104th Street to 136th Street on the Oliverbahn

The last time I owned a bike in Edmonton, riding it was much more complicated than it is now. There were actually plenty of bike paths, but they were clearly either mostly intended for recreation (like in our river valley, which is awesome) or accidental (like a nice long path that was built along an old railroad track just because it was easy to do so), but they didn't connect up. As a cyclist accustomed to the ultra-extensive network in the Netherlands, I didn't find them convenient enough, so I rarely used them, and mostly forgot they existed.
Then, during the years I was bikeless, the city started trying to build an actual network for cyclists to use to, you know, actually GET places. I read plenty about these efforts (and was a strong supporter of them!), but I never had a bike to try them out, so they were kind of all theoretical to me. Since I got my Brompton in June, though, I've been exploring them. And they're NOWHERE near Dutch-level-good, but they're...honestly not terrible? There are many kludgey fixes within the network, but I've been surprised that I can actually get most places I want to go now without resorting to riding in TOO many places I'm not allowed to ride. And some of the new separated paths are...again, nowhere near Dutch-level-good, but they've grown on me.
This video is of one straight stretch from 104th Street downtown to 136th Street in the west end, and I'm posting it because it gives examples of MOST of the different ways the city is solving the "build an actual bike network as quickly as possible" problem (some of which are clearly better than others, but all mostly work). In order, you can see examples of the following choices:
- a separated bike path that will run along the new light rail line they're building downtown (some of which is currently a construction zone, so you can see the city's attempt at making a detour for cyclists). this one is okay, but it has too many lights so it's not very fast, and no landscaping at all (though maybe that will come post-LRT construction).
- a "shared path" through a park (for pedestrians, cyclists, and basically everyone else who's not in a car). this is pretty, but clearly not designed for bikes because it's a little too bumpy a ride.
- a separated bike path that runs all the way through the central neighbourhoods of Oliver and Westmount. this bit is my favourite bit. it's pretty speedy in terms of lights and stop signs (locals have unofficially dubbed it the "Oliverbahn" because of this), and by our own local standards it is even reasonably well-designed in terms of landscaping.
- a different sort of "shared path" (again for pedestrians, cyclists, and basically anyone not in a four-wheeled vehicle) that involves officially allowing cyclists to ride on a wide sidewalk. this works, but it's not my favourite because it's clearly not designed for bikes and means having to ride up and down little sidewalk ramps that are really designed for baby strollers.
- a short, very narrow bridge crossing on which bikes are officially prohibited (a sign reads "cyclists dismount"), but nobody actually pays attention to that. (this is NOT a tenable choice, but at least it's mercifully short).
- more of the same sort of "shared path" as the last kind until the end of the video.
Other types of paths found in the new Edmonton network but not shown here: the aforementioned longstanding bike-only paths either through the river valley or along railroad tracks (which now connect up to these other types of paths and are much more useful--and also really speedy and nice!), and "sharrows" (I find these unacceptable when they are on high-traffic streets, but actually decently implemented when they go through pretty neighbourhoods with lots of interesting houses to look at).
(Oh, and if you listen with the sound on, you will find that the video also features a pedestrian asking me, about my Brompton: "Does that run on gas?" 😃 )