Winnipeg Construction VIII

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by Kris22

I would say that P&M and this corner are two completely different examples. I was suggesting connecting one park with another park/tourist area with a crossover. It's not like there are any storefronts or "urban fabric" at all on this corner. Plus assiniboine ave is a bike route/walking route so I think something like this would be beneficial to pedestrians and cyclists, and obviously car traffic.

In the end I don't really care, but having a pedestrian-controlled push-button crosswalk there isn't exactly ideal.

Fair enough. The Forks and Bonnycastle Park do already connect via the Riverwalk, though.

[esquire]

^ Normally I'm not in favour of grade separations, but the corner of Main and Assiniboine is pretty treacherous. The bridge usually has fast-moving traffic and it can be pretty dicey if you're trying to cross Main on foot or on a bike.

Although personally, I think the better approach would be some form of traffic calming... or maybe a ped-activated traffic light like on Osborne.

[rypinion]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Normally I'm not in favour of grade separations, but the corner of Main and Assiniboine is pretty treacherous. The bridge usually has fast-moving traffic and it can be pretty dicey if you're trying to cross Main on foot or on a bike.

Although personally, I think the better approach would be some form of traffic calming... or maybe a ped-activated traffic light like on Osborne.

Coincidentally enough, I'll be biking from Waterfront to the Churchill Parkway tonight, and given that the river walk isn't open yet, I'm not quite sure what the nicest way will be involving the least amount of vehicle interaction.

Something nice at Assiniboine and Main would be handy.

[Kris22]

Originally Posted by rypinion

Coincidentally enough, I'll be biking from Waterfront to the Churchill Parkway tonight, and given that the river walk isn't open yet, I'm not quite sure what the nicest way will be involving the least amount of vehicle interaction.

Something nice at Assiniboine and Main would be handy.

Haha. There is a light-controlled crossing where Stradbrook joins Main, right near the bikepath. At least I think so. It's been a while.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by Kris22

I would say that P&M and this corner are two completely different examples. I was suggesting connecting one park with another park/tourist area with a crossover. It's not like there are any storefronts or "urban fabric" at all on this corner. Plus assiniboine ave is a bike route/walking route so I think something like this would be beneficial to pedestrians and cyclists, and obviously car traffic.

In the end I don't really care, but having a pedestrian-controlled push-button crosswalk there isn't exactly ideal.

Yes I was thinking they could have built a pedestrian overpass that traced the location of the fort's wall, so that drivers felt more like they were driving through the fort (as in a certain sense they are). Maybe that would have been a bit cheesy though.

[yellowghost]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Normally I'm not in favour of grade separations, but the corner of Main and Assiniboine is pretty treacherous. The bridge usually has fast-moving traffic and it can be pretty dicey if you're trying to cross Main on foot or on a bike.

Although personally, I think the better approach would be some form of traffic calming... or maybe a ped-activated traffic light like on Osborne.

Because we just don't have enough traffic lights in city, we need pedestrian controlled traffic lights. Whats more awesome than pedestrian crosswalks? Pedestrians that break a fast walk to get to that button before a group of cars approach, especially if they have walked at a normal pace, the group of cars would have passed before they made it to the button. Sorry for the off-topic comment. MY apologies. But love the pedestrian overpass idea. We could use more.

[yellowghost]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Normally I'm not in favour of grade separations, but the corner of Main and Assiniboine is pretty treacherous. The bridge usually has fast-moving traffic and it can be pretty dicey if you're trying to cross Main on foot or on a bike.

Although personally, I think the better approach would be some form of traffic calming... or maybe a ped-activated traffic light like on Osborne.

Because we just don't have enough traffic lights in city, we need pedestrian controlled traffic lights. Whats more awesome than pedestrian crosswalks? Pedestrians that break into a fast walk to get to that button before a group of cars approach, especially if they have walked at a normal pace, the group of cars would have passed before they made it to the button. Sorry for the off-topic comment. MY apologies. But love the pedestrian overpass idea. We could use more.

[The Unknown Poster]

On the subject of pedestrians speeding up to hit the button before cars approach, the reverse drives me insane - drivers show stop (sometimes much too quickly) for pedestrians who have not triggered the cross walk lights. In many cases, the pedestrians see a group of cars coming with empty space behind and are waiting.

If the pedestrian doesnt signal the lights, dont freakin slam on your breaks!

[cllew]

Can't win when driving, some pedestrians stand waiting for a break in the flow before attempting to cross (the proper way), and others just walk out without hitting the button/ checking for flow and expect everybody to stop.

You also see people in the median hit the wrong crossing button on a regular basis and trigger the crossing warning lights for the section they just crossed and not the one they want to cross. Then they wonder why vehicles don't' stop for them.

[kent_eh]

I had a chance to get up on the roof today, so I got some pictures of the construction sites that I could see nearby.



Convention Center expansion



Former Carlton Hotel and the new building just across the alley from it.



I notice that they have removed most of the "stairs" scaffold from the west side of the Alt hotel site this week.

[kent_eh]

Originally Posted by rypinion

Fair enough. The Forks and Bonnycastle Park do already connect via the Riverwalk, though.

True. That is an option when the riverwalk isn't submerged.

[esquire]

Great photos, kent! I wonder how long it will take for a new hotel to materialize on the former Carlton Inn spot... I hope Centreventure didn't inadvertently create Winnipeg's newest long-term surface parking lot.

[trueviking]

I think it will be a looooong time.

[Only The Lonely..]

My memory is a bit foggy..

What was the original reason for bulldozing the Carlton Inn?

[DLLB]

Thanks for the picture updates kent!

[thebasketballgeek]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

My memory is a bit foggy..

What was the original reason for bulldozing the Carlton Inn?

i'm pretty sure it was to build a 19 story hotel

[trueviking]

Centre Venture took out a loan to buy the Carlton because they wanted the required hotel for the convention centre to go there, for whatever reason. The price paid for the land makes the economics of a hotel difficult. Hotels downtown are built on razor thin margins because of our high construction costs and very low room rates. Several developers have failed do far. I'm not optimistic it will work until the economics change.

[1ajs]

whys construction so high here so bizzar......... or is it everyone upcharging through the roof on everything???

[h0twired]

Originally Posted by 1ajs

whys construction so high here so bizzar......... or is it everyone upcharging through the roof on everything???

Construction costs are pretty much the same across Canada.

However Winnipeg doesn't have the market to charge as high lease rates compared to cities like Vancouver, Toronto or Calgary.

[esquire]

What about Lakeview? For the longest time they were trying to develop their lot at St. Mary and Edmonton as a hotel of some sort, but there was always some reason not to do it... first it was the uncertainty as to whether the WCC would be expanded, then it was the fact that a hotel was going to be part of the expansion plan. Now that neither of those two things are obstacles, I wonder if they are reconsidering their plans?

For that matter, I wonder how high room rates have to get before more hotels become viable? They certainly seem fairly high these days, at least in relation to the late 90s when nothing was more than $120 a night and you could still get the $69 weekend specials at the Fort Garry. Taking a quick look at Expedia, you'd be hard pressed to find a decent hotel in central Winnipeg for under $150 a night these days...