I was delighted to drive down our street last week and see newly painted lines delineating real honest-to-goodness bicycle lanes in Red Deer.
My family and I have already been using them. It is wonderful to be able to ride down some of our busier streets and know there is a place for us that will be out of the way of, and respected by, other vehicles.
My husband is using them for his mobility scooter and finds them very, very useful.
Sure, there’s no guarantee cars won’t cross the lines, but I feel a whole lot safer on these delineated lanes than I ever did without them.
As a car owner, I have noticed that although the through lanes on the secondary thoroughfares have been reduced from two to one to accommodate the bike lanes, there are now well-marked turning lanes that speed up the flow on the through lane, finally.
Bicycle lanes are a welcome step in re-directing our city towards a healthier future in so many ways. Not only by encouraging biking and healthier lifestyles but by making less room for cars and speed, hopefully we’ll also be reducing our greenhouse gases, pollution and health problems.
I would rather have the city spend a million dollars on this than on trying to encourage the building of another large building downtown or a new subdivision, or the creation of another WHL team here with equivalent tax breaks. This benefits more people of all ages throughout the whole city.
Happy biking/scootering all!
Pat Marcellus
Red Deer