The City of Saskatoon’s Active Transportation Plan identifies a number of corridors requiring investment to create an All Ages and Abilities Bicycle Network. We collaborated with CIMA+ to support various stages of planning an design on corridors in the city to improve active transportation accessibility, connectivity, and safety including:

• A feasibility study for shared pathways along College Drive from the University of Saskatchewan to the eastern city limits

• A functional design plan for an AAA cycling facility along Victoria Avenue

• A functional design plan for a rapid implementation AAA cycling facility on Monroe Avenue in the form of a neighbourhood bikeway and intersection crossings facilities

Every project comes with interesting wrinkles.

In the case of Victoria Avenue, running from Ruth Street to Taylor Street East, recent investments through the City’s Sidewalk Infill Program limited the types of cycling facilities we could consider. Since new sidewalks were constructed to address gaps along part of the corridor during the project, options requiring space beyond the existing pavement (such as raised cycle tracks or off-street shared-use pathways) were not feasible.

Despite this constraint, the Victoria Avenue corridor configuration offered the opportunity to reallocate space for bicycle facilities without significantly impacting neighbourhood access. The team developed three design alternatives developed based on considering community safety and operational concerns identified through public consultation:

• One-way protected bike lane

• Two-way protected bike lane

• Neighbourhood greenway

A multi-criteria evaluation was completed to identify a preferred alternative, including factors related to community context, safety and security, accessibility, and cost/constructability. While options evaluation is a common component of many of our projects, we love the challenge of tailoring criteria and priorities to align with local conditions and values.

The one-way protected bike lane was selected as the preferred option and functional design plans were prepared to guide the future detailed design of the facility. With City Council’s approval of the project, we look forward to seeing the City of Saskatoon continue to progress implementation of the Victoria Avenue bikeway and ride the constructed facility in a future visit to Toon Town!