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Car-Free Streets

archited said:
^^^^ Move the bike lanes to the centre of the street -- how hard could that be! And then expand the sidewalk allowing for the development of kiosks on that expanded sidewalk -- hot dogs, bagels... GD -- the list is endless. Do you not think that this kind of street activation would set the scene for "more to come". Even if the existing lane picked up on linear kiosks with some planters, benches, etc. it would be better than leaving it as a wind tunnel of nothingness. BTW the word "Planning" implies a kind of future-think in its meaning -- I can't believe that you are so stuck on a non-starter argument -- it is this kind of thinking that holds the City back -- did you vote for Nickel?
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I think moving the two-way bike lane over to where the traffic lane is designated would be the best way to do it as you outlined.

Then lots of potential with the remaining space.
 
thommyjo said:
I think closing it to cars makes sense. AND I think it will mostly be quiet and barely used for years to come still.

We have lots of other awesome streets that are still pretty quiet. So I dont see the mostly ugly strip of 102ave quickly having a Renaissance. BUT, it still makes sense to close it to cars to prepare it for the future, vs allowing people to get used to having it again to drive on.

Projects like The Lot, The Backyard, Root107, the farmers market, El fresco, etc are all doing really good work and hopefully 102ave could attract similar things if this happens.

But im with Ian that we will need a lot more of the other factors to also improve (LRT completion, residential density DT, improved safety, transformed perception, winter place making, etc).

Lets close it as that can help the progress, but let's not exaggerate the success that will create in the next 5 years.

It'd rather see 104st closed to traffic tbh. And 124st/whyte put on a serious road diet first. Those areas are already primed for pedestrian success. 102ave is still in early days.
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a little off topic but man, 124st seems so ripe for swapping the outside lanes of traffic for bike lanes. While they are traffic lanes currently, they are also available to be parked in (outside of rush-hour hours) but it always seems like its only 1 car parked every 50m or so. So not only is the lane unable to be driven in, because you would have to constantly veer in and out based on parked cars, but the road is never even full of parking! Just make it a bike lane and watch as 124st becomes even more of a destination than a thoroughfare. Although even if it was full of parked cars at all times, that will still be an example of how to greatly underutilize road infrastructure, as a parking lot.
 
cloney said:
a little off topic but man, 124st seems so ripe for swapping the outside lanes of traffic for bike lanes. While they are traffic lanes currently, they are also available to be parked in (outside of rush-hour hours) but it always seems like its only 1 car parked every 50m or so. So not only is the lane unable to be driven in, because you would have to constantly veer in and out based on parked cars, but the road is never even full of parking! Just make it a bike lane and watch as 124st becomes even more of a destination than a thoroughfare. Although even if it was full of parked cars at all times, that will still be an example of how to greatly underutilize road infrastructure, as a parking lot.
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Yes please!
 
archited said:
^^^^ Move the bike lanes to the centre of the street -- how hard could that be! And then expand the sidewalk allowing for the development of kiosks on that expanded sidewalk -- hot dogs, bagels... GD -- the list is endless. Do you not think that this kind of street activation would set the scene for "more to come"? Even if the existing lane picked up on linear kiosks with some planters, benches, etc. it would be better than leaving it as a wind tunnel of nothingness. BTW the word "Planning" implies a kind of future-think in its meaning -- I can't believe that you are so stuck on a non-starter argument -- it is this kind of thinking that holds the City back -- did you vote for Nickel?
Click to expand...
Let's redesign something that isn't even open and without a chance to see how it functions as designed!
 
Let's not forget the elephant in the room that hasn't even started operation yet, 102 Avenue will always have the noisy LRT going through it for the rest of our lives. Having said that, movement is going in the right direction with the removal of 3 lanes of vehicle traffic and the addition of dedicated bike lanes. It would be wise to wait till the LRT is in operation and see how things go for a year before deciding to make the entire street (minus LRT) pedestrian friendly. Most importantly, everything hinges on getting the owners of Edmonton City Centre mall to open the building up to the street. Failure to do so will make this solution in search of a problem a waste of our time. One more thing, keeping that single lane open makes it possible to allow food trucks to park and serve food and it will be easy to temporarily close the street to cars on certain days like what is already done for farmer's markets...

Oh wait! There already is one nearby that can be expanded!
 
itom987 said:
Let's not forget the elephant in the room that hasn't even started operation yet, 102 Avenue will always have the noisy LRT going through it for the rest of our lives. Having said that, movement is going in the right direction with the removal of 3 lanes of vehicle traffic and the addition of dedicated bike lanes. It would be wise to wait till the LRT is in operation and see how things go for a year before deciding to make the entire street (minus LRT) pedestrian friendly. Most importantly, everything hinges on getting the owners of Edmonton City Centre mall to open the building up to the street. Failure to do so will make this solution in search of a problem a waste of our time. One more thing, keeping that single lane open makes it possible to allow food trucks to park and serve food and it will be easy to temporarily close the street to cars on certain days like what is already done for farmer's markets...

Oh wait! There already is one nearby that can be expanded!
Click to expand...
Low floor LRT is not noisy. If anything, it's immensely quieter than cars/buses/trucks...
 
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