103 Avenue Civic Precinct Renewal

[cent]

We have multiple options for more walkable, bikeable and urban streets in the area and sometimes need a few main arteries to remain primarily vehicular in focus.

I have a suggestion to this! Not sure if this has been planned or so but here: Convert 97 st from Jasper Ave to 118 ave as one-way northbound traffic then possibly narrowing the lanes down to three. The potential for adding bus/bike lanes and/or wider sidewalks especially for Chinatown. I think the same can be done with 101 St being the southbound traffic still coming from 118 ave to Jasper Ave. We have those roads in the south (Calgary Tr. and Gateway Blvd.) and somewhat over west (Stony Plain Rd and 100 Ave.). And I believe by doing this we can start looking at narrowing down 101 St between Jasper and 103a ave. that’s kinda separating Churchill Sq from the west side because of it. This could also potentially create a superblock right in downtown!

 

[BrettB]

There's a huge school of thought that one ways kill street life. Look at 102 Ave and 103 Ave in downtown Edmonton. They were bustling streets back when, but they died as one-ways and still suffer. Great for moving cars -- death for just about every other thing that makes a city great

 

[ChazYEG]

There's a huge school of thought that one ways kill street life. Look at 102 Ave and 103 Ave in downtown Edmonton. They were bustling streets back when, but they died as one-ways and still suffer. Great for moving cars -- death for just about every other thing that makes a city great

The number of cities around the planet that defy this "logic" is so high that I won't even bother listing.

There's also a paywall on this article you linked. Not paying for the Globe and Mail, thanks.

 

[JuliallThat]

There's a huge school of thought that one ways kill street life. Look at 102 Ave and 103 Ave in downtown Edmonton. They were bustling streets back when, but they died as one-ways and still suffer. Great for moving cars -- death for just about every other thing that makes a city great

I would think that as long as the pedestrian space is adequately sized and traffic adequately tempered, it doesn't matter what direction the cars are going. Often those older one-way urban roads were set up solely to focus on traffic throughput, and therefore it's unsurprising that street life would die on such a road.

 

[JuliallThat]

I have a suggestion to this! Not sure if this has been planned or so but here: Convert 97 st from Jasper Ave to 118 ave as one-way northbound traffic then possibly narrowing the lanes down to three. The potential for adding bus/bike lanes and/or wider sidewalks especially for Chinatown. I think the same can be done with 101 St being the southbound traffic still coming from 118 ave to Jasper Ave. We have those roads in the south (Calgary Tr. and Gateway Blvd.) and somewhat over west (Stony Plain Rd and 100 Ave.). And I believe by doing this we can start looking at narrowing down 101 St between Jasper and 103a ave. that’s kinda separating Churchill Sq from the west side because of it. This could also potentially create a superblock right in downtown!

I think on 97 St, Chinatown would be better served just by reducing the road to 2 through-lanes. The road is currently built as a "4-lane" road with off-peak parking, the shoulder lanes are excessively sized. There's a whole ton of space that could be reclaimed without needing to eliminate a travel direction, and I'm sure we could accommodate both a wider sidewalk and bicycle lanes by doing so.

 

[IanO]

97 north of the bridge works well, but south it is a bit of a freeway.... although the new portion looks amazing.

 

[trevorhayden]

Pedestrian spaces on 103 Avenue are mostly open now!

 

[IanO]

Nice to see them take advantage of this amazing fall and not carry much over to 2023.

 

[Avenuer]

 

[BrettB]

I like the road diet. Not a world-changing alteration, but to my eyes, it looks good.

 

[IanO]

Any bollards?

 

[Edmcowboy11]

Looks nice. Will be even better next season when any plants are planted.

 

[Avenuer]

Everything is done except for planting in the spring and installation of street furniture and to light standards.

 

[JNO1]

A street level shot. There is so much sidewalk on the north side fronting the Churchill. If “they” don’t find a way to activate that space with more than just benches and planters it will be such a waste. The Co E space at the west end of the main floor of Churchill needs to be converted to a good bar/restaurant with a patio. Also, the “pharmacy” at the NE corner where I took the picture needs to go. Without activation and connection to the ground floor spaces in the Churchill, MNP Tower and the City Center apartment building, this will just be yet another fruitless exercise to bring life to a dead street.

 

[JuliallThat]

A street level shot. There is so much sidewalk on the north side fronting the Churchill. If “they” don’t find a way to activate that space with more than just benches and planters it will be such a waste. The Co E space at the west end of the main floor of Churchill needs to be converted to a good bar/restaurant with a patio. Also, the “pharmacy” at the NE corner where I took the picture needs to go. Without activation and connection to the ground floor spaces in the Churchill, MNP Tower and the City Center apartment building, this will just be yet another fruitless exercise to bring life to a dead street.
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I really disagree. It's nice to have the space when you have a need to activate it, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with just creating large pedestrian focused spaces that don't have a specific purpose beyond being available and airy. Let's make a contrast: For decades the default solution to an excessive ROW has been mostly one of two things; More car space (wider lanes, wider shoulders, more lanes, more parking, etc) even when the road has no such need, or a very wide but ultimately useless grassy median. In Urban areas in particular, but more so any place we would expect or want human beings to actually exist, we should prioritize using excessive ROW for pedestrianization, massive sidewalks and mini-plazas like this. If they get activated in 40 years, great! If the space stays empty like this forever, well that's better than it being wasted on parking and freeway sized car lanes in a space that has no need for that. It's about making clear what the priority of our urban spaces actually are.