Editor: One has to seriously challenge the sincerity of the Town of Banff’s desire to deal with traffic flow and congestion when it strangles the busiest thoroughfare in town with the ill-conceived and totally unnecessary greenway.
Banff Avenue is a slow moving parking lot at the best of times, without it being restricted to one lane by a bike only lane. Not only does this greenway reduce the capacity of Banff Avenue, it also reduces speed to a crawl, creates bottlenecks when traffic is forced to merge over, makes it more difficult to turn onto or off Banff Avenue, and makes for many more opportunities for avoidable collisions.
With this new greenway scheme, Banff is actually precipitating the very problem it is trying to correct. And, without the two northbound lanes, emergency vehicles no longer have an extra lane to pass slow moving vehicles narrowed to one lane, thus increasing incident critical response time.
Clearly this greenway actually causes more ripple-effect problems than it solves. Banff once again has taken unilateral action without direct and meaningful consultation with, nor consent from, its citizens on this scheme. Banff is always so hellfire bent on doing unnecessary things immediately, they are blinded to the consequences.
I have cycled Banff Avenue many times in that direction (and others) over the past quarter century and have never felt the necessity for a bike-only lane. I simply ride with traffic the way bicycles have done for a century. Clearly, both have co-existed and can continue to do so unsegregated.
Even with the new greenway, I have personally witnessed cyclists still driving between the new parked car lane (that should be a driving lane) and the remaining open through lane. So what good is this greenway?
For a Calgary bike coordinator to endorse Banff’s new greenway is absurd because Calgary has other streets to accommodate cars that have been displaced by their bike only lanes – Banff does not. It is comparing apples to oranges and the argument doesn’t hold water. The bike only lane in Banff is simply a bad idea. Its demise cannot come soon enough.
Instead of coming into town, the greenway should directly connect the east access to the west access via Marmot, Cougar, Big Horn, Elk and Railway Avenue to Norquary Road. And don’t think for one nanosecond that Muskrat Street is a more viable option for the greenway or that it will be any better received by residents living along it. It isn’t.
Plain and simple, this bike only lane simply is not needed in Banff. We have gotten along fine without it and we will continue to do so in the future. Cars are not going away for at least the next 80 years when gasoline and the internal combustion engine are phased out, so we better get used to them being around.
I totally support walking, cycling and public transit as alternative ways to get around, but each does not need its own lane. We simply do not have nor need the specific dedicated infrastructure for it.
The last provincial government convincingly lost power in large part due to its arrogance and not listening to nor heeding citizen concerns and advice and taking them for granted. This Banff council will meet the same fate in the next election on this and other issues if it does not change its ways.
Mark Bowes,
Banff
