Construction begins on downtown cycletrack in Calgary

Construction is getting underway on Calgary's first downtown cycletrack.

The dedicated lane for cycle traffic will run along Seventh Street S.W. between the Peace Bridge and Eighth Avenue.

"This is important to cyclists," says the city's cycling co-ordinator Tom Thivener.

"This will be a facility that's more attractive to average people so the people that are not as confident to ride in traffic, in a bike lane next to a parked vehicle, they'll feel more comfortable on this facility so this is going to be much better for the average Calgarian."

The new lane will be physically separated from vehicle traffic and should allow all cyclistsfrom people who would normally be afraid to ride downtown to veteran cycliststo commute and ride more safely.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get a more predictable ridership with the bicyclists," says Thivener. "Right now it's a bit of a free-for-all."

More pieces of a downtown cycling network will be built in the coming years.

The first track is expected to open to cyclists in July and will cost roughly $1 million to build.