Calgary cycle track network: An overnight success story, 5 years in the making

In an increasingly competitive global marketplace, building safe, separated bike infrastructure has become one of the lighter, quicker, and cheaper strategies utilized by cities to attract high-tech businesses, talent, and retail activity into their centres. Led by visionary Mayors, predictable players like New York https://www.ted.com/talks/janette_sadik_khan_new_york_s_streets_not_so_mean_any_more?language=en , Chicago http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2012/12/17/chicago-mayor-i-want-seattles-bikers-and-the-jobs-that-come-with-them/ and Vancouver http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/11/whats-needed-to-build-bicycle-culture-in-vancouver/ – alongside less likely ones such as Indianapolis http://www.streetfilms.org/the-indianapolis-cultural-trail/, Pittsburgh http://www.streetfilms.org/pittsburghs-mayor-peduto-wants-to-leapfrog-your-city-in-bicycling-livability/ and Memphis http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/memphis-mayor-wharton-how-protected-bike-lanes-save-tax-money-video – have assembled ‘minimum grids’ of protected bike lanes – piece by piece – over the past 10 years.

These networks had another thing in common: they were completed one street at a time, pulling off the proverbial Band Aid slowly (and rather painfully). But on the morning of June 17, 2015, Calgary announced its own arrival on the international scene, cutting the ribbon on an entire network http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/calgary-rolls-out-a-downtown-protected-bike-lane-network-all-at-once of downtown cycle tracks – the first of its kind in North America.

Unlike their counterparts, Calgary’s network wasn’t the product of a ‘top down’ approach from a single political entity. Rather, they were the result of a non-partisan, grassroots campaign (paired with a strategic measure of brokering and championing by Mayor Nenshi) that captured an entire city’s imagination, and demonstrated the undeniable demand for safer cycling facilities.

Read full story: http://calgarybuzz.com/2015/11/calgary-cycle-track-network/