Regina City Council adopted the Transportation Master Plan in 2017. This plan lays out a vision for Regina’s transportation system over the next 25 years. Included in this document are plans for a city-wide cycling network for Regina. In 2018, the City of Regina undertook an internal prioritization study, based on this city-wide network, to determine which routes were most important to build first. A route that connected central neighbourhoods to the downtown was identified as the highest priority piece of infrastructure.
Crosstown Bike Route Phasing
The current plan for construction of this bike route is divided into four phases:
- Phase 1 - Western Cathedral - 2021-2022
- Phase 2 - Eastern Cathedral, Centre Square & Downtown - 2023
- Phase 3 - Centre Square, Downtown, Heritage & Al Ritchie - 2024
- Phase 4 - Ongoing monitoring and adjustments - 2025 and onward
Phase 1
Western Cathedral - 2021-2022
The first phase of the Crosstown Bike Route will be established on the following roads:
- 13th Avenue from Forget Street to York Street
- 14th Avenue from Edward Street to Montague Street.
There is also an off-street section which will run from York Street, through Brinkworth Park, then south-east at Lewvan Drive and 13th Avenue to Edward Street and 14th Avenue.
13th Avenue - Forget Street to York Street - Protected Bike Lane
13th Avenue from Forget Street to York Street will be implemented as a bi-directional protected bike lane. Protected bike lanes are separated from traffic by physical barriers, which can take a variety of forms. In this case, the city will use flexible delineator posts as protection. Examples can be found on the recently installed Park Street Bike Lane and Wascana Gate South Bike Lane.
This bike lane is bi-directional, meaning that cyclists travelling in both east and west directions will use the same bike lane. To accommodate this movement, the bike lane will be three meters wide, providing 1.5 meters for cyclists in each direction, separated by a dashed yellow line. The bike lane operates much like a smaller version of a road, but is reserved for cyclists. It also means that cyclists will be separated from on-street traffic and should have limited impact on traffic on 13th Avenue.
As part of the implementation of this bike lane, all on-street parking on 13th Avenue will be removed between Forget Street and York Street. The section of 13th Avenue currently operates with two parking lanes and two traffic lanes. The vehicle volume on this road, combined with speed and width, is below current City of Regina standards for safe operation of the road and should only host one lane of parking. Construction of the bike lane requires removal of all on-street parking lane. This section of the neighbourhood has low use of on-street parking. All residences in this section of Cathedral front adjacent north/south streets. Parking will remain as-is on these north/south streets.
All properties with access onto 13th Avenue via an alley or driveway will maintain that access.
13th Ave Bike Lane Design
Off-Street - York Street to Edward Street - Multi-Use Pathways
From York Street to Edward Street, the Crosstown Bike Route will be implemented as an off-street multi-use pathway.
This pathway will begin at York Street, running through the northern portion of Brinkworth Park. The City will shift some of the play equipment in Brinkworth park south in order provide a safe environment for both cyclists and park users.
A pathway east of Brinkworth park will be constructed to accommodate cyclists. At Lewvan Drive, cyclists will cross in the current pedestrian crossing, obeying existing pedestrian signals.
From the southeast corner of 13th Avenue and Lewvan Drive, a multi-use pathway will be constructed through a green space west of Edward Street. This pathway will formalize existing trails in this area and deliver cyclists safely to 14th Avenue.
14th Avenue - Edward Street to Pasqua Street - Protected Bike Lane
Similar to 13th Avenue, the section of the Crosstown Bike Route on 14th Avenue will be a bi-directional bike lane. The reason for this is the alignment of 14th Avenue across Pasqua Street, which is slightly skewed. For safety reasons, cyclists will be directed, in the bike lane, to the north side of the road, where they will have a safe transition into the Advisory Bike Lane east of Pasqua Street.
This will also necessitate the removal of parking on both sides of the road, again, similar to the 13th Avenue section. All houses on this section of 14th Avenue face onto the adjacent north-south streets and will maintain on-street parking on at least one side of the residence. All accesses at curb crossings will remain.
From 14th Avenue at Pasqua Street, the Crosstown Bike Route will be implemented as an Advisory Bike Lane. An Advisory Bike Lane is a type of cycling infrastructure that has long been popular in Europe and is now finding success in cities across North America, including Ottawa, Ontario and Victoria, British Columbia. Cars share a middle lane with one bike lane on each side of the road. When cars must past each other, they yield to cyclists in the bike lanes, then merge into the bike lane in order to pass. This is a new type of bike lane for Regina and will be implemented as a pilot project in order to see how road-users adapt to the new configuration. The Advisory Bike Lane will be monitored into 2022 and its success will be evaluated.
14th Avenue was chosen as a location to test this new type of infrastructure due to the width of the street, the low traffic volumes and the low traffic speeds. This section of 14th Avenue is about nine meters wide with parking permitted on both sides and a single (unpainted) drive lane in the middle of the road. By removing one parking lane and replacing it with bike lanes, the street maintains its current function, while providing enhanced safety for cyclists.
Advisory Bike Lanes
Advisory Bike Lanes
Video Transcript
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Audio |
Visual |
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*upbeat music* |
Text displays “City of Regina Advisory Bike Lanes. Here’s how Advisory Bike Lanes work for cyclists.” |
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*bike bell chimes ding* |
An animated image of a bicycle moves quickly across the screen. |
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Narrator: Popular in Europe and in the US, |
Illustrated maps of the Untitled States of America and European Union appear briefly and slide off screen. |
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this system is great for adding cycling lanes to streets (image of street with a cycling lane where they wouldn't otherwise fit. |
An animated image of a single-lane street with a bike lane to the right-hand side appears. |
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Narrow roads with low volume traffic and low speeds. Here's how they work. |
Image of street speed sign with low maximum km/h pops up over the graphic of the road and disappears. |
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Traffic from both sides share one central lane. |
Illustrated image of single-lane street appears as though you are looking down on it from above. |
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Cycling lanes are placed on each side of the road. |
Images of cycling lanes appear on both sides of the single-lane road. |
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When there are two drivers traveling in opposite directions, |
Two vehicles appear on the road, travelling in opposite directions towards one another in the center lane. |
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the vehicles move into the cycling lanes to pass each other safely. |
The vehicles shift to the side so that they are in the cycling lanes. |
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What happens if there's a bike in the cycling lane? |
The image quickly disappears and reappears with a cyclist riding in the right-hand cycling lane. |
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Whoever is in front has the right of way. |
The image rotates to give a side profile of a person on a bicycle with a car following behind them and a red arrow pointing to the cyclist indicating they are in front and have the right-of-way. |
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Vehicles travel behind the bike |
Image reverts back to a cyclist riding in the right-hand cycling lane, with a car following close behind. |
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but can then move back into the center lane |
A car travelling in the opposite direction comes down the center lane and passes the cyclist and car in the right-hand bike lane. |
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when it is safe to do so. |
Once the car in the center lane has passed, the car following the cyclist moves into the center lane to pass the cyclist. The image fades out. |
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It is a whole new way for drivers and cyclists to share the road |
An animated image of tire, comprised half of a car tire and half of a bike tire appears with a green checkmark beside it. Image fades to a blue screen. |
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*upbeat music* |
Text appears displaying “Regina.ca/cycling” and “Thank you to the City of Ottawa for the use of this video”. |
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*chimes ding* |
City of Regina logo appears. |
Phase 2
Eastern Cathedral, Downtown & Centre Square - 2023
This phase will begin in 2023 after the two-year evaluation period of the 14th Avenue Advisory Bike Lane is complete. Based upon the results of that project, the Crosstown Route will be continued through the rest of Cathedral into the downtown. This phase will continue at least as far as Lorne Street and may continue as far east as Broad Street.
The route, type and extent of bike lanes implemented in this phase are dependent upon the outcome of the 14th Avenue Advisory Bike Lane Pilot Project.
Phase 3
Downtown, Centre Square, Heritage & Al Ritchie - 2024
The third phase of the project will look to extending the bike route from the Downtown and Centre Square neighbourhoods through the Heritage and Al Ritchie neighbourhoods as far as Arcola Avenue.
Phase 4
Continue Monitoring & Adjustments - 2025 onward
Monitoring of the Crosstown route will continue following its completion and will be adjusted where improvements can be made. If any short additions to the bike lane are identified that would increase Regina’s cycling network connectivity, they will be pursued at this phase.
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