Winnipeg | Downtown | True North Square | U/C

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by MG922

A few close-up photos of the ped bridge connection over Hargrave, from this evening. When you walk right up close to this corner, it's amazing how close together the buildings look!! And the skywalk will only make this corner even tighter to walk through.

It's minor nitpicking, the project looks fantastic from street level.

The Hargrave right-of-way is 66', same width as every other downtown street south of Notre Dame (except of course Main, Portage, and Broadway, which are twice that width). I guess we're just not used to big buildings with zero setbacks on either side of a street.

[dmacc]

Originally Posted by wardlow

The Hargrave right-of-way is 66', same width as every other downtown street south of Notre Dame (except of course Main, Portage, and Broadway, which are twice that width). I guess we're just not used to big buildings with zero setbacks on either side of a street.

I think the issue is the pillars on the sidewalk that will be taking up space making it narrower, not the street being thinner.

[dmacc]

^^^ not an issue just something to deal with

[Biff]

...I'm on it!

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[buzzg]

Hard to tell from the pics, but it looks like they've gone with a few smaller posts as opposed to one big one, is that correct? The two Skywalks on Hargrave north of Graham have even narrower skywalks to contend with than here. The one near Graham doesn't have supports on one side, and Portage one has fairly thick ones on both, and it's not an issue. (I'd say the skywalk exit doors randomly flinging open is more of an issue haha).

Don't forget there was also a large sidewalk bump-out put in a year or two ago right where the new Skywalk connects to cityplace, so there should be lots of room.

I'm really curious to see how the city handles street parking/loading zones around here. There's nothing possible on the north/south sides obviously, Hargrave is already tight, and I'd imagine they'll have to be some no stopping zones put in on the west side for large truck access to the loading dock. Pretty much only get Carlton, but room will have to also be left for ingress/egress to the parkade. If the renders are accurate (which so far they've been impeccable), looks like there's about room for 5 cars on the west side of Carlton. Also of note is they rendered what looks like a raised crosswalk to Sutton Place haha.

[bomberjet]

^There's one round, concrete column for the skywalk to sit on. They have some temporary steel columns in place for construction.

It's really not that big of a deal to have one column in the sidewalk. It's off to the side closer to the street. That corner has a large area already, with planters and things in the summer, as the roadway swings from the east side of the right of way over to the west side. MTS Centre took over a lane of traffic, so there's lots of space on the SE corner.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by wardlow

The Hargrave right-of-way is 66', same width as every other downtown street south of Notre Dame (except of course Main, Portage, and Broadway, which are twice that width). I guess we're just not used to big buildings with zero setbacks on either side of a street.

The fact that the street narrows considerably a block up by the MTS Centre plus the skywalks hovering over it now also contribute to the canyon feeling that is developing along Hargrave. I'd go so far as to say that the 3 block stretch of Hargrave from just north of Portage to just south of St. Mary is probably the closest thing to a legitimate urban canyon that we have in Winnipeg, in the sense of how the term is used in the Canada sub-forum.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

^There's one round, concrete column for the skywalk to sit on. They have some temporary steel columns in place for construction.

It's really not that big of a deal to have one column in the sidewalk. It's off to the side closer to the street. That corner has a large area already, with planters and things in the summer, as the roadway swings from the east side of the right of way over to the west side. MTS Centre took over a lane of traffic, so there's lots of space on the SE corner.

Yeah, there's just going to be one column, on the east (City Place) side of Hargrave, but it won't interrupt the sidewalk's existing path of travel. Though to be fair, existing sidewalk widths in downtown Winnipeg aren't exactly a high bar.

Meanwhile, Carlton is going to be a jumble of zig-zagging sidewalks, driveways, and curb extensions. Pretty disappointing.

[MG922]

Originally Posted by wardlow

The Hargrave right-of-way is 66', same width as every other downtown street south of Notre Dame (except of course Main, Portage, and Broadway, which are twice that width). I guess we're just not used to big buildings with zero setbacks on either side of a street.

I was thinking more that walking between the buildings into the plaza area will be really tight. I have no problem with the buildings being close to the street, it will open up a bit more once the construction fencing comes down.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by esquire

The fact that the street narrows considerably a block up by the MTS Centre plus the skywalks hovering over it now also contribute to the canyon feeling that is developing along Hargrave. I'd go so far as to say that the 3 block stretch of Hargrave from just north of Portage to just south of St. Mary is probably the closest thing to a legitimate urban canyon that we have in Winnipeg, in the sense of how the term is used in the Canada sub-forum.

I love it. And even though Hargrave is just as wide as every other street, its roadway is slightly narrower (3 lanes instead of 4), which gives trees enough room to survive, and makes vehicle traffic less dominant. Even the block between York and Broadway, which doesn't have much in the way of a built environment, looks and feels like a nice place to walk

[bomberjet]

Anywhere the City has those bike lanes, (as shown in the link from Wardlow) they should be put at the curb with the cars parked out in the road. It's so silly. Just paint the lines different and it wouldn't cost anything extra. Put in a curb to separate them at most.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by wardlow

I love it. And even though Hargrave is just as wide as every other street, its roadway is slightly narrower (3 lanes instead of 4), which gives trees enough room to survive, and makes vehicle traffic less dominant. Even the block between York and Broadway, which doesn't have much in the way of a built environment, looks and feels like a nice place to walk

I've been saying for a while, I'd love if the city made bump-outs on the non-turning side of one way streets downtown to narrow the streets a bit and in turn slow people down a bit, make crossing a bit safer.

[wardlow]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I've been saying for a while, I'd love if the city made bump-outs on the non-turning side of one way streets downtown to narrow the streets a bit and in turn slow people down a bit, make crossing a bit safer.

And there's lots of opportunities to do this on some corners, without impeding traffic at all. Here's an example at Carlton and St. Mary last year: the white snow reveals that vehicles practically never occupy that part of the intersection.

[cllew]

Notification at work today that the sky walk construction on Hargrave requiring the time of day barricades will be extended one week until Apr 6.

[dmacc]

Has anyone else noticed the Plaza doesn't get much sun?

[bomberjet]

As the sun gets higher it will get a bit more light. But ya, the south side of the plaza will always be in shade against the podium. The reason tower 1 was built on the east property line was to allow as much light as possible into the square. During winter, it'll be pretty bleak anyways.

[DowntownBooster]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

As the sun gets higher it will get a bit more light. But ya, the south side of the plaza will always be in shade against the podium. The reason tower 1 was built on the east property line was to allow as much light as possible into the square. During winter, it'll be pretty bleak anyways.

I guess that happens often in places like New York.

[buzzg]

The glass on Tower 2 will help reflect more sunlight into the plaza.

On the narrow sidewalk topic... I walked through the skywalk to RBCCC yesterday – talk about a bottleneck. I can't believe they allow people to just move and create large tables by the cafe space in the old side. I literally had to walk around people having lunch to get from one side to the other, it's brutal. The single 2-top tables in the skywalk were actually fine, but in the gathering area people just moved 5 tables together in the middle of the hall blocking the skywalk. They should be bolted down to the edges.

[Kris22]

These buildings look great from the hydro plaza. The angles and heights really compliment each other.

[buzzg]

Nice shot – when Tower 3 goes up that view will be even better.