Council needs to pay attention to the majority of residents
By Lethbridge Herald on July 20, 2024.
Editor:
Our council has spent many thousands of our dollars to install bike lanes along 4th Avenue in the downtown area which are rarely, if ever, used. Meanwhile many potholes from two winters ago remain and are simply getting bigger. The potholes from the past winter remain just that – potholes. We are now halfway through this summer so can someone please tell me when two winter’s worth of potholes might be fixed? At present we have to swerve from side to side simply to avoid this negligence.
Not impressed.
Would our council please pay attention to the majority and not to yet another vocal minority?
Richard Tamkin
Lethbridge
7-6
Some of those potholes were patched, but the patch failed. I think they need to rethink the changes they have made in patching potholes.
There are some very good blends of ‘tack’ which help bind the patch that should be considered and it appears that some of the new blends in the asphalt are not as resilient. I know they have been trying to recycle old asphalt removed, crushed and then blended with new . . . maybe that blend needs a little finer tuning?
I agree about the bike lanes . . . I see people (not the druggies) riding on the sidewalks right beside the lanes or on the street or on the streets of avenues 1 block over, rather than using them. But I also see several people with electric wheelchairs riding in the driving lanes.
While I’m not too concerned about anecdotes about what people see (many people still claim the 7th ave bike boulevard is hardly used, which is blatantly false), but I can offer some explanations of what you’ve seen.
If I’m riding on the sidewalk right beside the bike lane, it’s usually because I’m going in the direction opposite the lane to a business on that street. Generally this is only for the last block or two before my destination, because it’s more time consuming to cross the street, ride in the lane in the correct direction, then cross again. Of course I ride at walking speed when doing so, because I’m intruding in pedestrian spaces.
If I’m riding on the street 1 block over, it’s because I’m going somewhere on the street one block over. I don’t think that one should really require explanation. It’s the same reason you might drive on 2nd ave even though 3rd ave is a major motor vehicle traffic artery. Like motorists, cyclists cannot teleport.
If I’m riding in the sidewalk , it’s to increase my chances of staying alive
In spite of claims from some members of council that there is a secret silent majority that hate bike lanes, the majority of citizens surveyed were in favour of adding bike lanes. Luckily for your cause, cyclists hate potholes even more than motorists, so we won’t back any reduction in pothole repairs.
There isn’t a city on earth that doesn’t have problems with potholes, because maintaining a road network is a hard problem. If you had enough staff and equipment to patch them all as soon as spring started, you’d be wasting those resources most of the year. You can’t have fiscal responsibility and “no potholes ever” at the same time. Despite constant whining, Lethbridge has settled on the same balance as every other city – crews that triage potholes based on severity without wasting money on people who will spend most of the year bored. And no, all the silly armchair engineers saying “you just need to patch them better” is not the solution.
If you want a real solution to potholes, you need to reduce the number that form in the first place. You do this by having less asphalt overall, and fewer heavy vehicles wearing that asphalt down. Can you think of a vehicle that is far lighter than even a small car, and requires much narrower lanes (therefore less asphalt)?
I’ll give you a hint – they have 2 wheels, the vast majority of people already own one, and cities everywhere are building dedicated lanes for them, because fear of sharing the road with heavy cars is the main reason people don’t use them more.
while bikes are the best answer in terms of weight and least impact on not just roads, but the planet, relative to motorised vehicles…one might also suggest the weight of trucks and suvs, widely unnecessary choices, are a good bit more damaging all the way around relative to most cars.
Agree on the weight Biff, outlaw EV’s due to excessive weight. Bet the virtue signallers didn’t see that coming. To the smart cars, Batman.
What do you mean “didn’t see that coming”? You’re certainly not the first person to think of this. The higher weight of EVs is discussed constantly, and is a major drawback.
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EVs produce fewer lifetime carbon emissions than equivalent ICE cars, even accounting for weight, but just switching every ICE car for an EV isn’t nearly as big of a win as we could achieve by replacing some cars with bikes, public transport, or much smaller cars.
You missed my point before you went in the rant. Point wasn’t the virtue signallers (eco warriors) wouldn’t mention the weight of their EV’s. Lol. Calm down.
“All the gold which is under or upon the earth is not enough to give in exchange for virtue.” Plato
fine quote. i will add all the gold in the world is not worth a cup of clean water, nor a bucket of clean soil, and amounts to an abomination on human and beast alike. a classic example of how ego needs so often trump common sense…and virtue.
i recall kent brockman giving the news shortly after gold was discovered in springfield, all bedazzled in gold…like pro athletes these days all spangled in massive gold chains and earrings….stating: ‘thanks, mayor simpson. because of you, we’re all taking golden showers.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/yn6k0m/thanks_mayor_simpson_because_of_you_were_all/?rdt=42631
i too felt the crux of your point maybe was missed by keilan. i am feeling the most of us come on here to share a position with which we are too stuck on, rather than simply to share our perspectives back and forth in the hope of a better uncovering of truth. seems to me there is significant opportunity for us all to maybe use this forum to help us grow in that department…i have been trying, but at times old habits still come to the fore. takes more than one lifetime for a soul to consistently own ego.
well stated, robin. the lighter we tread, the less heavy our burden.
Absolutely, it’s all about using the right tool for the right job. Bikes are fantastic, but there is a lot of room for improvement between “using an F350 to pick up your kids from school” and “exclusively riding a bike”. I’m hoping we see some alternatives to the cheap lightweight Chinese EVs in Canada eventually. You can get a 4-door EV with a 405 km range and a max speed of 130 km/h for $12000 USD in China – that’s plenty for most people, and the money you save could easily pay for the occasional truck/SUV rental when you do need one.
great points.
12k US plus 100% tariff x 1.37 exchange and you have a far different picture.
And those two-wheelers don’t pay any road tax, but still demand dedicated lanes and pothole repairs.
+18 –
this entry is not your finest moment here.
I guess they are too busy worrying about their workload…not enough time for potholes in a 20-hour week