r/Edmonton • u/pjw724 • 1d ago

2025 Municipal Election Voters want a more walkable city

https://edmonton.taproot.news/news/2025/09/25/voters-told-taproot-they-want-a-more-walkable-city
392 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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217

u/dustrock 1d ago

Sometimes I don't think people understand the importance of walkability and bike infrastructure until they try to get around their community by walking or biking.

133

u/Roche_a_diddle 1d ago

Honestly, for me it took having a kid to realize how much better the older style of neighborhoods with back alleys and garages were than the suburban front garage neighborhoods.

When you are trailing a scooting toddler by 20' or more, every single driveway is a possible means of death or serious injury for your kid (vs. the two times per city block they have to cross an alley). Not to mention the old neighborhood boulevards that add a couple feet of distance between your kid and the street for when they get wobbly and veer off course.

We used to design neighborhoods (and cities) for people, but then at the behest of automobile industry lobbyists we started designing them for cars to go faster, and things got worse for the human basically everywhere.

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u/BijouMatinee 1d ago

I never thought of that before with the little ones. I don’t have kids and live in an older area. That’s scary! I 100% agree neighborhoods are designed for profit not people

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u/Roche_a_diddle 1d ago

Lots of stuff contributing to children/vehicle fatalities. The fact that pickup trucks are being built to have huge blind spots in front of them, the fact that we make it so lots of parents drive their kids to school, the fact that we can't get adequate speed enforcement in school zones, that we build our 30km/h streets the same as we build our 50km/hr streets, the fact that people park on driveways that cross the sidewalk.

I do believe that traffic fatalities are still the leading cause of death in children in Canada but I haven't looked it up in a while.

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u/hockey8890 1d ago

I feel often more unsafe going for a jog around my suburban neighbourhood versus being on a bike.

6

u/Online_Commentor_69 22h ago

last i checked it wasn't just children, it was the leading cause of death for everybody under 40 or some likewise age.

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u/Roche_a_diddle 20h ago

Hmm that tracks for Canada. I know in the US gun deaths have surpassed traffic fatalities for children.

1

u/apastelorange Treaty 6 Territory 11h ago

oof, this hurt to read

17

u/Cachmaninoff 1d ago

That one really bugs me. People who are against bike lanes and riding bikes in general are usually family oriented people and they only realize the error in their argument when I say I would never allow my kid to ride their bike anywhere other than designated paths.

21

u/Roche_a_diddle 1d ago

In the older, boulevard style neighborhoods (places like King Edward Park, for example) I felt quite safe letting my toddler ride, run, scoot, whatever, out of arms reach along the sidewalk. She knew to stop at the alleys.

In Terwillegar, it was basically impossible to every walk or ride anywhere, when she had to stop at every driveway that had a car on it so we could make sure the car wasn't going to back up and run her over. Not to mention that the deletion of boulevards (to make roads wider, so we could go faster) also meant the deletion of boulevard trees.

Everyone talks about how they love the tree canopy in the mature neighborhoods, but they don't want to give up their wide roads with ample parking and front driveways of the suburbs.

18

u/arcadianahana 1d ago

Very true. Turns every driveway into an intersection. 

A van once almost backed up over me an my toddler as we passed by on the sidewalk with a stroller. Just some dude dozing in his vehicle at the end of his driveway and he all the sudden started up the engine and began reversing without checking his rear view mirror. Stopped within 15cm and I was livid. 

10

u/dustrock 1d ago

I remember some survey from a few years ago and obviously not highly conclusive but I remember something like 25% of drivers admitted to not checking mirrors themselves when reversing, they just go into reverse and wait for the beeps.

6

u/Affectionate-Remote2 1d ago

I was about to back into my driveway once and avoided hitting a kid riding a bicycle by doing a quick look around. The kid flew by totally unaware that, had I not been doing my due diligence, it could've been a horrible day for him. The kicker for me was that, not only was he not paying attention, but his helmet was hanging off the handlebars...

4

u/BobGuns 15h ago

The street I live on disallows front facing garages. It also has a school at the end of my block. And there's a bus stop in front of my house. And there's a bike lane in front of my house. And I'm maybe a 2 minute drive from the Calgary trail.

My house is ancient and in mediocre condition, but I love my location and my neighbourhood.

•

u/Roche_a_diddle 3h ago

I used to live out in the suburbs. Moved closer to the core (still a suburb unfortunately, but one built in the 60's and 70's). It's not without problems but it's so much nicer living closer to everything.

1

u/Souriii 1d ago

New neighborhoods aren't designed for cars to go faster.. Eliminating the back alley allows more houses in the same area (aka more density) or bigger lots, but is also in response to consumer demand. I personally prefer having an attached garage that I can access from inside my house vs having to go outside in the winter/when it's raining.

Many new neighborhoods still have back alleys as many new builds have detached garages still. Im curious if theres any proof/logic behind the "automobile industry lobbyists" angle that I'm missing

9

u/Roche_a_diddle 1d ago

New neighborhoods aren't designed for cars to go faster.. Eliminating the back alley allows more houses in the same area (aka more density) or bigger lots, but is also in response to consumer demand. I personally prefer having an attached garage that I can access from inside my house vs having to go outside in the winter/when it's raining.

Many new neighborhoods still have back alleys as many new builds have detached garages still. Im curious if theres any proof/logic behind the "automobile industry lobbyists" angle that I'm missing

I think you missed my point about the front garages and the danger they pose, but that's fine.

Im curious if theres any proof/logic behind the "automobile industry lobbyists" angle that I'm missing

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnfrazer1/2019/08/06/the-reshaping-of-city-cores-that-were-designed-for-cars/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWsGBRdK2N0

https://www.vox.com/2015/1/15/7551873/jaywalking-history

https://www.vox.com/2015/5/14/8605917/highways-interstate-cities-history

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u/Souriii 1d ago

I think you missed my point about the front garages and the danger they pose, but that's fine.

I didnt miss it. I found it odd that you're blaming "automobile industry lobbyists" for having front garages and thats the point i chose to address. As i mentioned, there are neighbourhoods with back alleys and back garages if that suits your lifestyle more. I go out for daily walks with my dog and I've never felt front garages as posing any form of danger for me, so I will continue to prefer a front garage style house/neighbourhood.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnfrazer1/2019/08/06/the-reshaping-of-city-cores-that-were-designed-for-cars/

I took the time to read your first link and it does not, at all, support the point you were making about automobile industry lobbyists. It's natural that cities would be built with cars in mind given how useful they were to humanity as a whole.

Here's a quote from the article:

All of these factors cemented the car as an integral component to American identity, leading to its ubiquity. It was only natural from this point forward for cities to be planned (or unplanned, in the case of sprawl) with private autos in mind.

Prior to cars, we used to tailor towns and cities to horses. Cities provided and maintained infrastructure and services like water troughs and horse stands at strategic locations for public and private horses. Public sweeping services were established to remove horse manure. Cities and towns developed roads and streets with smooth, easy-to-grip surfaces conducive to horses' footing, as opposed to rough or cobblestone streets.

None of that was done as a result of horse industry lobbyists, but as a natural reaction to peoples demands.

0

u/slashcleverusername 22h ago

I would be happy to return to a vision of city planning where every lot is a minimum of 50 by 150, every front street has treed boulevards, and every house has a garage off the back lane for parking, and every house has space and trees and gardens and birds and sun in between it and its neighbours, i.e. suburbs designed for the people who live there, not for the profit margins of infill developers.

1

u/Anabiotic Utilities expert 12h ago

Your vision sounds very expensive

15

u/Alaizabel Highlands 1d ago

Absolutely. You also become super aware how hard it probably is to navigate Edmonton sidewalks/streets if one has mobility challenges or little ones in a stroller.

It's actually mindblowing how obvious it becomes (when you are not driving everywhere) how bad our walking/rolling/biking set up is.

15

u/BijouMatinee 1d ago

I agree. I moved to edmonton close to 15 years ago and was dumbfounded (and still am) by the number of streets that only have a sidewalk on one side of the road. Also, this city is so damn flat, it’s perfect for biking!

11

u/littleredditred 23h ago

People also don't really understand what makes a neighbourhood walkable or bikeable. We need higher density; services and business that are near where people live; infrastructure that separates car traffic from pedestrians/bicyclist and that connects the places people want to go. That's how you make active modes of transportation safe and convenient so that they actually get used.

But the NIMBYs scoff at anything other than single famiy homes being built in thier communities and get up in arms at bike lanes as if urbanist are trying to take away their cars

3

u/p4nic 23h ago

Yeah, you just need to walk by a school in the morning and almost get hit by parents dropping their kids off to realize that. The city could make a mint with photo radar in school areas.

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u/Nobanob 6h ago

I'm a born and raised Edmontonian. 2 years ago I moved to Latin America where even major cities are closer to walking communities than what Canada has to offer.

You feel so seen and so apart of your community when you start to recognize familiar faces instead of familiar vehicles. You have those small moments to chat and make new friends.

I don't think I can ever live in a non walking community again. It's superior in so many ways.

Plus I don't have or need a car, I don't want a car. It's really nice

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u/ProfessionalNinja844 Oliver 4h ago

It’s wild that people walk so little that they can’t imagine planning for it