City emails suggest removing Edmonton bike lanes could cost over $150M

If the city of Edmonton was to remove all bike lanes, it would cost between $150 to $170 million. That's according to internal emails given to the CBC from city councillors this week. These numbers come after the province announced a bill is coming this fall that could give the government power to review or remove municipal bike lanes. Several city councillors are worried about that cost falling on taxpayers' shoulders. That'd be a 6.8% tax increase just for that one, you know, just for that one project. The email shows the bike lane along 132nd Avenue would cost the most to remove, around $100 to $120 million because it was fully rebuilt to the new configuration. Parmar says to save money, she's proposing to leave current infrastructure as is and instead not build any more bike lanes. That is what I've been advocating for the past six months. Can we really look at going forward and not looking at going backwards? Others in council argue the focus should be on other important things. Albertans are asking us how we want to best manage affordability. You don't manage affordability or improve affordability by asking a municipality to then spend $150 to $170 million to tear up work that's already been done. It makes absolutely no sense for a provincial government to be weighing in on something that takes up less than 2% of our capital budget. The Ministry of Transportation says it supports bike infrastructure when it is safe, integrated into the broader transportation network and does not reduce existing roadways. In the summer, the province started an online portal on bike lanes. It plans to use this and other government data to inform its approach on bike lane policy. The province did not say when this legislation will be introduced or if it plans to include a clause on removing bike lanes. Nicole Healy, CBC News, Edmonton.