Saskatoon Construction II

[casper]

Originally Posted by skSK

Now, only when College (and the city as a whole) becomes better served by (and more used to using) a transit system do I see the transformation of this area into a more dense, mixed-use area as feasible. It's either that or these developers sink more money into more underground parking or parking structures in the immediate vicinity. Anyway, I think the same things would apply to Cumberland as well.

Honestly, the university (and college) is better served by transit that almost any other part of the city outside of Downtown.

[The S'toon Goon]

CFL in Saskatoon? My short answer would be 'Yes, it would work!'

But there are major factors that come in to play and all of these stars would need to be aligned perfectly for it too happen.

-Commissioner and the league (more specifically the Riders) need to get on board
-A stadium would need to be built
-An owner would need to be found (Maybe community owned, but teams don't usually start out that way.

I would support and embrace a local team, but who knows if or when the above things will align.

[The S'toon Goon]

Does anyone know the costs associated with turning an existing intersection into a traffic circle? Nothing comes cheap, but I'd be interested to know how feasible it would be to have a traffic circle installed at 33rd and Spadina. During rush hour the intersection certainly slows down the commute and this could help. Also the current intersection is a complete eye sore and I wouldn't care all that much, except that it is right beside the river where tourists and locals often convene. It just might look better on the city to have some more pleasing to the eye there. Obviously, this has got to be pretty low on the priority list, but if there isn't a ridiculous price tag, maybe the monies could be lined up?

[skSK]

Originally Posted by casper

Honestly, the university (and college) is better served by transit that almost any other part of the city outside of Downtown.

My comment wasn't about how well served the area is right now (although I agree that yes it is one of the better served areas), it's about users from around the city being able to get on a bus to get there (ideally, faster than they could with their own vehicle) or, as I said, finding new places to put their vehicles. There are already many buses on College because there are students getting on and off at the university, but in order to get mixed use buildings on College and Cumberland, what these businesses need is their client base to follow them there. So, transit needs to get better (i.e. become more appealing to the average citizen) or more parking facilities are needed in order to bring in enough people to support these businesses being there. College is already busy enough that I think the former is really the only option; better to have a BRT lane with more buses than more vehicles jamming up the street by turning on or off it to park at one of these businesses.

[skSK]

Originally Posted by The S'toon Goon

Does anyone know the costs associated with turning an existing intersection into a traffic circle? Nothing comes cheap, but I'd be interested to know how feasible it would be to have a traffic circle installed at 33rd and Spadina. During rush hour the intersection certainly slows down the commute and this could help. Also the current intersection is a complete eye sore and I wouldn't care all that much, except that it is right beside the river where tourists and locals often convene. It just might look better on the city to have some more pleasing to the eye there. Obviously, this has got to be pretty low on the priority list, but if there isn't a ridiculous price tag, maybe the monies could be lined up?

Here's the city's recommendations for Preston:

http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/Infr...commendationsofPrestonAvenueCorridor.pdf

Looking at the proposed pricetags for roundabouts at Preston and Main and Preston and 7th, I'd say you're looking at $300,000. According to the master plan for 33rd Street upgrades, looks like there will be a roundabout installed at that intersection. Take a look here (last page of drawings):

http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/Infr...Cycling/Documents/MasterplanDrawings.pdf

[Dalreg]

Do drivers know how to use a roundabout? Call me old but I remember the traffic circle at Circle and Eight and it was a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 traffic mess...

[drm310]

The smaller roundabouts seem to be working well enough, although their are some drivers that still can't quite figure out that you have to yield to vehicles in the roundabout before you enter. You're also supposed to signal as you exit the roundabout, which I must admit I sometimes forget to do.

I didn't move here until after the giant traffic circle at Circle & 8th had been removed. However I did hear all kinds of horror stories from others who remember it.

Originally Posted by Dalreg

Do drivers know how to use a roundabout? Call me old but I remember the traffic circle at Circle and Eight and it was a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 traffic mess...

[skSK]

Originally Posted by drm310

The smaller roundabouts seem to be working well enough, although their are some drivers that still can't quite figure out that you have to yield to vehicles in the roundabout before you enter. You're also supposed to signal as you exit the roundabout, which I must admit I sometimes forget to do.

I didn't move here until after the giant traffic circle at Circle & 8th had been removed. However I did hear all kinds of horror stories from others who remember it.

I think I've got the hang of them but I wouldn't want to try the multilane ones you see in Europe. It would be like that scene from National Lampoon European Vacation where they're stuck on one for hours because he's too scared to exit.

[casper]

Originally Posted by skSK

I think I've got the hang of them but I wouldn't want to try the multilane ones you see in Europe. It would be like that scene from National Lampoon European Vacation where they're stuck on one for hours because he's too scared to exit.

I found the roundabouts in Saskatoon easy to use. You don't need to go to Europe the one in Victoria near the airport is a series of two multi-lane roundabouts connected to a highway interchange.

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayprojects/Hwy_17_McTavish_Interchange/
Video showing how it works: http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayprojects/Hwy_17_McTavish_Interchange/video/mctavish/index.html

One could consider something similar for the circle drive at the Saskatoon airport.... It takes some getting use to, but after that it is actually quite effective.

[Dalreg]

Originally Posted by drm310

The smaller roundabouts seem to be working well enough, although their are some drivers that still can't quite figure out that you have to yield to vehicles in the roundabout before you enter. You're also supposed to signal as you exit the roundabout, which I must admit I sometimes forget to do.

I didn't move here until after the giant traffic circle at Circle & 8th had been removed. However I did hear all kinds of horror stories from others who remember it.

Small ones are easy. Multi lane ones can be quite interesting. Biggest one I have come across is 3 lanes and six entrances/exits. But then it is probably 150 meters in diameter...

[Treesplease]

Originally Posted by casper

I found the roundabouts in Saskatoon easy to use. You don't need to go to Europe the one in Victoria near the airport is a series of two multi-lane roundabouts connected to a highway interchange.

http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayprojects/Hwy_17_McTavish_Interchange/
Video showing how it works: http://www.th.gov.bc.ca/highwayprojects/Hwy_17_McTavish_Interchange/video/mctavish/index.html

One could consider something similar for the circle drive at the Saskatoon airport.... It takes some getting use to, but after that it is actually quite effective.

Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵! What a cluster f___!! The Victoria airport traffic situation looks like a grade 12 science project gone bad. You shouldn't have to watch a 4 minute video before venturing out on the road. The animated video shows an aweful lot of weaving and heading in completely unintuitive directions to eventually get where you are going. I imagine it is marked very well but given the weaving and yielding and the short amounts of time you have to make turns you likely don't have much time to be gawking around at direction signs.

[scotty c]

Originally Posted by Treesplease

Holy 🞵🞵🞵🞵! What a cluster f___!! The Victoria airport traffic situation looks like a grade 12 science project gone bad. You shouldn't have to watch a 4 minute video before venturing out on the road. The animated video shows an aweful lot of weaving and heading in completely unintuitive directions to eventually get where you are going. I imagine it is marked very well but given the weaving and yielding and the short amounts of time you have to make turns you likely don't have much time to be gawking around at direction signs.

We've got family in Victoria so I've been out there a few times. The residents out there make it out to be much harder than it actually is. It's quite well marked and easy to navigate. Being from Saskatchewan I haven't had a lot of dealings with traffic circles and I didn't mind it at all. Perhaps I caught it at the right time and there wasn't a great deal of traffic. The Victoria airport is about 20 minutes outside of Victoria so unless your going to the Airport or the Ferry Terminal there isn't much up at that part of the island. Putting a big traffic circle on a main route in the city itself may lead to more issues as vehicle numbers increase.

[Echoes]

With the opening of the new Police HQ approaching, the City is currently marketing the sale of the current Police building and adjacent parking lot.

This is a large site in a central part of downtown. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this property.



Property listing on Colliers website: http://www.collierscanada.com/11340

[scotty c]

Originally Posted by Echoes

With the opening of the new Police HQ approaching, the City is currently marketing the sale of the current Police building and adjacent parking lot.

This is a large site in a central part of downtown. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this property.


Property listing on Colliers website: http://www.collierscanada.com/11340

Semi-related to this according to the city the 25th street extension should be opening a week from today on the 19th of November. I'm really interested to see what sort of changes in traffic flow result from this.

http://www.saskatoon.ca/FORUM/News%20Rel...RICTIONSLIFTEDSATURDAYNOVEMBER92013.aspx

[Echoes]

Councillors embrace plan for downtown

BY PHIL TANK, THE STARPHOENIX NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Saskatoon’s ambitious new city centre plan depends on making living downtown attractive for the white-collar workforce of the future, which will be mainly women, says a planning consultant.

City councillors generally embraced the plan to make downtown a more inviting place to live and visit with more public spaces and transportation options at Tuesday’s planning and operations committee meeting. The plan aims to build on the downtown’s strengths to increase core density as the city plans for a population of 500,000.

Simon O’Byrne, a municipal planner with the consulting firm Stantec, said getting more people to move downtown is the key to addressing concerns like crime and safety. O’Byrne also said education trends suggest white-collar workers will be predominantly female.

“If you increase the residential population, the streets feel safer,” said O’Byrne in an interview. “You will not attract female residents to the downtown if crime and safety is an issue.”

O’Byrne told the committee downtown Saskatoon has several strengths, including a strong retail presence and that one-quarter of the city’s jobs are located downtown — both of which are anomalies in North America.

The city centre plan aims to make downtown more pedestrian and cyclist friendly and address safety concerns by eliminating the bus mall in favour of a series of stations. The reports estimates 15,000 will be living downtown and suggests an open-air plaza in front of TCU Place to address a lack of public space downtown.

O’Byrne also pointed out that Saskatoon’s population is expected to be one-quarter senior citizens by 2020, so any changes must accommodate older residents.

Downtown has 415,000 square metres of surface parking, which could account for 18,000 to 20,000 dwellings, says the report.

[....]

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/saskatoon/Councillors+embrace+plan+downtown/9157564/story.html

[thefourthtower]

Since the Sears building on broad street is so massive I wonder what it could be used for, perhaps reuse as an ware house , a call centre or a hospital of some sort , it seems to be a very solid structure .

[dsim249]

Originally Posted by thefourthtower

Since the Sears building on broad street is so massive I wonder what it could be used for, perhaps reuse as an ware house , a call centre or a hospital of some sort , it seems to be a very solid structure .

Think you're in the wrong forum...

[nook]

Originally Posted by Echoes

With the opening of the new Police HQ approaching, the City is currently marketing the sale of the current Police building and adjacent parking lot.

This is a large site in a central part of downtown. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this property.



Property listing on Colliers website: http://www.collierscanada.com/11340

It will make a fine IMpark lot.

[thefourthtower]

Originally Posted by dsim249

Think you're in the wrong forum...

My apologies thank you for telling me

[North_Regina_Boy]

Here are three pictures from last night of the new public / staff exit from the new Helix on the parkade at RUH, as well as the new Staff entrance to level 1. This will also be the public entrance very soon.







The first two images show equipment that will be permanent from now on. The third picture shows equipment that will be removed once Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan gets to a certain point.