With great challenges come great solutions.
Could Saskatoon adopt the attitudes and requisite proposals articulated in the following two articles? I have been lead to believe it is certainly possible.
That these progressive ideas are receiving such attention from the mainstream media as of late can mean one of two things: a fleeting focus on the latest social fad
OR the birth of a new, visionary agenda via disruption of our fundamental understanding of what it means to build a community.
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Pressing need to make streets bike-friendlier
The Star Phoenix September 8, 2009
A tragic confrontation between a motorist and a cyclist, such as the one that resulted in the violent death of bike messenger Darcy Sheppard in Toronto last week, could easily be imagined on the streets of Saskatoon.
Former Ontario attorney-general Michael Bryant was arrested in Toronto after Mr. Sheppard was in an alleged confrontation with a driver of a black Saab convertible that ended with Mr. Sheppard gripping the car as it careered along the street.
Witnesses said the car was steered into oncoming lanes and Mr. Sheppard was dragged along, striking trees and a mailbox before hitting the ground. He was left bleeding in the street and died later in hospital. Mr. Bryant was charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death, but is proclaiming his innocence.
As more details of the incident filtered out through the week, cyclists in Toronto held memorials and protests that called attention to the increasing frequency of car-bike confrontations, where no matter how the incident begins, the bike is destined to lose.
Here in Saskatoon, where more than 5,000 residents cycle to work every day (around 2.5 per cent of the population, and the second-highest rate in Canada), bikes and cars are forced to mingle on many busy streets.
Our city's cycling plan has few routes where cyclists are separated from drivers -- in fact, the bulk of the recently adopted plan consists of lane markings that remind drivers to share certain lanes downtown with bicycles. Adding more cyclists into an already congested traffic pattern in a city where road rage incidents are increasing in frequency isn't the ideal solution, but appears to the be the best the city can do with limited resources.
Or is it?
Danish architect Jan Gehl, on his visit to Saskatoon last week, pointed out that the bike lanes on streets such as Fourth Avenue should be located between the parked cars and sidewalk, instead of between the parked cars and traffic, so the parked cars protect the cyclists from motorists.
"Cycling should not be an extreme sport, but for everybody," he said. "What I've seen so far, this city has the potential to be one of the greatest cities of Canada," said Gehl, who delivered two sold-out lectures at Persephone Theatre.
Other suggestions Gehl had for Saskatoon included adding bike lockers to the planned new bus mall, where commuters could safely leave their bikes, as well as creating a place to rent city-owned bikes.
It's not only downtown where cycling safety is an issue. Dedicated bike lanes that separate motorists from cyclists are needed throughout the city.
A look at a map of Saskatoon's "cycling network" (available on the city's website) looks good on paper, but for a daily bike commuter, translates into a majority of time spent darting in and out of traffic mixed with thinly spread intervals of relative tranquility on the dedicated or mixed-use trails.
The city recently established a $2-million bicycling infrastructure fund for things such as extending and creating more paths -- a welcome and long-overdue move. The city has been touting its vision for denser, more pedestrian-friendly suburbs, and integrating already-existing neighbourhoods into this vision is going to take effort and cold, hard cash.
But it's also going to take an increased level of appreciation and mutual respect, for both motorists and cyclists, to make our city more bike friendly. The downtown lane markings are one small step toward this goal.
Let's hope bigger steps come more quickly.
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"Democracy cannot be maintained without its foundation: free public opinion and free discussion throughout the nation of all matters affecting the state within the limits set by the criminal code and the common law."
-The Supreme Court of Canada, 1938
© Copyright (c) The Star Phoenix
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It's time to close the Buckwold Bridge
By Paul Hanley, The Star Phoenix September 8, 2009
The Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge should be closed. I have thought so for years, but never dared raise such a crazy idea. Here's what gives me the chutzpah now.
First, the City of Saskatoon actually tore down an on-ramp to the bridge last summer. I was pleasantly shocked city hall would do something so radical. The wisdom of their decision is now evident for all to see: The alternative approach is considerably more attractive -- and in many ways more convenient -- than the ramp. It also opens up 19th Street and connects the east and west of south downtown.
Second, the city is about to go ahead with the South Bridge that will close the loop of semi-Circle Drive. I am normally opposed to new highways and bridges, since there is no evidence they actually reduce traffic congestion. In this case, however, a new bridge would reduce traffic flow, especially heavy truck traffic, through the city's core -- which would also make it possible to retire the existing bridge.
Third, Jan Gehl said it's a good idea. Gehl is the wise, funny urban planner/revolutionary from Copenhagen who wowed packed houses (including Mayor Don Atchison and four city councillors) during his two-night stand at the Frank & Ellen Remai Arts Centre last week. The fact that an urban planner can fill a good-sized theatre in Saskatoon two nights in a row -- and get back-to-back standing ovations -- was a surprise in itself. What he showed us about the potential to create wonderful, people-oriented cities was inspiring. (Find out about him and his work at
www.gehlarchitects.com.)
Gehl helps cities become better, more enjoyable, "sweeter" places to live. He was instrumental in making Copenhagen one of the world's most livable and green cities, and is advising major cities such as Melbourne and New York on adopting similar measures. The results, not just in terms of livability, but also in terms of environmental performance, could only be described as incredible. Green cities are not dour, spartan places; they are the best places to live on this planet.
Gehl is also working in small cities, including one in Greenland, so he easily deflected comments that you can't do things like get everyone walking and riding bikes and enjoying street life in a cold, small community such as Saskatoon.
One of Gehl's main tenets is the need to reclaim cities from cars. Cars essentially took over cities in the 1950s and '60s, making them unpleasant places for people to create community and culture. But some cities are being re-conquered by people and Saskatoon is well suited to be one of them.
Gehl noted it has been proven worldwide that you can't reduce traffic congestion by increasing the amount of asphalt. You just end up with more people driving on your new roads and bridges. If you do build a new road and bridge, he said, you should eliminate another.
Gehl cited the example of San Francisco, which lost some of its major freeways during the 1989 earthquake. Everyone was in a panic about how people would move around. After a couple of months, traffic sorted itself out and traffic engineers found it possible to design replacement roads that were much smaller and less obtrusive than the originals.
The Buckwold Bridge and freeway were not a positive addition to this city. The freeway south of the bridge runs through some of the best residential real estate in Saskatoon. The utilitarian bridge detracts from the character of the riverfront. And the route pulls a lot of heavy, noisy traffic right into the centre city. The part that should be, as Gehl puts it, the city's throbbing heart has become hard and ugly.
One option is to remove the current bridge. Another would be to turn it into a garden bridge for pedestrians, bikes, buses and future light rail. Idylwyld could be redeveloped as a low-volume street with generous bike lanes, sidewalks and treed boulevards.
As Gehl said, Saskatoon's wide streets are an asset. They are ideal places to re-create our sense of community, but only if they are turned into places that are "sweet to people."
© Copyright (c) The Star Phoenix
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