drive between 105 St and 106 St is closed as part of work to improve access to Queen Elizabeth Park. Construction is expected to last about 2 weeks.
Pedestrians can detour by crossing at 105 St or 106 St and using the sidewalk on the south side of the road. Eastbound cyclists can ride on the roadway (either to the right or the left side). Westbound cyclists should dismount and walk as a pedestrian, or avoid using this section of Saskatchewan Drive.
As of the time of this posting, there was no signage at the pedestrian crossing points warning of a trail closure, and no night time-visible signage warning of the barriers on the trail. EBC has been in contact with the City Project Officer and they will be investigating on Tuesday. If signage and barrier warnings are still inadequate by Tuesday afternoon, please contact us.
Last year, the City of Edmonton closed the High Level Bridge with similar lack of regard for accessibility or the safety of users, leading to several hospitalizations.
127 Street from Stony Plain Road to 118 Avenue is a project of the City’s Collector Concept Planning program. These projects are areas identified through the Neighbourhood Renewal public involvement process that would benefit from further in-depth public engagement and analysis. The project team will present the three concept plan options for 127 Street that have incorporated feedback from recent community Kitchen Table meetings and from the online discussion forum.
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 Location: Inglewood Community League Hall Address: 12515 116 Avenue Time: 4:30-8:30pm Formal presentations at 5pm and 7pm
This meeting will provide an opportunity for the public to learn more about the project and to provide feedback on the concept plan options. In addition to presentations, information boards will outline the details of the designs and project staff will be available to answer questions. Come see the concept plan options and tell us what you think.
A concept plan is being developed for 127 Street in advance of Neighbourhood Renewal in Westmount in 2017 and in Inglewood, planned for 2019–2022.
127 Street through these two neighbourhoods is a one-way northbound collector road with parking on the east side and a contraflow bike lane on the other. Northbound cyclists share the travel lane with motor vehicle traffic. This roadway has been a bike route for 30 years and is well used by residents to access destinations within the neighbourhoods including parks, schools and businesses along 124 Street.
Although 127 Street was not identified in the Bicycle Transportation Plan, as part of the City’s Major Bike Grid, its connectivity across Yellowhead Trail makes it a desirable route for further development as a major bicycle facility, providing Edmontonians a greater range of travel mode choices for all ages and abilities.
The Edmonton Police Service will honour the service and sacrifice of Constable Daniel Woodall, who was recently killed in the line of duty, with a regimental funeral and celebration of his life. There will be major traffic disruptions and parking restrictions downtown starting at 11:30pm on June 16 and continuing through June 17.
Please plan your route ahead to avoid being unable to traverse downtown. Full details can be found on the City's website.
The procession starts at the Alberta Legislature Building at 107 Street and 97 Avenue, proceeds northbound along 107 Street to Jasper Avenue, travels eastbound on Jasper Avenue to 95 Street, and then moves down Grierson Hill to the Shaw Conference Centre.
Tues, June 16 at 11:30pm
Wed, June 17 at 2am
Wed, June 17 at 6am
Wed, June 17 at 8:30am
Roads will reopen at approximately 11:30am, starting on the west side of the procession route, with these two exceptions:
Thanks to the 100+ riders that came out last night to Bike to the Symphony. Would you like to share your photos and videos from Bike to the Symphony with EBC and the ESO, so we can make a fantastic video and photo gallery?
Upload them here!
In March, members of the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove volunteered with You Can Ride 2 at one of our bike fitting days, experiencing the excitement and wonder that biking brings to families of children with special needs. They were in awe at the volunteerism that was completed to keep the program running. Barry Twynam, Community Services Director of the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove, identified that YCR2 could benefit from more exposure and funding. The Club chose YCR2 to be the beneficiary of the live auction portion of their annual Lobsterfest fundraiser. The live auction was a new event, so we were unsure how much would be raised. Barry and his daughter Devan Twynam put together a compelling video for the evening of the fundraiser.
On the night of the fundraiser, Janine Halayko, Melanie Harris, Trent Magis, the core volunteers that have driven YCR2 from the beginning and have been key to its success, took the stage and answered questions before the floor opened for bidding. In about 7 minutes, $90,000 was raised!
Thanks so much to the Rotary Club of Spruce Grove and the amazing generosity of the community members who were at the fundraiser that night. Spruce Grove is not a big city but they obviously can do very big things!
Thank you also to Inclusion Alberta (formerly Alberta Association for Community Living) for helping to make this fundraiser for YCR2 possible.
We would also like to recognize and thank these additional sponsors of YCR2:
Over 40 pediatric physiotherapists, occupational therapists and adapted phys ed consultants have also volunteered with the program this year.
Other generous financial donors also include:
Are you interested in volunteering for EBC at either of our BikeWorks locations? As a volunteer, you can:
Whether you want to help out at BikeWorks North or South, please sign up to our upcoming volunteer orientation on the evening of June 16.
On June 16, from 6:30pm-8pm at the atrium of La Cité francophone (8627 91 St), EBC will be hosting an open house for EBC members to discuss the potential for pursuing charitable registration. A presentation will be given by a member of the Board of Directors followed by questions and discussion. Please attend if you are interested in the development or have experience with transitions from not-for-profit to charity!
View the Charitable Status open house presentation (2015).
View a Summary of Research about EBC and Charitable Status (2014)
Have feedback or comments? Please share them with the Board of Directors by emailing [email protected].
The recommended long-range concept plan for this interchange which connects three popular commuter routes -- River Valley Road, Groat Road and Victoria Park Road, is now available for the public to view. It includes maintaining all the existing movements, as well as improvements to specific sections of the interchange. The plan was developed following a public engagement process and the City is now accepting further feedback on the recommended concept plan through an online survey that will remain open until June 15, 2015.
