Takin' it to the Streets -- an Edmonton Imperative

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Edmonton already has one pronounced example of a street makeover, that being 96th Street between Jasper Avenue and 104th Avenue in the heart of the Boyle Street area, more recently named The Quarters. Largely a failure in that it was intended to spur development in the Quarters and, while there have been minor successes there, the area remains largely unchanged. The City Farmers' Market seems to be floundering, the experimental revitalization of the Ernest Brown/Brighton Block and the Pendennis Hotel Block are both having leasing difficulties, the Quarters Hotel megastructure remains on hold (at a minimum) for several years, and there have been no significant new projects heralded for the area. Was the City investment in 96th Street and the adjacent Kinistinâw Park a wasted venture? And is the continued City investment in property along 103rd Avenue combined with the demolition of houses there an exercise in futility? Was COVID the primary event that upset the Quarters experimental apple-cart?
Regardless, the case can be made for Street improvement in aid of creating a better climate for development and, in particular, making a case for improving the Downtown Pedestrian environment. Taking the initiative one street at a time, 104th street from River Valley's edge to 104th Avenue is a good place to start.

 

[thommyjo]

I feel like with our current environment, we should be focusing investment around where there’s momentum. The warehouse park might be an exception to this rule as it’s truly revitalizing a whole area (hopefully). But the quarters, stony plain road, etc have been wastes. Meanwhile, jasper ave is taking 20 years to upgrade, the high level line isn’t happening, 104st feels crazy dated, whyte ave is in rough shape (but getting fixed up soon, yay!).

The Strathcona back alley and gateway improvements feel like a good example of meeting momentum with dollars.

124st and Victoria promenade would be good to get refreshes.

109st from university ave to 105ave could use some love to become a more urban corridor.

 

[buildings]

When I moved here in the early '80s, 96 street was a busy, bustling street filled with not-so-great hotels and bars but hey, it was filled with people. I don't recall what series of (unfortunate?) events led to the City deciding to buy up everything and bulldoze it flat. Once the City did that, it was a wasteland..well, I really don't need to go into it; everyone knows the outcome to present day. I don't believe that Covid did anything, positive or negative, to the area's revitalization; I can't recall any announced projects being shelved or outright scrapped. As is, there is no earthly reason for anyone other than immediate locals to wander the deserted street. The City's track record of social/civil engineering is bad....the Quarters. Fort Road. Blatchford. I believe the City's biggest mistake was not having a mega-project to jump start the area: kinda like the City of New York razing a large swath of the crappy Hell's Kitchen slum and producing the Lincoln Center. Who knows? maybe one of those blocks would be great to house an Opera House to go along with the Citadel RAM, EAG and Winspear.

 

[David A]

When I moved here in the early '80s, 96 street was a busy, bustling street filled with not-so-great hotels and bars but hey, it was filled with people. I don't recall what series of (unfortunate?) events led to the City deciding to buy up everything and bulldoze it flat. Once the City did that, it was a wasteland..well, I really don't need to go into it; everyone knows the outcome to present day. I don't believe that Covid did anything, positive or negative, to the area's revitalization; I can't recall any announced projects being shelved or outright scrapped. As is, there is no earthly reason for anyone other than immediate locals to wander the deserted street. The City's track record of social/civil engineering is bad....the Quarters. Fort Road. Blatchford. I believe the City's biggest mistake was not having a mega-project to jump start the area: kinda like the City of New York razing a large swath of the crappy Hell's Kitchen slum and producing the Lincoln Center. Who knows? maybe one of those blocks would be great to house an Opera House to go along with the Citadel RAM, EAG and Winspear.

Exactly, it used to be a seedy but lively area that has now turned into a very barren empty area. While the past negative impressions remain somewhat, the main reason people don't go there now, is there really is nothing there to go to.

Build something ... anything. Some affordable housing would be a start and make good sense with this areas proximity to downtown

 

[dunno]

I feel like with our current environment, we should be focusing investment around where there’s momentum. The warehouse park might be an exception to this rule as it’s truly revitalizing a whole area (hopefully). But the quarters, stony plain road, etc have been wastes. Meanwhile, jasper ave is taking 20 years to upgrade, the high level line isn’t happening, 104st feels crazy dated, whyte ave is in rough shape (but getting fixed up soon, yay!).

The Strathcona back alley and gateway improvements feel like a good example of meeting momentum with dollars.

124st and Victoria promenade would be good to get refreshes.

109st from university ave to 105ave could use some love to become a more urban corridor.

Is 104th Street dated? I dunno -- I get that it isn't the sharp, zippy lines we're used to from street improvements over the last decade-ish (like SPR, 96 St, Jasper) but I honestly still think 104th Street is one of the most pleasant streets to walk on in Edmonton, and the streetscape is a huge part of that. It's a bit more classic and warmer than the newer streetscapes, which I also don't mind, but I also like 104th Street's pedestrian realm mostly as-is. I'd much rather see Jasper Ave finished, improvements to 124th St, 109 Street (both sides of the river), Whyte, 103rd Ave, 100th Ave, 99 St, 118th Ave, 107 Ave, etc.

 

[dunno]

When I moved here in the early '80s, 96 street was a busy, bustling street filled with not-so-great hotels and bars but hey, it was filled with people. I don't recall what series of (unfortunate?) events led to the City deciding to buy up everything and bulldoze it flat. Once the City did that, it was a wasteland..well, I really don't need to go into it; everyone knows the outcome to present day. I don't believe that Covid did anything, positive or negative, to the area's revitalization; I can't recall any announced projects being shelved or outright scrapped. As is, there is no earthly reason for anyone other than immediate locals to wander the deserted street. The City's track record of social/civil engineering is bad....the Quarters. Fort Road. Blatchford. I believe the City's biggest mistake was not having a mega-project to jump start the area: kinda like the City of New York razing a large swath of the crappy Hell's Kitchen slum and producing the Lincoln Center. Who knows? maybe one of those blocks would be great to house an Opera House to go along with the Citadel RAM, EAG and Winspear.

There was a condo on the south side of Jasper/96th in the late 2000s next to the Russian Orthodox church that never happened. And next to that, the Aldritt Tower.

Boyle Street was razed due to boomtime plans for new development in the '70s and early '80s that crashed and burned with the market in the early '80s. The only stuff that came out was the new Chinese structures, like the seniors' residence.

 

[Romanov]

I feel like with our current environment, we should be focusing investment around where there’s momentum. The warehouse park might be an exception to this rule as it’s truly revitalizing a whole area (hopefully). But the quarters, stony plain road, etc have been wastes.

This has been my biggest gripe for quite some time. We don't have the foot traffic demand or tax base to be spreading ourselves thin when it comes to streetscape improvements. These pet projects to jump start street activity in less popular areas have failed. Build on the areas with the most potential, and make them undeniably pleasant. Whyte, jasper, 124. Not rocket science, but the city continues to fail at marketing Edmonton's strengths.

The strathcona back alley is a good example. Another success in my opinion was the work done to 118 (alberta) Ave a while back.

The biggest points of pain for me are the 1. random sections of jasper ave that are crumbling, 2. 124 street, especially at stoney plain and 107 Ave, 3. The obscene width of whyte Avenue road space (including some of the roads that intersect it) and the vehicle noise it creates, 4. Poorly maintained woonerf at rice howard way, 5. 109 St, if we could even just go down to two lanes each way it would do wonders.

 

[David A]

This has been my biggest gripe for quite some time. We don't have the foot traffic demand or tax base to be spreading ourselves thin when it comes to streetscape improvements. These pet projects to jump start street activity in less popular areas have failed. Build on the areas with the most potential, and make them undeniably pleasant. Whyte, jasper, 124. Not rocket science, but the city continues to fail at marketing Edmonton's strengths.

The strathcona back alley is a good example. Another success in my opinion was the work done to 118 (alberta) Ave a while back.

The biggest points of pain for me are the 1. random sections of jasper ave that are crumbling, 2. 124 street, especially at stoney plain and 107 Ave, 3. The obscene width of whyte Avenue road space (including some of the roads that intersect it) and the vehicle noise it creates, 4. Poorly maintained woonerf at rice howard way, 5. 109 St, if we could even just go down to two lanes each way it would do wonders.

One of my biggest gripes is how the city conflates proper routine maintenance, which it can't seem to do, with streetscape improvements. So, it lets things deteriorate until it has to do an big disruptive costly improvement, which of course it does not properly maintain, so in a few years we are just back where we started after wasting a lot of money and effort.

 

[The_Cat]

I think that some of the improvements don't need to be major. They could include:

(1) Putting up new lighting in certain areas. For example, 102A Avenue from 100 to 101 Street.

(2) Lighting up the bike lanes downtown.

(3) Extending 311 to problem areas with snow.

(4) Marking downtown with direction signs to points south of the the river, Old Strathcona, and QEII/Airport. Likewise, direction signs to Rogers Place would also be helpful from the south.

 

[Romanov]

One of my biggest gripes is how the city conflates proper routine maintenance, which it can't seem to do, with streetscape improvements. So, it lets things deteriorate until it has to do an big disruptive costly improvement, which of course it does not properly maintain, so in a few years we are just back where we started after wasting a lot of money and effort.

Maintenance does not reverse the course when it comes to design flaws of previous streetscape development iterations. Streetscaping renewals are still required to update connective infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of multimodal transportation. Maintenance can only take you so far - not that the city is doing a particularly good job with maintenance to begin with.

 

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Starting at the north end of 104th street -- the block north of 104th Avenue, I see a great opportunity here for a Pocket Park on the surface that pays homage to some of Edmonton's outstanding Sports Luminaries and at the same time buries the Street with exclusive underground access to the Arena and to sub-level parking adjacent to the arena and to the apartment buildings to the west. 104th Avenue is an obstacle to pedestrian flow with its many lanes of vehicular traffic so I could envision an architectural masterpiece of a bridge that has broad circular glass-enclosed ramps at either end to encourage exploration of "the other side". The bridge itself would be less of a conveyance mechanism and more of an explorer's wonderland with integral LED lighting, planting features, and benches that enable viewing of the Neon Museum (south ramp area ) and the Park and the Arena Building (north ramp area). Each of the circular ramp areas would resemble atria with climate controlled spaces abundantly planted and accessible for disabled and bicycles. The attached Plan locates the main elements -- also street views are added to enhance context.

View looking south from 105th Avenue (Google Image before the arena was built)

View looking north from 104th Avenue

 

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Pedestrian bridges over obstacles like 104th Avenue can be very creative, architecturally speaking. Here are some built examples that make the case...

 

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The Sports Stars Park could feature Edmonton Notable Eras -- the CFL stars of the Jackie Parker era -- 1954, '55, and '56 when Edmonton won three Grey Cups in a row; The Tom Wilkinson/Warren Moon era when the Esks won five Grey cups in a row; The Edmonton Oilers Wayne Gretzky/Mark Messier era when five Stanley cups visited our City over a span of 6 years; the Edmonton Grads Women's basketball team with a 28 year record of 96%-plus wins; and recognition of the current Oilers crew and their aspirational goal to win a Stanley cup and perhaps start a new dynasty. Individual standouts could be featured in holographic form around the park -- interactive putting control in smart-phone apps...

Usain Bolt posing.
These are action holograms and as a bonus they could be downloaded to individuals' smart phones (income generators).

 

[archited]

The circular Atria can fit into the warehouse district design idiom by using a Victorian glass form and a centre-supported concrete ramp. The centre structural support could also be a starting point for a waterfall-type fountain. The ramp shown here would have to have somewhat narrower pedways to work into the Atrium-structural form and I would see built-in seating forms along the exterior edge of the ramp to allow comfortable viewing of the Neon Museum on the south end and the Sports Pocket Park on the north end.

 

[archited]

Okay, so if we have an elite Sports Pocket Park with interactive holographic panels of sports figures past and present using AI to regenerate persons no longer with us combined with heyday versions of those who are still around -- and we have outdoor big screen versions of historic plays (hockey, football, etc.) -- and we have bronzed life-size statuary of team "huddles" along with view seating and a network of ice-free paths (year round) interspersed with planting groupings that underscore the True North then we probably have an "event space" that will draw local Edmontonians and visitors alike. An audience that will also take in the Neon Museum and the unique Bridge and Victorian Atria that connect the two. By the way the methodology to keep pathways and seating free of snow and ice is a simple sub-surface heating mechanism that is engaged by a tandem pair of sensors that measure temperature and humidity, sensing when to engage heating prior to an imminent snowfall or rainfall so that both sublimate before they hit the surface -- there is a whole detailed design idiom that can be illustrated here -- so the system only engages during precipitation events. We could also have overhead heaters for spaces that are either seating view stations or standing areas in front of displays -- these would look like this...