Calgary's Public Realm

[McMurph]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Noticed last week that site prep/demolition was in full force at Thompkins park, another good addition to the Beltline.

Thomson Park.
Tompkins is 17th btw 7th and 8th.

[Spring2008]

^Thanks


Nice - so when are the 17th public realm improvements starting? Was supposed to be spring, would hate to see this get pushed back to late fall/winter i.e. another yr.

Kensington streetscape improvements get underway this week
City spending $4.5M to revitalize the popular area's two main drags
By Scott Dippel, CBC News Posted: Apr 05, 2016 5:00 AM MT Last Updated: Apr 05, 2016 8:09 AM MT

Kensington is about to get a $4.5 million facelift that's been seven years in the planning.


Work is starting this week to give a popular community in Calgary's northwest a fresh — and safer — look.

The city is spending $4.5 million this year to revitalize the two main streets in Kensington. The project starts this week on the east side of 10th Street between Memorial Drive and Second Avenue N.W.

Uneven paving stones installed decades ago will be replaced by smoother concrete slabs. New trees and planters will replace old or dying ones.

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New benches and bike racks will be installed. As well, LED street lights will be added and decorative pedestrian lighting will eliminate dark spots on the streets for those on foot.

Money from parking surplus

Jessica Bell with the city's road department said some of the street infrastructure on Kensington Road and on 10th Street is getting "a little old" so it's time for a refresh.

"Some of the sidewalks have started to heave and it's creating trip hazards. So we're trying to make the public realm in that area, which is widely used by pedestrians, a little bit safer and more accessible," she said.

The money, which comes from a surplus at the Calgary Parking Authority, will help give the area more of a uniform look — stop at the corner of Kensington Road and 10A Street and you can spot seven different kinds of street lights.

Seven years in the making

The head of the Kensington Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ) is excited about the changes coming to the neighbourhood.

Annie MacInnis and her group have been working on the project with the city for the past seven years.

"It's important that it looks nice down here, that it's clean and that people feel safe. That it's well lit, that you're not tripping and spraining your ankle while you're trying to walk around," said MacInnis.

The city plans to do the work one block at a time to minimize the inconvenience to area businesses. It's expected each block will take two or three weeks to complete.

The entire project is scheduled to be done by the end of October

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/kensington-street-upgrades-1.3520748

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

^Thanks


Nice - so when are the 17th public realm improvements starting? Was supposed to be spring, would hate to see this get pushed back to late fall/winter i.e. another yr.

Looks like construction starting this summer, according to the project page:
http://www.calgary.ca/Transportation/TI/Pages/Road-projects/17-Avenue-S-reconstruction.aspx

[Suburgatory]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Kensington streetscape improvements get underway this week

Technically this started last year. They've already done the east side of 10th between 2nd & 4th Aves.

[lubicon]

Drives me nuts when they refer to communities like Kensington as being in the N.W. I realize that technically they are but let's use some common sense here and call them central or inner city.

[ggopher]

At the SPC on Planning and Urban Development on 13 April 2016. They presented a Report for Olympic Plaza:

Report on Olympic Plaza

But the report is 4 pages long and doesn't say much. Blah blah blah...Olympic Plaza needs improvements and we should do something because there is a lot of projects going on in the area. The report is provided to Council as info only and doesn't have any concrete recommendations or actions.

[People.talking]

In my opinion its fine the way it is.

[Spring2008]

Came across this projects engage page - city's
seeking feedback on lots of projects including Olympic Plaza, BRT, Greenline, Parks etc. Noticed the 4th st underpass is supposed to start construction this summer - have they established the final design?

http://engage.calgary.ca/?redirect=/engage

[Spring2008]

Nice - 4th st underpass final design. Summer construciton start. City has really stepped up its underpass game.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-4th-street-sw-underpass-calgary-2m-more-1.3562442

[Ramsayfarian]

The Stampede has installed a new sculpture beside their McDonald Avenue gate. It kind of caught me by surprise for two reasons. It's not western themed and it is rainbow coloured.

[Fuzz]

Please tell me it is a unicorn pooping a rainbow.

[Suburgatory]

It's a fish.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by Suburgatory

It's a fish.

Pooping a unicorn. I think it is supposed to be a rainbow trout. Can't wait 'til the Stampede Board figures out who uses a rainbow flag as their symbol.

[Suburgatory]

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

Pooping a unicorn. I think it is supposed to be a rainbow trout. Can't wait 'til the Stampede Board figures out who uses a rainbow flag as their symbol.

Can't rainbow fish have a parade too?

[Fuzz]

From what I can tell they just opened the east side of the 8th st. underpass today. I walked it and I gotta say, this has to be the most disappointing result. The other underpasses are getting what looks like a much better treatment, and the vision that was presented isn't near the reality.

[kora]

I'm looking at plans to redesign 1 Street SW from 10 Avenue to 17 Avenue. Highlights include:
- wider sidewalks
- new street trees
- curb bulbs at intersections to reduce crossing time for pedestrians
- concrete medians

It will basically be a continuation of what's already there between 12 Avenue and 14 Avenue. I think it's also part of the greater 17 Avenue redesign. In my opinion it's not ambitious enough as it maintains 2 lanes of travel in each direction between 11 Avenue and 10 Avenue. It's another example of putting road traffic as the dominant deciding characteristic in street design.

[Suburgatory]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

From what I can tell they just opened the east side of the 8th st. underpass today. I walked it and I gotta say, this has to be the most disappointing result. The other underpasses are getting what looks like a much better treatment, and the vision that was presented isn't near the reality.

I also walked through there today. The pee and vomit was already unbearable.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by kora

I'm looking at plans to redesign 1 Street SW from 10 Avenue to 17 Avenue. Highlights include:
- wider sidewalks
- new street trees
- curb bulbs at intersections to reduce crossing time for pedestrians
- concrete medians

It will basically be a continuation of what's already there between 12 Avenue and 14 Avenue. I think it's also part of the greater 17 Avenue redesign. In my opinion it's not ambitious enough as it maintains 2 lanes of travel in each direction between 11 Avenue and 10 Avenue. It's another example of putting road traffic as the dominant deciding characteristic in street design.

Apart from the cycle-track implementation, Calgary really hasn't made much progress on this front. Sure an extra 20cm of sidewalk width is great (re: 17th Avenue SW), but if we only rebuild these streets once every 30-50 years, a bolder action should be taken. A pedestrian dominated Beltline isn't going to get any less pedestrian dominated after another 30 years of high-density development.

What's the point of concrete medians? On higher speed streets they can act as pedestrian refuges, but what a waste of space on 1st Street. I would take another 20 cm on each sidewalk over a useless median.

[Calgarian]

So the idiots at the city forced the construction company doing renos on the exterior of tthe burns to remove this sign, apparently it's too graphic and doesn't meet city guidelines. The sign was put up after a pedestrian walking down MacLeod got clipped by a car (idiot!)

[DizzyEdge]

You know what's too graphic? Being hit by a car.