Although we like to complain about the lack of adequate safe and connected year-round cycling infrastructure in Whitehorse, 2023 did see a number of projects big(ish) and small that really make it a landmark year for cycling infrastructure. Here is my list to top-10 bike projects of 2023:
10. Shark-Teeth at Industrial Rd & Two Mile Hill Intersection
This is pretty minor, but the first use of painted "shark teeth" in Yukon: it is to show drivers they need to yield to bikes and pedestrians. It is a common marking used in Netherlands to show who needs to yield. Will it make much of a difference here? Probably not, but nice to see and hopefully this will become the common standard combined with a move to protected intersections (there is a real dutch-style protected intersection in Canmore that is pretty interesting to check out - maybe we too can be this progressive).
9. 1,000 E-bike Rebates
8. Buffered Painted Bike Lanes on Lewes Blvd
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| New buffered painted bike lanes on Lewes Blvd. Note old lines so you can see how the lane has been widened. Also note the sign, which officially designates this as a bike lane. |
7. Track Removals
This is bit of small, sleeper project, but again a step in the right direction. The City quietly removed the northern two set of track crossing on the Waterfront Trail. This reduced hazards and increases accessibility. I've heard from some e-bike riders that this really made a difference because these were really rough for the bigger/heavier bike. Two track crossing down, only 8 more to go (counting trail-access points.)
6. Lewes Blvd & Alsek Rd. Intersection
- Quasi-protected island the south side crossing of Lewes Blvd for kids walking to school. This included narrowing the crossing distance.
- Ride-through cuts on the pork-chop so you don't have to ride up-and-over the island
- A sweet bike on-ramp from west-bound Alsek to the north-bound multi-use trail on Lewes Blvd.
- An odd ride-up ramp that direct north-bound cyclists on the bike lane through the intersection and onto the multi-use path. Certainly it makes getting to the path easier with less chicane, but I know folks are worried about pedestrian conflicts.
So, overall, and improvement, but again, a project falling short of its potential because cyclists were involved too late in the project.
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| Ride-through cut-outs on pork-chop island. |
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| Sweet bike path "on-ramp" from Alsek Rd. |
5. Raised Intersection on Two Mile Hill & Canadian Tire
Another small project - the City originally had this designed in 2018 and only took 5 years to get built! It is straightening out of the silly intersections along 2-Mile Hill. This one being the north entrance of Canadian Tire: the trail was straightened and the intersection raised so the bike path goes straight through. The idea is to show cars that bikes & pedestrians have the right of way (note the stop sign is behind the crossing). I think the raised "hump" is too smooth for cars to really notice. The raised intersection at Black St. & 7th is a better example.
This upgrade also starts to implement some Protected Intersection design elements such tightening the curb radius and keeping the bike path back from the intersection to create a "yield-zone" between the parallel roadway and the path crossing (in this case, only about 4 m). This gives drivers a space to yield if they make a mistake and don't see a bike coming. These elements aim to slow down cars through the crossing, and thus reduce the consequences of mistakes (because as humans, we all make mistakes.)
None the less, nice to finally see this done. One crappy intersection down, only 5 more to go on the Two-Mile Hill path.
4. Completing Range Rd South Multi-Use Path
A project of epic duration! Yukon Government started the muti-use path along Range Road south back in 2019, building just the south half, then abandoning the remainder, leaving it unfinished. The City picked up the work in 2021, had it extended northward some, but then were delayed two years completing it due to a conflicting lift-station project. Then, hallelujah, in late 2023, the path was finished! It is almost 900 m of new multi-use path that consists of a cool Y-shaped split that connects northward along the Alaska Highway as well as continues along Range Road to Two-Mile Hill. It included narrowing the entrances to Canada Post by a bit to make the crossings safer for bikes.
A notable feature is this path included planning for drainage - it is elevated and has ditching on both sides - a first for a multi-use path in Whitehorse!
I quite like the western leg that goes along the Alaska Highway because it winds through the trees near Canada Post. This City has been doing a great job of maintaining this path through the winter, so it is great to finally have a safe, year-round connection along Range Road south all the way to the Airport path and Hillcrest.
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| Path split, looking northward. To the left continues along the Alaska Highway. I took this picture just as they were wrapping up paving of the remaining northward leg on Range Road, hence the barrier. It is now open. |
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| Nice view of the drainage considerations give to this trail. Note in distance the "after-the-fact" trail connection to the City's own Operations Building that was originally forgotten. Oops. (Photo credit: Sheryl Polachic) |
3. Removal of the Deathly Boardwalk
This again is a small, simple project that has taken almost a decade to get completed: removal of the deadly wooden decking crossing the tracks on the Waterfront Trail behind Yukon Government main administration building. There have been enumerable cyclists accidents on this wooden decking that got slick in the autumn, including several hospitalizations and broken bones. This had being going on for years, Yukon Government was fully aware of it and did nothing meaningful to protect people's safety. It finally took a meeting with the Minister of Highways and Public Works to weigh in and get this dangerous section of trail fixed.
For some unknown reason, the tracks were left in place and the trail retains the ridiculous chicane through this section. Again, project expenditure that falls short of the opportunity because cyclists were not involved in the solution.
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| The deadly wooden decking before being replaced. Here with tokenism "grippy paint" applied for a year or two. (Photo credit: Yukon Highways and Public Works) |
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| Wooden decking replaced with asphalt. Strangely, YG forgot to take out the tracks, so some hazard remains. (Photo credit: Lewis Rifkind) |
2. Alaska Highway South Multi-Use Path
The 2.6 km extension of the of the paved multi-use path from the airport to Robert Service Way has at least been one positive outcome from the millions spent on Alaska Highway widening project. Although I would not have put this project on my "priority" list, I must confess it is a real pleasure to ride. It is surprising how much quiet it along the path, even though it is just adjacent the highway. And it is so nice as a recreational riding linkage that you can now ride all the way from Robert Service Way to Two Mile Hill, a 5.8 km distance, totally separated from road traffic.
As nice as it is, it does fall just short of meeting the All Ages and Abilities standard due to some excessively steep grades, unnecessary hills (although not much of a problem) and lack of Protected Intersections. It also suffered from drainage problems (a highway culvert dumps its water on the path, washing out the path) and a dead-end at the Robert Service Way pork-chop. This last problem was quickly rectified thankfully.
Overall, an unexpectedly pleasant addition to the active transportation network in Whitehorse.
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| Section of trail with steep grades exceeding AAA standard. Too bad, there is space here that more gentle grades could have be made. |
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| Ill planned drainage woes. Even though the lower culvert has been installed, the water is still running down the west side and washing out the trail further down. It will be interesting to see what happens this spring. |
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| Location of the initial embarrassing "dead-end" at the south end of the path that was posthumously, but promptly, fixed. |
1. Chilkoot Way Cycle Track
#1 on on my 2023 new bike infrastructure list, love it or hate it, is the new, longly awaited Chilkoot Way cycle track*. This project, known by some as "The Gap," was identified as one of the top priority projects during consultation on the development of the City's 2018 Bicycle Network Plan. Then late 2019 a delegation of youth petitioned City Council to give them a safe way to bike to school, and their petition garnered over 2000 signatures.
The City subsequently proposed a fully separated, multi-use path along Chilkoot Way between the Waterfront Trail (Quartz Rd.) and Two Mile Hill. There were several potential routing option, with many commuters from up the hill preferring a more separated route passing behind Canadian Tire & Walmart which would avoid the multiple intersection crossings. On the flip-side, a route on Chilkoot Way provided greater network connectivity as it links to the crossing lights on Two-Mile Hill and Quartz Road, enabling connections to the rest of downtown. And although not as good for through-commuters, the Chilkoot Way route provides connectivity to amenities such as the grocery store and post office. There is no one-best solution, and in my view, we should have both routes one day.
Unfortunately, several years passed with nothing getting done on this project, including the City missing the opportunity for 100% federal funding to build this during the pandemic years. The years slipped away and those kids who just wanted a safe way to bike to school grew up and became drivers. The City finally decided to do a "quick build" pilot project so they could get something built in 2023.
I use quotes around "Quick-Build" as it turned out to be anything but quickly built. The City is at the mercy of the contracting industry and because of the current demand have a hard time even getting bids on such projects. The cycle lane got build in stages with the paint going down in early August, but no barriers or signs till the winter (barriers put in October, signage finally put up in November!) As of this time, the project remain unfinished with the curb cuts remaining to be done, including fixing the awkward to/from the Two Mile Hill bike path. This caused no end of confusion and controversy. It even sparked bikelash with a small petition and delegation to Council asking for the bikes lanes to be removed. Thankfully, Council did the right thing, with they Mayor making some statements:
"What we're doing here on Chilkoot Way is happening all over the
country, has happened in Europe for years and years and years," Cabott
said. "So it is new to the city of Whitehorse and the residents and I
accept that... Change can be difficult and we want to try and implement
this in a way that works for people, but this is the way of the future." (Yukon News, Sept. 26, 2023)
The bi-directional cycle track is new to the Yukon, but has been used extensively elsewhere in Canada. The Chilkoot Way design conforms with what is typically done for these facilities. But you do need to use it with your heads up as there are multiple conflict points and motorists do not expect bikes coming from two directions, which is one of the problems with these bi-directional facilities.
So this important link is not without controversy. It is not how I would have to have seen it done, but I am happy there is something there. You do have use it with caution, watching for traffic, but it is certainly better than riding on the road unprotected. And in winter, it has been clean and beautiful, generally free of snirt. And from the tracks I see, it does seem to be getting heavy usage all winter long.
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| By mid-November, signage and barriers were finally in place. |
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| Just hours after a snowfall, the cycle-track is already plowed and there are numerous bike tracks. Looks like someone is using it! |
* a cycle track is a on-street bike lane that is physically separated from traffic.
New Year Bonus: Winter Maintenance to Hamilton Blvd Trail and All Season Access to Canada Games Centre
To start off 2024 on a good note, have a bonus time to add to the list: winter maintenance of the Hamilton Blvd motorized multi-use trail. This 4.6 km trail that runs from the Alaska Highway, provides active transportation access to the Canada Games Centre is the only trail serving over 25% of Whitehorse's population. This trail provides access for motorized recreationalists to Whitehorse motorized trail network. The City has relied on volunteer labour of the Klondike Snowmobile Association to maintain the trail in the winter, but historically they have just packed the trails for snow machines and thus it was not usable by other uses.
In winter 2022/23 the City demonstrated they have the ability to do winter multi-use trail maintenance that is usable by all users, including snowmachines. This means leaving a bit of packed snow base and not graveling the trail. Ironically, this actually results in a better winter surface for biking too.
Based on this success, Whitehorse Urban Cycling Coalition, Cycling Association of Yukon and Klondike Snowmobile Association developed an interim winter maintenance proposal and delivered this solution to the City. It calls for the City to maintain the Hamilton Blvd trail by plowing, but leaving packed snow so both snowmachines and active transportation users can both use the trail. In the 2023 operating budget the City got additional funding for winter maintenance and thus we are waiting for the City to fully take on this service. In the meantime, KSA has stepped up to backstop the City, to the best of their ability, to plow the trail. To date, thanks to their volunteer effort, the trail has been in very good shape and is regularly usable for all winter users.
The exciting this is this year is the first year in 18-year history of the Canada Game Centre facility that it has been accessible in winter by active transportation. Since the accessible winter maintenance has started this winter, there has been a significant increase in walkers and cyclists using the path in winter.
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