On Monday, February 5, 2024, the City of Edmonton released the first set of projects being built using Council’s historic $100 million investment in active transportation infrastructure.

The City is blazing ahead with the following projects and intends to complete almost 20 km of new infrastructure by the end of 2024. 

• 106 Street from Princess Elizabeth Avenue to 118 Avenue
• Princess Elizabeth Avenue from 103 Street to 106 Street
• 102 Avenue from 136 Street to 139 Street
• Fort Road/Manning Drive from Belvedere Way to 153 Avenue
• 50 Street from 153 Avenue to 162A Avenue
• 66 Street from 137 Avenue to 153 Avenue
• 153 Avenue from Griesbach Road to 82 Street
• 97 Street from 153 Avenue to 160 Avenue
• 23 Avenue from 50 Street to 85 Street
• 23 Avenue from 111 Street to 119 Street

This represents a massive expansion in the City’s network of active transportation infrastructure, and it’s only the first step.

Paths for People anticipates that the City will release more information in the coming months regarding projects built in 2025/2026.

These additional projects will represent an even larger increase in the active transportation network. These other projects will expand the network across the City, including a variety of facility types in a variety of locations. We look forward to building support for these expansions using new, localized approaches to advocacy. Keep that in mind and keep your eyes open for announcements on that front.

But, for now, we have huge expansions to the City’s shared use path network with this first set of projects released. These locations are primarily along suburban arterial roadways and turn narrow sidewalks into safe and accessible shared-use paths.

It’s important to keep in mind that these projects stitch together parts of our City that have never experienced comprehensive and effective active transportation networks. When these suburbs were built, the City’s standards for infrastructure development were lower. We did not require developers to build the kinds of connections that Edmontonians deserve. Now, we’re playing catch-up. 

By the end of 2024, huge swaths of our city will have better active transportation infrastructure. People will be able to get around actively using bikes, scooters, or other mobility devices like they never have before. People all over the northside can actually bike to Castle Downs using new infrastructure on 153 Avenue. Someone in Mill Woods can get to Mill Woods Town Centre mall and LRT station using new infrastructure on 23 Avenue.

We’re also thankful that the concerns we raised in December regarding the lack of transparency are being approached in some ways by releasing this update. We look forward to more openness coming soon.

It won’t be perfect, but it’s VITAL that we stay positive.

The more complex projects announced for 2025/2026 will inevitably result in push back. It is important for our community of advocates to positively push for the best possible solutions across the City. 

We must work together to overcome opposition to these improvements in our active transportation network. 2025 is an election year. Some who work against progress will inevitably attempt to sow seeds of division in order to reap political rewards. We need to out-organize, outdo, and out-shine negativity by pushing the City to implement positive change across Edmonton. 

We look forward to keeping you all in the loop regarding the next steps and working with you to establish localized advocacy groups in key areas of network expansion in 2025.