Next week, City Council’s Transportation and Transit Committee will consider the proposed City Centre Cycle Track Network. Over the past 6 months, BOMA has engaged with our membership on this issue through surveys, industry specific information sessions with the City, information sharing through our weekly eNews, as well as discussion within the Government Affairs Committee. As a result of this engagement, it became clear that BOMA cannot support additional cycle tracks in the downtown core. The price (social and economic) to accommodate the 2% of downtown users who cycle downtown is simply too steep to the majority of users who drive or take the bus. In specific, members expressed significant safety concerns with allowing cycling on the Stephen Avenue Mall.
Our solution is a more modest network that leverages Calgary’s world class river pathways. To that end, we would support an east-west cycle track on 12th Avenue in the Beltline that together with the existing 7th Street cycle track and the Bow River pathway would provide an efficient network that would make cycling more attractive without significant adverse effects on vehicle or transit users.
These concerns were outlined in more detail in our official submission to the Transportation & Transit Committee. You can read that letter by clicking here.