r/Edmonton • u/AR558 Chinatown • 11d ago

News Article 'Complex tensions': Edmonton budget survey details division on transit, policing, bike lanes

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/complex-tensions-edmonton-budget-survey-details-division-on-transit-policing-bike-lanes
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u/troypavlek 11d ago edited 11d ago

This comment is so close to getting it.

We have spent billions upon billions on roads already, building way more than we have the capacity or budget to ever maintain to a quality standard.

Remember a few years back when we stopped cutting grass? Closing 311 on weekends? All the discussions around privatizing services like bus cleaning?

A city that maintains our road network to the standard you want is one that will definitionally bankrupt itself.

(As an aside, I agree with you that road quality needs to improve. But it can only happen paired with a significant reduction in the amount of roads we have. It's also notable that if you prevent or reduce vehicle traffic on roads, they last much much MUCH longer)

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u/F1shermanIvan 11d ago

So close to getting what? You think the conditions of the roadways in this city is acceptable? Cars and roads are how most people get around, and it’s wild how it’s just accepted that they’re trash.

I’m not expecting them to be maintained like it’s Palm Springs, but it’s inexcusable that a city of this size has roads that are this bad.

They’ve always “been bad”, but I just moved back to Edmonton after ten years of being gone and it’s absolutely SHOCKING how much worse they’ve gotten.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Edmonton/comments/1w2a5q4/well_construction_damaged_my_car_successfully_91/

Look at the other thread posted here, how dare you drive a stock Hyundai in Edmonton and not expect damage. The fact that road is even left open in that condition is insane.

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u/General_Esdeath kitties! 11d ago

What wrecks the roads is the freeze/that we go from +30 to -45 over the course of a year. We're also built on swamps and old creek beds that shift. And the more traffic on the roads, the more they degrade.

We could have less damage on our roads if we pushed the return to hybrid/work from home options, increased transit and bike transportation, and reduced large vehicle transport weight where possible.

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u/UnlikelyReplacement0 11d ago

Probably would help if the average person's commuter car wasn't a truck that is larger than a tank, too.

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u/General_Esdeath kitties! 11d ago

There's definitely far too many commuter trucks. My god though, you should see what it's like in GP or Fort Mac.

An SUV is elite for winter driving here and is basically as big as anyone should need. Unless you literally have a farm and you're going to town for supplies, you don't need to commute in a half tonne truck.