CALGARY—The Beltline Neighbourhood Association is calling an upcoming city project a “slap in the face” for women and children.

This summer, the city is planning improvements along 2 St. S.W., between 10 Ave. and 26 Ave. S.W. The revamp includes a painted bike lane instead of what was once a shared roadway — but not a proper cycle track.

Neighbourhood association president Peter Oliver believes the road has enough space for cycle tracks, which he says would help increase the number of women and children hopping on bikes to use the connection.

“We’re disappointed that the city appears to be backpedalling on safety,” said Oliver. “There’s certainly space within the same budget to put in a protected bike lane or cycle track.”

Oliver said the association did its research and found shrinking the roadway lanes from the city’s planned 3.3 metres to three metres would give space for a protected cycle track, while also slowing down traffic.

But the City of Calgary’s active transportation planner Katherine Glowacz said there simply isn’t room with the current lane-width standards to fit separated cycle tracks on 2 St. S.W.

Glowacz said parking on the stretch is in high demand, and other than the work the city’s doing to extend some curbs, it is not looking to change the street lines. All that added to Calgary Transit’s need to have 3.3-metre-wide lanes for its buses — at a minimum — means there’s just not space on the road.

“The bike lanes were the only possible design option at this point in time,” she said.

According to data from the city, within the first year of the downtown cycle track pilot’s launch, the number of women biking in the area went up four percentage points, and families also felt more comfortable riding in the protected space.

The roadway is already a natural connection to the city’s track network on 12 Ave. leading to 5 St. S.W., and connects to the pathway system in the community of Mission. Oliver pointed out there are schools along the route, a medical centre, churches and it’s a residential area.

Glowacz said in the future, although 2 St. S.W. might not have a cycle track, the city is looking at extending the nearby 5 St. cycle track past 17 Ave. S.W. to provide the pathway connection the community is after.

“There’ll be some tough choices to make,” she said. “There’s an interest in taking a look at that project and maybe moving some curbs around to provide a protected (cycle track) down to the river.”

But, she said, that kind of work isn’t in the budget for 5 St. S.W. at this time.

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In June, she said the city’s looking for feedback on the Beltline design, but city staff are trying to hone in on how the community would feel about a lowered speed limit — 40 km/h instead of 50 km/h — and where they’d like to see curb extensions.

To see designs and give feedback, the city is encouraging residents to attend one of its pop-up events by visiting the city’s website.

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