New bike skills park in river valley gets green light from Edmonton city council

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 02, 2025 4:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The Edmonton Mountain Bike Alliance has received the last approvals needed from metropolis assembly successful bid to commencement gathering a skills parkland connected the tract of a erstwhile wastewater attraction works successful Queen Elizabeth Park.

The EMBA has called the determination a large triumph for Edmonton riders.

"Next stop: shovels successful the ground!" the radical said successful a societal media station Wednesday.

The escaped park, intended to beryllium a spot wherever upland bikers tin larn and practise skills, volition see trails, a looped asphalt way and an country for jumps. 

The $1.2-million task has been funded done donor contributions and grants from the municipal and provincial governments.

Eleven assembly members voted to o.k. the skills parkland connected Wednesday morning, with Jo-Anne Wright and Karen Principe, who correspond Ward Sspomitapi and Ward tastawiyiniwak, respectively, voting against it. 

Principe said she thinks that the park volition beryllium a fantastic summation to the metropolis but she was not convinced the location, southeast of the Walterdale Bridge, was the close spot for it and Wright made akin comments during the assembly meeting. 

"Other locations truly haven't been considered that mightiness beryllium really adjacent much accessible for people," she said. 

City assembly approved a maestro program for Queen Elizabeth Park, which included a motorcycle skills park, successful 2013.

Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford said earlier the ballot that assembly should respect the determination that was made past due to the fact that pivoting astatine the past infinitesimal would make distrust and uncertainty for assemblage members who person been moving connected the project.

The Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition has argued the parkland would beryllium destructive and launched a petition asking assembly to find a much ecologically dependable determination for it. As of Wednesday, the group's petition had much than 500 supporters.

Kristine Kowalchuk told CBC News connected Wednesday the conjugation is highly disappointed with the metropolis assembly decision, calling it "another large stroke to the stream valley."

A caller metropolis study said an biology interaction appraisal identified immoderate imaginable biology impacts from the task but estimated the cumulative impacts to beryllium debased to moderate. 

A tract determination survey concluded the skills parkland would not origin important biology impacts.

Rutherford said directing bikers to a circumstantial country could assistance support the stream vale by reducing usage connected unauthorized trails. 

"There are areas I'd similar to spot wholly blocked disconnected from bikers truthful that determination tin beryllium restoration and naturalization successful different parts of the stream valley, but I deliberation successful bid to bash that, you request to springiness radical a abstraction to go," she said.