Edmonton has come a long way over the years in how it considers and accommodates people who are walking, wheeling, and cycling around construction zones.
You can generally expect to see, at the least, temporary curb ramps provided to access sidewalks, and usually some consideration for a detour route.
This is a huge improvement over just a few years ago, and we are grateful for how far we’ve come.
A new City report, Active and Public Transportation: Safety, Accessibility and Equity, will be discussed at Urban Planning Committee on Tuesday, April 26, 2022.
This report states:
The review of current policies and procedures has identified that they are sufficient to ensure safety, accessibility and equity for active and public transportation and therefore no changes are recommended at this time.
While a lot has improved thanks to the current policies, has your experience been that they are indeed sufficient and succeeding at ensuring accessibility?
Recently, the intervention of three community organizations and two councillors was required to ensure a 30 metre section of the 102 Ave bike route, one of the busiest in the city, was kept accessible during a summer-long (March to August) construction project. The fact that we were notified at all about the project, and given the opportunity to meet with EPCOR, is a positive result of some of the changes in procedures over the past several years. We did not have an opportunity for consultation ahead of time, but we also shouldn’t necessarily need to be consulted: recognizing the importance of active transportation routes and pathways should be built-in to everyday practice.