Back to School - Safer Ways to Get There in Riverbend
- Jackie Liu
- Sep 18
- 3 min read
In so many ways, September truly is the start of the “new” year. There aren’t fireworks and ball-drops in public squares, but these first weeks of back-to-school are every bit as monumental. So many festivals and community events during the last beautiful days of summer, and fall colours and crisp air are a treat each morning.
For our family, taking our kids to school has always been a joy. Whenever possible, we try to drop the kids off ourselves - those extra few minutes to form a connection, whether it is chatting about lessons, debating the news on the radio, or allowing some steam to be blown off (school is an emotional place for our little ones!). Our preferred method to get to school would be by bike - we live just outside of walking range of our children’s schools, but it is an easy distance to ride. It is a trip that we do all summer long - many playgrounds are visited, and many a slushee has been spilled over the handlebars of our bikes. Unfortunately, that same bike ride becomes just a bit more difficult during the busyness of the school year.
Every family who attends one of the SIX schools in the Riverbend area, and all neighbhours, can attest to the traffic volume. This congestion around our schools is a striking example of the growing pains we’re experiencing as a result of Edmonton’s rapid growth. Particularly in the southwest, the expansion of communities south of the Henday (Windermere, Keswick, etc.) has a massive impact on the daily experiences of Riverbend residents. Many commuters access the same Terwillegar Drive corridor to get to other parts of the City, and many of their children attend schools in the Riverbend area due to the lack of available nearby classroom spaces. The Ragg, and the community league, have talked about Tempo before, but it's not just private schools - it’s every school in the area. Imagine the pain of finding the perfect home in the perfect community within walking distance to great schools, and then not being able to attend that school due to overcapacity. Now, your morning routine involves driving your child to a school 20-30 minutes (even longer in rush hour) from your home. This is the reality faced by many in our City now.
The City, along with the Developers and the Provincial government, needs to do a better job at planning new communities, ensuring they are fully equipped to deal with the needs of those residents when they move in - not a decade later. This must not however come at the expense of protecting and improving our established neighbourhoods.
One potential solution is the expansion of a multi-use path all the way along Riverbend Road. The current sidewalks that service the schools in the Riverbend area (as well as numerous daycares and preschools) were built in the 80’s. These sidewalks are great for foot traffic, but we need expansion to accommodate bikes, strollers, pets, and seniors. That same bike ride that is so easy in the summer is hazardous during the school year - pets, strollers, pedestrians all need access to those same paths, and there is just not enough space to pass. We’ve had several near misses swerving around people and pets, and also witnessed unfortunate incidents where bikes or people have been run off the sidewalk and into bushes or fences. If more people are able to bike, walk, or otherwise NOT drive to school, we will not only improve safety for our children and residents, but will alleviate some of the traffic along our streets. Divided bike lanes are a contentious topic in Edmonton, but multi-use paths should not be. They are inexpensive (costing no more than a standard sidewalk), easy for the city to maintain, and provide a safe alternative for our kids to bike, scoot, walk, run, and arrive at school safely.
The renewal of our sidewalk infrastructure isn’t going to fix everything, but it is an important step in the right direction. The growth of Edmonton is a big city problem, and every small solution helps the whole.
