12th Avenue portion of cycle track to open Tuesday morning

Tuesday morning will be the first chance for cyclists to try out the city’s new downtown cycle track.

The City of Calgary announced Monday the 12th Avenue portion, from 11 St. S.W. to 3rd St. S.E. will be completely open Tuesday morning as construction crews were able to utilize the good weather and finish ahead of schedule.

Don Mulligan, Director of Transportation Planning, said the remaining portions will be rolled out in due course and there’s a chance they could open before the end of the month.

“We are entering a rainy season and that is a major constraint in terms of getting things done,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate up until now to get what we have done and open in time, we’re still working towards the end of the month for the official opening of the entire cycle track pilot network.

Until then, Mulligan reminds the public the other three portions are still closed and not for use.

But with the first portion almost ready to go, Mulligan explained the sentiment among transportation and city officials.

“I think there’s a sense of this is a big moment in time,” he said. “There’s been a lot of work over a lot of years by many, many people that it’s industry, it’s businesses downtown, the volunteers by Calgary, certain councillors, a lot of folks have put a lot into this.”

Mulligan said with targets and performance measures for factors such as volume and satisfaction of drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, they will be collecting feedback over the coming months with an initial report coming in December.

The final evaluation will be December 2016 when City Council will decide if it will stay, be modified or scrapped.