It is time for the City of Red Deer to react to bike lanes on 39th Street between 40th and 30th Avenues and have them removed.
They have taken away a traffic lane both east and west and for what purpose?
I use that road very often and the only time I see bikes on there they are on the sidewalk, not in the bike lane.
I have often seen mothers on 40th Avenue ride bikes with an attached trailer for a child and they are riding on the sidewalk.
When travelling on this street, if you get behind a slow-moving vehicle or one proceeding through a school zone that does not know the school hours and is moving slow, you may have to follow it all through this section of roadway.
I challenge a city councillor and or a bike enthusiast to spend a day on this stretch of road, other than a day there is some bike rally, etc., happening, and publicly report the number of bicycles they see during that period. Those lanes are taken away from traffic and when one considers the number of days in this city a bicycle can be ridden, does it make any sense?
Recently on the sidewalk on Spruce Drive, there were three ladies riding bicycles with attached child trailers. There were several people on the sidewalk yet they were weaving in and out of the pedestrians instead of using the bike lane.
You are not going to get a considerable number of people in this province riding bicycles no matter the cost of fuel. We all know the faster you travel the more fuel you use but does the general public care? Just drive the speed limit on Hwy 2 and almost every vehicle will pass you.
So why does our city council think most people are going to be riding bicycles?
Be careful who you vote for in the election this fall.
Al Coker
Red Deer