Cyclists ride in a bike lane in Toronto. To the people who use them, bike lanes are not the political flashpoint they’ve become. Instead, they’re infrastructure designed to solve a practical problem.Fred Lum/the Globe and Mail
Cailynn Klingbeil is a Calgary-based freelance writer and editor.
Bike lanes are back in the news in Alberta. This time, it’s because the provincial government launched an online portal inviting Albertans to report municipal bike lanes they believe are causing problems. Yes, really.
The webpage asks residents where the bike lane is located and what their concerns are. A dropdown menu offers options ranging from increased congestion and longer commute times to reduced parking, taxpayer cost and bike lanes that are “not used.”
The province says the submissions will inform future policy decisions. Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has previously said a bill coming this fall could give the Alberta government the power to review or remove municipal bike lanes.
This is the latest example of a broader trend.
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Somewhere along the way, politicians stopped talking about bike lanes as evidence-backed transportation infrastructure and started talking about them as though they were the transportation problem.
A complaint portal – a “snitch line,” as critics have called it – pushes that logic further still. It treats bike lanes not as what they actually are, a safe way to move through a city, but as a problem requiring the intervention of a provincial government. It’s hard to imagine another piece of everyday infrastructure being treated this way.
I bike most days in Calgary, often with my two young kids in the front box of my cargo bike. We’re usually on our way to daycare, playgrounds, friends’ houses or the grocery store – simply trying to get where we need to go safely, like countless people in cities across Canada.
When there’s a protected bike lane available, I use it. Calgary also has plenty of painted bike lanes, but paint is not protection like a concrete berm or curb. It may visually suggest a boundary, but it does nothing to physically separate me from vehicles many times my size.
To the people who use them, bike lanes are not the political flashpoint they’ve become. They’re infrastructure designed to solve a practical problem: How do we help more people move through increasingly busy cities? Even for those who never ride in them, there’s a benefit, as a bike trip often replaces a car trip, reducing traffic congestion.
Alberta’s transportation network has no shortage of serious safety problems demanding attention. Calgary recorded 38 traffic fatalities in 2025, including 15 pedestrians and two cyclists. The city’s fatal collision rate per 100,000 people has climbed steadily since 2021, and Edmonton is showing a similar pattern: in the provincial capital, 2025 was the deadliest year on the roads in a decade, with 32 fatal collisions.
Yet with traffic deaths climbing in both cities, the province didn’t build a portal for people to report dangerous intersections or reckless driving. It built one for bike lanes. The choice is especially curious from a government that regularly argues Ottawa should respect provincial jurisdictions. Municipalities spend years studying and consulting on transportation projects, but when those projects involve bike lanes, the province suddenly wants in.
Opinion: The bike lane debate isn’t a war on cycling – it’s a war on data
The portal isn’t the first attempt at this kind of override. Ontario’s government argued bike lanes were increasing congestion when it passed Bill 212, legislation that would have removed several protected bike lanes in Toronto. But the province’s Superior Court found that argument rested on “weak anecdotal evidence,” unsupported by expert consensus. Alberta may be creating its own version of evidence: a database of public complaints that can later be cited in support of removing bike lanes.
None of this is to suggest every existing bike lane in Alberta is perfect. Individual projects should be evaluated, and some may need to be improved. But those decisions should be guided by evidence and the expertise of transportation planners and engineers, not a dropdown menu. The Alberta government has already signalled the direction it wants to go in, and now it’s asking Albertans to help build the case.
For my family, bike lanes are simply how we get around Calgary together. My kids chatter from the front box of the cargo bike, pointing out every squirrel, bus and construction vehicle we pass. It’s one of my favourite parts of the day.
Somewhere in Alberta, a government employee is sorting through a spreadsheet of grievances about routes like the ones I take regularly. For most of the people using them, those bike lanes aren’t a problem to be solved. They’re just how people get where they need to go.