Advocate says city's poor pathway detours a sign we're not 'there yet'

Pathway users are calling itthe summer of closures and detours as August continues to confuse cyclists and pedestrians with numerous route changes.

Across Calgary, there are dozens of pathway closures and detours. Some of them are thanks to bridge work or flood mitigation, while other closures are to make actual pathway improvements.

Bike Calgary president AgustinLouro said this summer is "above normal" for pathway reroutes and in the execution, he says they show the city isn't thinking about cyclists asthey plan the closures.

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"They are supposed to prioritize all modes of transportation throughout the city," Louro said. "These detours are a symbol or a sign that the city is not quite there yet."

Duane Sutherland, parks and pathways coordinator with the City of Calgary, says one of the reasons pathway closures are happening on both sides of the Bow River is because crews areupgrading water outfall systems as a part of flood protection investments.

He said the city has to work within mandated time frames to protect fish habitats, and they don't work on their own timelines.

'Very onerous'

"It's very onerous, and we have restrictions on when work can be done within the river," said Sutherland.

"It may look like we're doing all this stuff at one time,but we're really governed by Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and they tell us when we can go in and do any disturbance within the waterway."

A silver lining in all of this he says the city is trying to repave pathways while the flood mitigation work happens so that they will open up again renewed and smooth.

Alan Kearley bikes throughout Calgary and uses the city's pathway detour app on his phone to navigate along the way.

"It is a bit of a nuisance because you're coming along and you have to do these detours," Kearley said.

He wishes the city didn't have to work on both sides of the river at the same time, but in some cases, like a small detour between Crowchild and 14th Street S.W.,he sees the need to fix dangerous bumpy pavement.

Louro said this summer they've fielded more complaints from their members than normal about detours. His advocacy group wants the city to be more proactive about previewing what's in store for path work before construction kicks off.

Calls for a proactive approach

"There are detours where we're not aware of them until they happen and we hear about it from our members, or we see it ourselves," Louro said. "The suggestion to have a meeting, maybe before construction season starts to say: 'here's what's coming. Here's how we propose to deal with it. Let's look at the alternatives,' would be quite useful."

Louro said the closures are forcing cyclists off their typical commuting routes and putting them on roadways with cars. And looking at some of the rerouting the city's proposed, bikes are sometimes asked to share the sidewalk with pedestrians.

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Sutherland said when the flood hit Calgary in 2013 it affected 94 kilometres of pathway out of more than 900 total kilometres, and this summer's construction season is pegged at 44 kilometres, so far.

Last year, there were more than 63 kilometres of closed pathways.

"For the commuter route, I get it, they want to go straight and they don't want to be inconvenienced," Sutherland said. "And to the best of our ability, we're trying to accommodate them."

The city has 26 counters throughout its pathway network updating daily with pedestrian and cyclist counts. For the Parkdale counter, an all-time average of 1,500 people pass by on a weekday as pedestrians or cyclists.This summer, between May and August, the average daily count on a weekday is approximately 2,240 pathway users.

On the opposite side of the river, the river pathway counter near 10thStreet S.W. counted an all-time weekday average of 2,154 trips by cyclists and pedestrians. And in the summer months between May and August for 2018 there was an average of 2,841 tripscounted on weekdays.

Cyclists using south side

Anecdotally, the city said there are more cyclists diverted to the south side of the Bow River because of the pathway detours and closures.

"We're doing the best we can to accommodate," Sutherland said. "Is it inconvenient for cyclists? It is. But once the storm outfalls are all rejuvenated and the pathways put back in place it will be a better space for everybody."

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