Edmonton active transportation advocates want city to better tackle icy conditions on bike lanes

Some Edmonton cyclists are asking the city to clear bike lanes more efficiently, rather than more quickly. CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach explains why.

A local volunteer group that promotes year-round active transportation would like to see the City of Edmonton do a more effective job of keeping active pathways clear of ice.

Ryan Jacques, a board member of Paths for People, says while it’s understandable that this winter has been “challenging” for city crews that have done a “reasonable job” of maintaining bike lanes given the amount of snow that has fallen and spells of warmer weather that have thawed it before it freezes again, the group feels “there’s room for improvement on how effective the maintenance is.”

“We have been hearing lots of complaints from folks about particularly ice on active pathways,” Jacques told CTV News Edmonton on Monday.

Jacques points out a stretch of the city’s pathway winter priority loop near the University of Alberta campus that gets cleared within 24 hours of a snowfall but that had been plagued by large patches of ice until crews recently cleared a drain.

The accumulation of snow along the sides of bike paths also can pose a challenge given that, too, can melt then freeze again, creating icy patches.

Jacques suggests crews clear drains more often to reduce the size of puddles of water and to potentially truck extra snow away or better groom the paths.

“Cyclists are on bikes with smaller tires, so if it’s too much snow or if it’s very icy, it can be hard to get through,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to be down to bare pavement for safety. It just has to have some sort of grip for the users.”

The supervisor of the city’s snow and ice control program says crews are out every day around the clock to maintain the pathways. The city uses dedicated crews and equipment for both active pathways and for roads used by vehicle traffic.

“We’re having troubles on a lot of different types of pathways,” said Valerie Dacyk, the program’s general supervisor, adding they’re working to keep pavement on Priority 1 paths bare and a safe, even surface for Priority 2 paths. “We are working 24/7, the same as our roadways, to get our active pathways clean. We are experiencing a thaw cycle right now, so we are seeing some ice from previous December rainfalls as well as some melting happening and then refreezing at night.”

Coun. Anne Stevenson, whose central Edmonton Ward O-day’min includes a significant amount of bicycle path infrastructure, said “everything is on the table” for city council when it comes to how much is spent on snow and ice clearing and what the priorities are given this year’s erratic weather, including the potential use of calcium chloride, or road salt, to help reduce the amount of ice.

She said more and more residents use bike lanes year-round, with an average ridership of 2,000 people per day in the winter.

“Bikers want to see their lanes cleared; drivers want to see their lanes cleared,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “We’re going to be having a big conversation about how we prioritize and fund.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach