Edmonton Construction 9 (2008-08)

[Coldrsx]

^^ to be honest i would prefer any low floor to continue from the new MacEwan LRT down 105ave then cut to 102ave down 124 or 121 to 102.

kick of the north edge

[Channing]

I would love to see a study on it since I don't actually know if it's be better or worse congestion wise. If we reduce the number turns off of our major roads (jasper, 104ave, 101st, 105st, 109 st) by reducing the number of 'shortcut' minor roads, you don't think we could reduce congestion? 104th and Jasper seem to be large enough for our E/W Traffic, and shutting down some N/S roads like 104th would just mean that people have to drive a block or two further to change direction.

I think 102nd is great for low floor because you can't close 104th, and it's far too wide for low floor down the center. You'll have to pick a side.

Wouldn't this look good on 102nd?

[noodlenoodle]

Where would the people in the Icons and Century get their access to their parkade if you shut down 102 in the core?

[Coldrsx]

^that's the thing.

unless you do a toronto style and have anything and everything on it, see king west.

[Channing]

Most of the N/S streets would have to remain open to 'local traffic' so that people could get into parkades and such. For places like Icon/Century, something would have to be done to allow for that local traffic to get into and out of the alley. At the moment, that's on 102nd, and in my idea may remain as such, but what if we make it 103rd so that they have to drive another block north to get out of the alley? (Meaning we have an alley crossing on 102nd @ 104th, and we'd make car the lowest priority)

[newfangled]

Sigh. I just want a bikelane for casual cyclists. And this type of discussion is exactly why I wish Henderson wouldn't try to combine it with the Jasper plan. If he thinks we need bikelanes downtown, then just paint a f*ing bikelane already.

Thankfully the Jasper plan at least has some sort of time constraint placed on it by the LRT station lifecycle, because otherwise it could go on forever.

[Kevin_foster]

^ Newf, would a bike lane from 107th/124th all the way down Jasper to, let's say.. the Quarters, or even Rowland Road, work? Really, a can of paint should do it

[tony0911]

Originally Posted by Channing

I would love to see a study on it since I don't actually know if it's be better or worse congestion wise. If we reduce the number turns off of our major roads (jasper, 104ave, 101st, 105st, 109 st) by reducing the number of 'shortcut' minor roads, you don't think we could reduce congestion? 104th and Jasper seem to be large enough for our E/W Traffic, and shutting down some N/S roads like 104th would just mean that people have to drive a block or two further to change direction.

I think 102nd is great for low floor because you can't close 104th, and it's far too wide for low floor down the center. You'll have to pick a side.

Wouldn't this look good on 102nd?

Good Lord, where would people park, we couldn't possible do something like this in Edmonton.

[Coldrsx]

^not to mention i see patios, style, and flare.

unpossible

[Kevin_foster]

The funny thing is about that pic, is alot of cities in Europe are like that. Roads likes that people still drive on, even though there are no lines and possibly even trains coming down the center

[Channing]

Yeah but in Europe I imagine people get out of the way of the trains. Here I can imagine Joe Albertan in his F350 expecting the train to go around him.

[newfangled]

Originally Posted by Kevin_foster

^ Newf, would a bike lane from 107th/124th all the way down Jasper to, let's say.. the Quarters, or even Rowland Road, work? Really, a can of paint should do it

Well, Jasper is the city's recommended bike route, which I think is dumb. Why mix bikes with onstreet parking, buses, and pedestrians? I don't want to make a political statement - I just want to get where I'm going, and not get hit.

103ave has no traffic on it. The intersection at 109st gets busy from 4:45-5:15, and that's it. It could easily lose a lane. 102 ave, in comparison has a fair number or transit routes, and sees much more traffic once you get into Oliver. 100ave would be great, except that the transition at 116 street will always be a mess (a bike flyover would be cool), east of 109 things get tight (although I think it could lose an eastbound lane), and it just sortof goes away east of 102 or 100 street.



The blue is what we already have. With the red (or any E-W route), we'd have pretty decent access to most the city. The west is a mess regardless, and the east has the Dawson bridge which is a little bumpy and hilly, but works.

But seriously, nobody would even notice a yellow line painted all the way down 30 blocks of 103ave. Drivers would probably just assume it's supposed to be there, and stay clear. With a video camera for documentation I'm sure there's a decent exhibit on guerrilla urbanism for the Canadian Centre for Architecture in there somewhere.

[IKAN104]

The silly thing is that most major roads already have an extra wide curb lane to make room for bikes. But most people don't know this because there are no pavement markings. How hard would it be to just paint a line to make the bike routes obvious?

[S_B_Russell]

Europe is full of pinko commies. Trust me. They only ride bikes because they can't afford full size trucks.

[CanadianCentaur]

Originally Posted by Channing

Yeah but in Europe I imagine people get out of the way of the trains. Here I can imagine Joe Albertan in his F350 expecting the train to go around him.

Or worse, expecting to be able to use the low-floor trackways like any other road!

[newfangled]

Originally Posted by IKAN104

The silly thing is that most major roads already have an extra wide curb lane to make room for bikes. But most people don't know this because there are no pavement markings. How hard would it be to just paint a line to make the bike routes obvious?

That's why I'm not impressed with Henderson's concern about bike lanes. The teensiest bit of political will could dramatically improve our bike lane situation, but instead the Jasper stuff is just playing politics.

[Simon Speichert]

In my experience, Jasper isn't that difficult to bike down - in rush hour I could go much faster than cars. You just have to keep your wits about you and not be one of the dim bulbs that bike with headphones on.

103 Ave would definitely be my preferred avenue for a bike lane. Realistically, between 111 and 124, 103 could be one-way westbound and 102 could be one-way east, with room for bike lanes on both.

[S_B_Russell]

My biggest problem with biking in Edmonton is that a lot of drivers don't watch for you. Here in Geneva I bike everywhere - mainly because traffic is bad, and there's nowhere to park once you get there, but also because there's bike lanes all-over the city and drivers actually watch out for cyclists. Most of the bike lanes aren't fancy, just painted yellow lines to demarcate between the car lane and the bike lane. It really wouldn't be hard for Edmonton to replicate - other than educating the city's drivers.

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by onishenko

Thanks Ken, and thanks for speaking some sense at a chaotic mess of a hearing.

Originally Posted by IKAN104

That was an awesome speech Ken. Thanks for saying the things that we've all been thinking but couldn't or wouldn't say quite so eloquently.

I hope the councillors all got hard copies of that too so they can read it over and over again.

Originally Posted by Jasper and one o nin

absolute gold, Mr Cantor. nice work

Originally Posted by edmontonenthusiast

ken, awesome speech. you have made some excellent points.

i'm glad to see those new retail spots popping up like coco and bistro praha. those places in oliver will really add 'more' to the area. and bistro praha will really increase foot traffic on 4th...i think. and that place on 101/whyte will also be nice as east whyte can use some more types of retail/restaurant/etc.

Originally Posted by Kevin_foster

Good speech Ken! Well put!!

thanks, but i would like to add - for those who did not speak for whatever reason - have you written to our twelve councilors and our mayor telling them what you think?

have your e-mailed our twelve councillors and our mayor telling them what you think?

and if not, WHY NOT?

if you don't think you can write something, copy something you agree with and say "this is what i agree with"... otherwise you better be happy with the result, regardless of the result.

[feepa]

Rising rising...








Uploaded on June 25, 2009
by jasonwoodhead23