Calgarians may have reason to believe they can finally satisfy their two-wheeled fantasies. After years of pressure from cyclists to address the city’s lame biking infrastructure, city administration is acting on recommendations to create a bike-friendly transportation system.

Bike Calgary, Civic Camp and the Calgary tour de nuit Society were among cycling groups the city consulted following the release of its transportation plan in 2009. The undertaking led to the 2011 Cycling Strategy, which council approved in June of this year. The strategy makes detailed proposals for new bike-oriented infrastructure, maintenance commitments, education and promotion tactics.

Richard Zach of Bike Calgary says advocates involved in the engagement process are almost unanimously happy with the resulting strategy.

Even though it has been approved, whether the city follows through will remain uncertain at least until the end of November, when council puts its stamp on the next budget. Only then will anyone know if adequate funding is available.

Cycling enthusiasts can also temper their excitement with a history lesson. Calgary has issued cycling plans before; in 1977, 1984 and 1996 (the 2011 plan is virtually a replica of the 1996 version, citing the same problems and making the same recommendations). None have been wholly fulfilled.

The first bike path was proposed, and rejected, by city council in 1937. Then as now, proponents said it would make travel safer for cyclists, yet city hall believed the ratio of cyclists to motorists was too small to justify the costs.

Today, the costs of new cycling infrastructure, including an estimated $12.2 million for capital projects, are legitimized by the city’s stated aim to increase commuter cycling by magnitudes. According to public surveys, less than two per cent of employed Calgarians habitually get to work by bike. Many of them are categorized in the strategy as “fearless cyclists,” who will ride regardless of infrastructure or weather. To make the initiative worthwhile, the strategy’s authors are banking on the 70 per cent of respondents who don’t bike, but say they want to.

Several reasons to avoid this particular travel option stand out. For starters, Calgarians overwhelmingly said they won’t commute by bike as long as sharing the road with unsympathetic motorists remains a hair-raising experience. Combine road safety with unappealing winter conditions and a pathway system that often leads nowhere and it’s clear why Calgary is not a cyclist’s paradise.

When it comes to winter cycling, Darren Bender of Civic Camp says the cold and the snow isn’t the issue people think it is.

“I started year-round cycling about a year and a half ago. It was much much easier than I ever anticipated... I can pretty much take the pathway all the way from my home in Tuscany to where I work at the university. And they keep those pathways plowed year-round. Sometimes they’re plowed more quickly than the roadways. I don’t really suffer any downtime.”

Bender says the legitimate concern is with biking on a slippery road in heavy traffic. That will be a problem until the city establishes dedicated bike lanes and connects the safer pathway system to places commuters actually need to go.

That is all part of the strategy. Overall, there are 50 recommendations. Existing paths are to be linked with bike lanes on major commuter routes, first in the areas already most frequented by cyclists: city centre, around the University of Calgary and eventually the west LRT line. The plan also calls for much larger bicycle storage areas at transit stations, a public bike-sharing program similar to those in many European and North American cities, and encouraging showers and lockers be built in new office buildings for cycling employees.

Calgary’s stumbling progress in this area in the past does not bode well for the future of the cycling strategy, however, there are signs this time it will be different.

Nicole Jensen has worked in the city’s transportation department for 10 years, so she’s familiar with city hall’s varied attitudes towards cycling. Recently, she says, there has been a shift.

“In the last few years [there] has been much more political support for encouraging alternative modes — travel options,” she says. “That also reflects Calgarians, and Calgarians saying we want to be able to do this.”

Bender confirms a sea change. “I think they are moving pretty fast on this. There’s a lot of reasons and a lot of speculation on why nothing ever got rolled out previously. But there seems to be a real commitment right now to do it.”

Recent projects as part of the pilot program include the addition of bikes lanes on 10th Street N.W. and the new “floating” bike lanes, which become wide, dedicated lanes during rush hour, on 10th Avenue S.W.

Zach agrees there is increased commitment, but believes there are bugs in the implementation despite the good intentions.

“What’s still not really working is the big picture,” he says. “We’ve seen examples of bicycle infrastructure going in that didn’t have any consultation with the cycling community... and then the result was sub-standard.”

He cites October’s 10th Street bike lane kerfuffle. Though he believes the lane was well planned, the explanation to the public was not, and the consequence was a public outcry against cyclists and the city.

Another testament to good intentions combined with little forethought was evident in the recently unveiled Fourth Street underpass. Initially, the bike lane leading to the overpass was clearly marked with a signpost, positioned dead centre in the line of travel. The problem has since been fixed, but adds to the perception that the plan is being rushed without due consideration to practical consequences.

To address chronic piecemeal additions to Calgary’s bicycle system and uninformed bungles, the cycling strategy recommends the city create three staff positions dedicated solely to its implementation. Jensen says three people who can focus on cycling education, lane engineering and overall system cohesion will go a long way to fixing chronic problems.

The city’s commitment to its latest cycling pledge will become much clearer once the budget is finalized later this month. Until then, Jensen says the transportation department is moving as quickly as it can with the resources it already has. As for the 70 per cent of Calgarians interested in joining the fearless cyclists, they will have to keep their fingers crossed.