Crowdsourced project shows missing sidewalks, crosswalks

Missing Links The public map shows where there are sidewalks and bike lanes that aren’t finished. CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson has more.

Edmontonians who wants a more pedestrian and bike-friendly city are marching on with a crowdsourced project.

Paths for People created the Missing Links map, where people can mark areas where they think should be a sidewalk, crosswalk or bike lane.

“This has really opened my eyes, that yes, there’s so many missing links in the city,” Paths for People Executive Director Sarah Hoyles told CTV News.

The map shows 63 missing sidewalks, 26 missing crosswalks and 28 missing bike lanes.

“This is people saying, ‘I need a sidewalk here.’

“It’s low cost, high impact change that will really benefit folks and residents of neighbourhoods of all ages.”

Ward 8 Councillor Ben Henderson values this crowdsourced information.

“People know things about what they’re doing in their daily lives that it’s very hard to capture in any other kind of way.

“Some of the others I think are ones that we may not have been that aware of; particularly the ones that are less central, and knowing that there’s demand, I think is really helpful for us.”

Hoyles said Paths for People plans to choose the five biggest missing links, write case studies and present them to council.

With files from CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson