Bike lanes on the agenda: Province, Calgary city officials sit down to talk cycling policies

Calgary’s bike lane battle with the province isn’t over despite a meeting between the city's mayor and Alberta's transportation minister.

Calgary’s mayor is calling a bike lane conversation with Alberta’s transportation minister “productive”—but the minister still isn’t ruling out using provincial legislation to move or remove existing lanes.

The provincial government and Calgary city officials sat down Wednesday to discuss cycling route policies.

Devin Dreeshen claims municipal ideas are creating congestion on the road and making downtown parking next to impossible.

He’s yet to cite specific studies that back up his argument.

The claims have previously drawn the ire of the mayor, but Jyoti Gondek says the closed-door meeting Wednesday was diplomatic.

In fact, she pledged flexibility following the sit-down.

“If a bike lane is creating issues with congestion or parking, our traffic team is open to making changes to ensure our transportation network works for everyone,” she told reporters.

“I also explained that bike lanes account for less than one per cent of all road surface in Calgary and are designed for safety and minimal disruption.”

Dreeshen has previously hinted he wants both Calgary and Edmonton to remove certain lanes.

The UCP minister believes the corridors conflict with drivers and the province’s infrastructure plans.

“Right now, we’re having these conversations with both Edmonton and Calgary and identifying bike lanes that obviously don’t make sense,” he said.

“Obviously, provincial legislation is something that we’d consider.”

Officials and riders in both of Alberta’s large cities have previously said they want the province to worry about its own problems—not issues in municipalities.

“For a city like ours that is growing by more than 250 people a day, you need to be very open to understanding how people are moving about and how they will be,” Gondek said.

According to the annual TomTom Traffic Index for 2025, Calgary ranks 273rd out of 501 cities when it comes to traffic congestion.

The average congestion level in the city is 23 per cent, which is the amount of time trips are increased by due to excess traffic.

Policy or politics?

On Wednesday, an Ontario court ruled Premier Doug Ford’s law to remove three Toronto bicycle lanes violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

When asked about that decision and how it could impact his government’s future moves, Dreeshen didn’t appear to be too concerned if things don’t go his way.

“Going second as a province is helpful because you can look at pieces of legislation that have been introduced in past, and what’s the good and bad of them,” he told CTV News.

The bike lane battle has been a right-wing talking point across the country in recent years.

Dreeshen says that’s not why he’s interested—that it’s instead about drivers.

“I don’t think bike lanes is a conservative versus socialist argument.”