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When it became clear that crumbling concrete would require a substantial rehabilitation of the 8th Street SW underpass, city officials saw an opportunity to make some functional and aesthetic improvements to the space. What was a mundane downtown walkway has since been transformed into something a little cheerier, complete with some lessons about Calgary history. On Tuesday, Calgarians were able to enjoy the fruits of the city's labour, with a soft launch of the underpass reopening pedestrian traffic.
With about 9,000 pedestrians negotiating the corridor every day, the 8th Street SW underpass is one of the most used in the city, and demands a design approach focused on safety. The $8.8 million project includes new security cameras, call boxes, sidewalks, and stairs, along with improved lighting, graffiti-resistant paint, and an interactive art installation by David Rokeby. The s-curve installation is clad in LED screens that tell stories of Calgary's past using snippets of old advertisements and classifieds, with particular emphasis on the role that railways and underpasses played in shaping the city.
By the end of January, passersby will have the ability to influence the content on the winding screens by taking out their smartphone and plugging keywords into an app that connects to the controlling computer. The word 'oyster,' for example, might yield the text of an advertisement marketing fresh oysters that were frequently delivered via rail in the 1910s.
Calgary has embarked on a series of underpass improvement projects, having completed work on the 5th Street SW and 1st Street SW corridors in recent years. In 2017, the City will start construction on the 4th Street SW underpass, with planning for the remaining underpasses to start in the next two years.
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