BRT project savings could build cycle track in Forest Lawn
If plan proceeds, it would be city's first physically separated bike lane east of Deerfoot Trail
Savings from the bus rapid transit project in southeast Calgary could be used to build a cycle track in Forest Lawn.
The physically separated bike lane would go on 19th AvenueS.E. between 26th and 48th streets, a route that Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra says is wide enough to accommodate the cycling infrastructure.
"If it's about getting all modes downtown safely, into the river path system, connecting greater Forest Lawn to the rest of the city — which is the whole point of this whole project, of the bigger project of the avenue — doing it as safely and as inclusively and as accessibly for all users is exactly what I think the right thing to do is, especially because we've got the room," said Carra.
Cyclists could use the lanes to connect to the new bridges that are being built for the busway over Deerfoot Trail and the Bow River. The bridges will include multi-use pathways.
A timeline for building the cycle track isn't known yet and neither is the budget, but Carra says this will be the first cycle track to be built to the east of Deerfoot Trail.
With files from Scott Dippel