The City of St. Albert needs to start taking initiative to implement bike lanes throughout the roadways of our community.
I am in complete agreement with Warren Footz, who wrote in earlier this month and synthesized the ideas of previous opinions by proposing the bike lane project as a way for cyclists to establish their presence on the road and remain safe at the same time. Bikes are vehicles and their place is on the road.
I believe they should play a paramount role in the downtown revitalization project seeing as bikes have zero emissions and are convenient to manoeuvre the crisscross of the urban centre. Cyclists will be safer and drivers can maintain a level of respect for cyclists due in part to the fact that they won't be changing lanes to pass them. The trails as Footz stated are excellent for swift cross-town errands, however we jeopardize the safety of slow moving pedestrians or cyclists because the trail system is very narrow and has unnecessary blind corners.
Another option is to significantly widen the trails to allow for passing, similar to that of multi-lane highways with a fast lane and a slower one. Council needs to grab the reins and plan for a future where cars become slowly obsolete and bikes and other means of alternative travel become increasingly crucial to the infrastructure of St. Albert.
Cole Forster, St. Albert
