{"id":120534,"date":"2026-05-13T19:44:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/alberta-government-pulls-an-ontario-and-goes-after-bike-lanes\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:44:39","slug":"alberta-government-pulls-an-ontario-and-goes-after-bike-lanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/alberta-government-pulls-an-ontario-and-goes-after-bike-lanes\/","title":{"rendered":"Alberta government pulls an Ontario and goes after bike lanes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Would you look at that? It seems Ontario Premier Doug Ford is a bit of a trendsetter. But for cyclists, it\u2019s not such a great fad he\u2019s starting.<\/p>\n<p>The Alberta government is preparing legislation that could give the province authority to review and potentially remove municipal bike lanes. That means they may setting up a debate that is already drawing comparisons to a seemingly never-ending fight over cycling infrastructure in Ontario.<\/p>\n<h2>The latest in Alberta<\/h2>\n<p>Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said Monday that Alberta\u2019s rapidly growing cities need to prioritize road capacity, arguing some bike lane projects have created ripple effects for drivers and surrounding communities. The chatter is hardly new. Dreeshen has been saying that this was in the works for some time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re taking that lane away, that has a whole bunch of cascading effects to people that live in that area,\u201d Dreeshen said to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/edmonton\/alberta-government-bike-lanes-legislation-9.7195867\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CBC News.<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"zEYoMc8CNo\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/doug-ford-vows-to-fight-bike-lanes-and-build-a-giant-car-tunnel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Ford vows to fight bike lanes and build a giant car tunnel<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cDoug Ford vows to fight bike lanes and build a giant car tunnel\u201d \u2014 Canadian Cycling Magazine\" src=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/doug-ford-vows-to-fight-bike-lanes-and-build-a-giant-car-tunnel\/embed\/#?secret=YPPkBIIBmd#?secret=zEYoMc8CNo\" data-secret=\"zEYoMc8CNo\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The minister added that the province is not opposed to cycling infrastructure altogether, saying bike lanes are acceptable \u201cif they\u2019re put in proper places.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Legislation\u2019s a-comin\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The proposed legislation, expected this fall, follows comments Dreeshen made last summer when he urged Edmonton to reconsider planned cycling infrastructure on the city\u2019s north side. He also suggested the province could respond to petitions or protests targeting existing bike lanes, leaving open the possibility that some already-built routes could be removed.<\/p>\n<p>Edmonto mayor, Andrew Knack, pushed back against the proposal and said the city has taken a measured approach to transportation planning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis whole dynamic of car drivers versus cyclists versus pedestrians, I hate it,\u201d Knack <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-ca\/news\/canada\/knack-defends-edmonton-bike-lanes-but-will-work-with-province-on-new-rules\/ar-AA231bPT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cI will not subscribe to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Knack also expressed concern about the idea of retroactively removing lanes, warning there could be significant costs and disruptions attached to tearing out existing infrastructure.<\/p>\n<h2>Berta pulls an Onterrible<\/h2>\n<p>The debate mirrors Ontario\u2019s ongoing legal and political battle over bike lane removals under Ford\u2019s government. Like, a lot. It\u2019s a case Alberta officials say they are watching closely as they shape their own legislation. So that\u2019s fun. Although in Ontario the debate is far from over.<\/p>\n<p>Ontario\u2019s Bill 212 <a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/premier-doug-ford-set-to-remove-even-more-bike-lanes-in-toronto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">became a flashpoint in the province\u2019s fight over cycling infrastructure after the provincial government moved to make it harder for municipalities to install bike lanes that remove lanes from vehicle traffic<\/a>. The whole debacle began back in November of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The legislation also opened the door for the province to order the removal of some existing lanes in Toronto, arguing the changes were needed to reduce congestion and keep traffic moving.<\/p>\n<p>Cycling advocates like Cycle Toronto and city officials pushed back hard. The groups said the bill ignored safety data and undermined local planning decisions. The dispute eventually ended up in court, where a judge struck down parts of the legislation tied to removing Toronto bike lanes, though the Ontario government later appealed the ruling. And that\u2019s where things are at now\u2013a waiting game for cyclists in the province\u2013and notably Toronto, for the next ruling from the judge.<\/p>\n<p>Alberta activists are apparently already talking to Cycle Toronto for tips and tricks as it seems like they will be doing the same dance soon.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n\t\t! function(f, b, e, v, n, t, s) {\n\t\t\tif (f.fbq) return;\n\t\t\tn = f.fbq = function() {\n\t\t\t\tn.callMethod ?\n\t\t\t\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n, arguments) : n.queue.push(arguments)\n\t\t\t};\n\t\t\tif (!f._fbq) f._fbq = n;\n\t\t\tn.push = n;\n\t\t\tn.loaded = !0;\n\t\t\tn.version = '2.0';\n\t\t\tn.queue = [];\n\t\t\tt = b.createElement(e);\n\t\t\tt.async = !0;\n\t\t\tt.src = v;\n\t\t\ts = b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t, s)\n\t\t}(window, document, 'script',\n\t\t\t'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '900220307025564');\n\t\tfbq('track', 'PageView');\n\t<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cyclingmagazine.ca\/sections\/news\/alberta-government-pulls-an-ontario-and-goes-after-bike-lanes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Would you look at that? It seems Ontario Premier Doug Ford is a bit of a trendsetter. But for cyclists, it\u2019s not such a great fad he\u2019s starting. The Alberta government is preparing legislation that could give the province authority to review and potentially remove municipal bike lanes. That means they may setting up a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":120535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basketball.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}