thommyjo
Senior Member
Yes haha. Good catch
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- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
dkazzed
Active Member
I've been really fortunate most of my commuting paths have been cleared all winter, but I wanted to ride the river valley yesterday and was shocked by how poor those MUPs are. I was met with slush at the bottom of MacKinnon Ravine that I was wrestling to slow down my bike but at the same time keep it in control with, and then near Capilano Freeway my studs were no match for the completely iced over steep hill and I went down, and continued sliding down the icy hill for about 10 metres. I'll wait until April or May to explore the river valley again.
Plus side, 49 otherwise amazing km on my bike yesterday.
Plus side, 49 otherwise amazing km on my bike yesterday.
ntt1
Active Member
I guess the plan is to just let it melt. They even cleared some of the windrows next to one of the paths I ride yesterday with equipment, but still left the slush/ice layer untouched, which has again frozen into a 2 inch thick ice rink again overnight without any gravel/sand on it.
dkazzed
Active Member
Maybe they thought that giving away a bunch of studded tires absolves them from any responsibility of fully clearing the routes. Honestly when it was -20, I actually quite enjoyed the 4-5 metre packed snow MUPs they cleared along the river valley, but the packed snow has become liabilties now.
Also if not for the cyclists, can the city please think of year round wheelchair accessibility and general population winter safety with the grades of these river valley routes? I estimate some of these grades are up to 15% and that is incredibly ableist. I had to warn a parent with their dog and child that the path they were heading down to which I just climbed was steep and incredibly icy. They could tackle one difficult hill per year starting from the central areas outwards and probably be done in 10 years.
I was hoping they would regrade the hill out of Hermitage when they repaved the MUP but they did not. It's exactly an ACA compliant 8.33% grade overall, but it's more like 10-15% for the first bit, a landing at the switchback, then 7.5% the rest of the way with no landing for over 200m.
There was also a ramp proposed at the Royal Glenora stairs for wheelchairs but also built to MUP standards that was proposed to be built I think as part of Touch the Water, and I was hoping that would go ahead independent of Touch the Water project.
thommyjo
Senior Member
It’s crazy they can’t get out there with so many warm days in a row to get all the major MUPs clear.
Some will get new ice as stuff melts, but the 3-5 inches of slush being gone means Mother Nature can finish off the clearing much soon. Not like the snow teams are clearing roads right now, why can’t the snow and ice team spend a week improving all MUPs? Roads don’t need it.
Some will get new ice as stuff melts, but the 3-5 inches of slush being gone means Mother Nature can finish off the clearing much soon. Not like the snow teams are clearing roads right now, why can’t the snow and ice team spend a week improving all MUPs? Roads don’t need it.
dkazzed
Active Member
They're busy fixing potholes the average Edmontonian claim aren't being fixed because all they care about are bike lanes.
ntt1
Active Member
Plus, the paths in shaded areas could really use at least *some* sort of traction like gravel or sand if they aren't going to bother to clear it. Otherwise it just keeps turning into stuff like this overnight (this is one of the MUP connectors I use, which is also near a bus stop).
TAS
Senior Member
trevorhayden
Active Member
Better than building more freeways.
MacLac
Senior Member
YEG imagineer
Active Member
I copied this from the Remand Centre photo by constance_chlore. Does anyone know why this MUP is fenced off? It just looks like a rental fence blocking access after an entrance to a surface parking lot which if I have my bearings correct is north of the main police station. But I see no signage on the blocking fence and I don't remember reading or hearing about an MUP blocked off. Anyone got any insight?
mcr
Active Member
Closed to allow for access during the demolition of the Remand, so I would imagine for the duration.
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dkazzed
Active Member
I tried using it once in 2021 it abruptly ended at 97 St, not connecting to anything. It's better to turn onto the designated 96 St bikeway (south) and protected bike lanes (north). I'd love to see the MUP connected to the 105 St Ave bike path soon though.
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yeggator
Senior Member
Whitemud Drive/Creek bike overpasses
YEG imagineer
Active Member
On the Rainbow Valley ped bridge they have started putting up the forms. They were about 1/4 done by Sunday.