Nov 2, 2026
Edmonton homeowners already swallowed a 6.9% property tax increase this year. Now city staff have attached a price tag to a provincial bill that hasn’t even been tabled yet: ripping out existing bike lanes at a cost of $150 million to $170 million.
Alberta’s government is preparing legislation that could give it the power to approve new bike lanes and remove existing ones. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has already done the same in Toronto.
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Whatever you think of bike lanes, the money for putting them up or tearing them down comes from taxpayers. The real question for your household budget is which tax bill it shows up on.
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Where does Edmonton’s estimate come from?
The figure comes from an internal email that city administration sent to council earlier this month, obtained by CBC News. It’s based on a high-level review of bike lanes and active transportation infrastructure built between 2014 and 2026, limited to projects where travel lanes were affected. In other words, it’s a rough early estimate, not an actual tendered cost.
Coun. Thu Parmar, who requested the estimate, said a $170 million removal would amount to a 6.8% tax increase for that one single project. For context, the city’s 2026 increase works out to about $245 more for an average home assessed at roughly $465,500. A comparable one-time levy would land in a similar range, though council could also borrow, draw on reserves or cut elsewhere.
Parmar also opposes building more bike lanes, noting that most people who live in Edmonton drive. Coun. Michael Janz sees a different trade-off: removal would mean the city “can’t afford to build a new library, a new rec centre.”
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Who foots the bill? The province or the city?
Nobody knows yet. Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen told CBC the province backs bike infrastructure that is well planned, safe and doesn’t reduce capacity on the roads, but didn’t say whether it will ask Edmonton to remove existing lanes.
Columnist Rick Bell has reported that under the new law, the city would be responsible for removing any bike lanes. At this fall’s Alberta Municipalities convention, Edmonton Coun. Aaron Paquette asked Dreeshen directly whether the province would pay for any bike lane removals. The legislation is expected within weeks.
What does Ontario’s fight reveal about the real price tag?
Ontario’s handling of bike lanes shows that a province covering the bill doesn’t resolve the question of cost. The province promised to pay for removal but according to Global News, they didn’t agree to pay for soft costs like staff planning time or the money spent on the original installation.
Toronto spent about $27 million installing the targeted lanes and estimated removal at about $48 million. The province disputes that figure but hasn’t released its own. Premier Doug Ford called Toronto’s estimate “a bunch of hogwash.”
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On Aug. 14, 2026, Ontario’s Court of Appeal unanimously ruled there is no constitutional right to bike lanes, and crews began removing a 1.2-kilometre stretch on Bloor Street West a couple of months later, on Oct. 13.
The takeaway for Albertans is that even if the province pays, the cost lands on provincial taxpayers, and early estimates can swing widely.
What’s the case for removal?
Those who support removal of the bike lanes frame it as an economic fix. The Ontario government has repeatedly said gridlock costs the province’s economy more than $56 billion a year, including in its response to the appeal ruling. That figure comes from a Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis (CANCEA) report cited in the province’s 2026 budget. The CANCEA report was commissioned by two Ontario construction industry groups, and only $12.8 billion of the total reflects direct economic losses. In Alberta, Dreeshen has argued that converting a driving lane to a bike lane helps a relatively small share of commuters, which he pegged at about 2%, at drivers’ expense
Alberta’s online feedback portal drew more than 14,000 submissions, though its preset options list only concerns, not benefits.
Mayor Andrew Knack frames the issue as one of affordability. Spending up to $170 million to “tear up work that’s already been done” is a cost every Edmonton budget line would feel.
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Leslie Kennedy served as an editor at Thomson Reuters and for Star Media Group, followed by a number of years as a writer and editor and content manager in marketing communications, before returning to her editorial roots. She is a graduate of Humber College’s post-graduate journalism program and has been a professional writer and editor ever since.
