Two years after the town repealed its golf cart bylaw, Coaldale is working with the province to pilot the use of golf carts on select municipal roads.
According to a release from the province, the Alberta government’s Transportation and Economic Corridors, officials are working with the Town of Coaldale to pilot the limited use of golf carts in the municipality. The idea of implementing the pilot is to help reduce congestion on the roads and make it easier for people to get around. Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, Devo Dreeshen says the pilot is an idea looking to the future when it comes to transportation-related solutions.
“Off-highway vehicles and e-bikes have been popular with Albertans for years, and pilot projects like this one hold the key to unlocking new modes of transportation for everyone,” Dreeshen says.
Coaldale will be one of the first towns to pilot the limited use of golf carts, and the pilot will be conducted over five years. Through the pilot, the province will have data from the everyday life of Albertans to help inform future policy decisions when it comes to allowing alternative modes of transportation on municipal roads.
Coaldale Mayor Jack Van Rijn says the pilot project is welcome news to the community as it will now allow council to pass a golf cart bylaw, which will allow those who live near a local golf course the opportunity to drive their carts to and from the course.
“It’s a win for everyone involved – Coaldale residents, municipal enforcement officers, our local golf course, Coaldale Town Council and the Government of Alberta,” Rijn says.
In June of 2022 Coaldale council repealed the original golf cart bylaw that was passed in 1987, at the time stating the town’s legal council found it inconsistent with the province’s traffic safety act. At the time Van Rijn said council “has a duty to uphold the laws of the land, and the Town’s legal counsel was very clear that the town’s golf course bylaw violated provincial statute. We had little choice but to repeal it.”
Three other provinces across the country already allow golf cart use on select municipal roads, including British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Along with Coaldale, six other communities across the province have also applied to be part of the pilot and other communities interested are being invited to submit bylaw proposals to Transportation and Economic Corridors for similar projects.
