West District | ?m | ?s | Truman

Mountain Man said:
UD has a slight NE / SW orientation on University Ave that mitigates the shadows slightly. The south sidewalk is almost always in shade, especially this time of year. Calgary should have more of a N / S orientation to our streets where possible, would allow more sun and block more wind.

If we could somehow connect 85St to 16Ave without ruining half of Paskapoo, that would be the ideal transit solution. Just run BRT (like the 301, not MAX) along that road to feed between 17Ave Blue Line and some sort of transit station around Trinity Hills.
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Can a bus not go down Canada Olympic Road?
 
I've never understood this obsession with shadows here. We're one of the sunniest cities on the planet, I really don't think we need to be worrying too much about maximizing solar exposure on every corner of every block. It's really not that big of a deal to have part of a sidewalk sit in the shade for most of the day. If anything on hot summer days it's welcome.
 
Mountain Man said:
If we could somehow connect 85St to 16Ave without ruining half of Paskapoo, that would be the ideal transit solution. Just run BRT (like the 301, not MAX) along that road to feed between 17Ave Blue Line and some sort of transit station around Trinity Hills.
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The irony of this is that Sarcee Trail (1970s), COP (1980s), Stoney Trail (2020s), and many communities all around all were able to carve, terraform and chop-up 80% of the Paskapoo slopes natural areas the past 50 years with little fanfare and little successful push-back from conservationists. A new rapid transit corridor of sufficient quality that would actually be efficient, direct and materially replace car trips with transit trips is a bar too high to risk environmental damage to the slope though!

Had 20th (and now 21st) century planning in the area been less car-oriented, we'd probably have a few hundred more hectares of Paskapoo slope natural space today and a really slick transit access off the hill.
 
CallmeCatbread said:
I've never understood this obsession with shadows here. We're one of the sunniest cities on the planet, I really don't think we need to be worrying too much about maximizing solar exposure on every corner of every block. It's really not that big of a deal to have part of a sidewalk sit in the shade for most of the day. If anything on hot summer days it's welcome.
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During the colder months (basically 8 months of the year) walking in the sun vs walking in shade makes a huge difference. 4 months of the year, the shade is nice though.
 
CallmeCatbread said:
I've never understood this obsession with shadows here. We're one of the sunniest cities on the planet, I really don't think we need to be worrying too much about maximizing solar exposure on every corner of every block. It's really not that big of a deal to have part of a sidewalk sit in the shade for most of the day. If anything on hot summer days it's welcome.
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Calgary has about 3 months in the winter where shadowing is really significant simply due to the sun not rising very high
 
A few comments:
-how long would a light rail tunnel need to be under 85th to get from the currently planned terminus to WD?
-does ROW exist beyond WD to extend light rail to a park n ride along Stoney?
-could WD eventually expand westward into the lands still occupied by radio towers, to potentially provide enough density to justify an extension?
 
DougB said:
A few comments:
-how long would a light rail tunnel need to be under 85th to get from the currently planned terminus to WD?
-does ROW exist beyond WD to extend light rail to a park n ride along Stoney?
-could WD eventually expand westward into the lands still occupied by radio towers, to potentially provide enough density to justify an extension?
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Is the likely plan to run down the middle of 17th, or stay on the south side? Given the topography and storm basins I think you'd probably go elevated to make the corner at 17th&85th

In the loooooong term, I think a big question would be the Burnco gravel pits. There's about 250 hectares to play with there (or maybe even more down the slope towards TCH)...not too much smaller than Seton. There could be potential for a proper suburban node there, which might justify both extensions. (or maybe this kinda ties into your park and ride idea in the nearer term)
 
Finally nice enough to do a photo update:

Radio Block is coming along, including a massive pillar beside it that I assume will be some kind of signage?
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The Quarters is has glass up to the 5th floor now:
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Adelaide is starting to rise above grade, with building 1 on the 3rd floor in some areas, and building 2 just at grade now:
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Mondrian is essentially complete now. It doesn't look like move-ins have started, but should be any week now. A few of the retail bays had "leased" signs up on them, but no interior work yet from what I could see. It is similar to University Ave in University District, with the north side of Broadcast Avenue being extra wide by the looks of it, allowing for more sunlight and patio space:
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Plaza's Building 1 is almost fully clad, while Building 2 is at full height with the structure. The oculus and decorative "trees" of the plaza have been installed:
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Oak & Olive is getting close to grade:
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The Sobeys and retail on Broadcast Avenue is getting close to finished (couldn't get a better picture, the scooter rider on Mondrian's sidewalk was getting impatient....)
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A driller is on-site for The wellington, so I am calling it under construction:
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Trico has started building their West 83rd Townhomes, Phase 2 (looks like Phase 1 is fully complete):
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And if you want to live in West District, Trico has donated one of the single family homes on the western side for the Stars Lottery:
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Here's my Blue Line extension proposal if we're still crayoning. The current plan to just extend westward through some of the lowest-density suburbs we have in this city is simply absurd.
We tend to worry so much about "potential for transit-oriented development" when we plan transit in this city - it may be time we start focusing on development-oriented transit.

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