We need active transportation choices that are safe and accessible for all ages and abilities.
City Council has a partially funded bike plan that will get us there.
A bike-friendly City is more affordable for residents—who can save thousands of dollars every year if they have the option to bike instead of drive. It also builds healthier communities, both financially and physically.
A bike-friendly City is also more affordable for the whole community. Bike infrastructure is far cheaper to maintain than car infrastructure and results in more financially productive places—not to mention healthier, safer citizens (including drivers). (Read more: https://www.strongtowns.org/bike)
We can give everyone more options to get where they need to go quickly and safely by building active transportation pathways into our transportation improvements.
This relieves congestion with a completely connected, comfortable system of protected pathways that allows people on bikes, scooters, skateboards, and other mobility devices to travel safely without inconveniencing drivers and walkers. It doesn’t leave bike riders, motorists or pedestrians to navigate incomplete connections that force everyone into unsafe and confusing situations.
Drivers, walkers and bikers can get where they are going with the greatest safety and the least amount of hassle because everyone’s traffic flow needs are met through careful planning and smart construction. We can have peace on the road—and more livable communities—when everyone has a piece of the road.
We need your help. Sign up to learn more.
We need you to talk to your friends, neighbours, community leagues, employers, businesses and urge them to speak-up in support of active transportation.
Supporting the bike plan is about supporting choices. We need to build a city that:
- is safe for the 160,000 students who can bike to school.
- is safe for my 80 year-old friend who just bought an electric bike because she still wants "the freedom to leave the house when I'm 90."
- is affordable. Gas, insurance, and car ownership only become more expensive under the policy changes by the UCP.
- May not get you out of your car every trip, but could at least cut the traffic around you dramatically.
- Meets our climate emergency goals and helps improve personal wellness, reduce asthma and chronic diseases.
Read the bike plan here: https://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/cycling_walking/bicycle-transportation-plan
We can't afford NOT to complete the bike plan. Here's the math:
- Our road network is valued at over $10 Billion dollars
- The 23rd Ave interchange to South Edmonton Common cost Edmonton taxpayers $260 million in 2007.
- Recently, City Council paid over $1 billion dollars for the Yellowhead, and the 50th street overpass is pegged at $179 Million- for merely one overpass.
- It snows only 73 days a year
- It drops below -20C average only 25 days a year.
- The cost of car ownership for a two car family is estimated at $25,000. This can be the largest monthly expense next to housing.
- The cost of wear and tear on our roads is enormous, but can be mitigated. Learn more at www.anatomyofapothole.ca.
Correcting misinformation about the $100 Million expenditure
- This is a capital, not an operating expenditure. The operating impact is $7 million to the four year budget.
- The $100M represents half a percent of the $1.8 Billion dollar capital budget over the same period.
- Because capital projects are debt-financed over time at our very low rate, the impact of the bike plan is only $1.7 million, or 0.1 per cent of the tax increase per year over the next four years (the difference between a 4.8 or 4.9-per-cent tax increase). Bike plan spending totals $1.77 per Edmontonian next year.
Connect with other organizations advocating for safe and healthy streets:
End Poverty Edmonton - https://www.endpovertyedmonton.ca
Bike Edmonton - https://bikeedmonton.ca
SHAPE: Safe, Healthy, Active, People Everywhere - https://shapeab.ca
Everactive Schools - https://everactive.org
Paths for People - https://pathsforpeople.org/category/advocacy/
Edmonton Bike Coalition - https://yegbikecoalition.info
Climate Justice Edmonton - https://climatejusticeedmonton.com
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