CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
There is no detour. I've had to change my route to work to go through Mount Royal as I try to avoid 5th south of 17th Ave.
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General Construction Updates
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
maestro
Senior Member
Subsidizing suburbs is overplayed whataboutism. It shouldn't matter if its subsidizing downtown or a suburban business park
Bailing out commercial property owners is par for the course. Major commercial developments get subsidizes at the best of times. Of course, other cities are going to use Calgary to sell the idea of adding life to hollowed out downtowns to taxpayers. What is up for debate is whether these property owners would sit on their vacant depreciating portfolios over the next decade while the city continues to experience record growth and housing development. You can only hold off the write downs for so long.
Bailing out commercial property owners is par for the course. Major commercial developments get subsidizes at the best of times. Of course, other cities are going to use Calgary to sell the idea of adding life to hollowed out downtowns to taxpayers. What is up for debate is whether these property owners would sit on their vacant depreciating portfolios over the next decade while the city continues to experience record growth and housing development. You can only hold off the write downs for so long.
ByeByeBaby
Active Member
The ultimate plan as I understand it is to keep 3 lanes but rather than the crazy wide SB lane to have much wider ped/bike space on both sides. They're doing both sides in the end.
It's the third bridge in the area; the first was wood, then it was replaced with steel, then it was replaced with concrete in 1912/1915 (the project website has both years). It's one of the oldest concrete bridges in the province; the Centre Street Bridge was built in 1916.
After this phase with the west side closed and two-way car traffic on the east side, there's a similar phase with the east side closed and two-way on the west side; the project site says through "fall 2024"; if the west side finishes soon and the east side takes the same 3ish months, that would go into November. Then the third phase running into Spring 2025 has no auto traffic, but will still have pedestrian and bike traffic across.
On paper, the detour is to cross Elbow, proceed on the north side sidewalk for two blocks, then cross back But the sidewalk (especially the residential block) is narrow, has big hedges on one side and power poles on the other side; I'm not sure if a bike could even reasonably cycle it; I know for sure two bikes couldn't meet. It's a pretty heavily used path; it would have been a lot safer for there to be an on-road pathway during construction, as there was during the height of the pandemic. Elbow's not that busy a road; I'm sure it could handle a reduction in lanes for a few weeks, especially in the summer when traffic is down and active travel is up.
1875
Senior Member
Ive been using the pedestrian bridge over the river at 31st ave and Rideau road to the mission bridge
ByeByeBaby
Active Member
Speaking of which, here's a construction update on the Mission bridge and retaining wall work from a different than usual vantage point.
Urb
Active Member
It's too bad they didn't use this as an opportunity to open-up this part of the river for more user engagement. They could've taken a page out of the RiverWalk design, by stepping this area down towards the River. Something like this would've been great.
shermanator
New Member
Elizabeth Square is seeing some of their tenants move in. There's a baby store, a jeweler and soon to be a sandwich shop opening. Unfortunately there are also multiple windows on one of the buildings that have been damaged. There was minimal hail in the neighbourhood during the storm on Monday night. The re-do of 18th street appears close to done as all the cobblestone is in while the sidewalks remain completely ripped up.
I think Leonard Development Group's next project may be the two buildings next to Le Comptoir. Walking by this morning, the fronts have been completely dug up to the foundation and LDG's signs are on the houses (which is similar to what they did for Henry Block). If so, that is awesome. More from them please!
Kind of hard to differentiate the main streets construction work from the development work right now, there's so much construction going on. Entire blocks ripped up with no equipment on site. Buildings like Prairie Block which have a bit of action then go dormant for weeks, etc.
I think Leonard Development Group's next project may be the two buildings next to Le Comptoir. Walking by this morning, the fronts have been completely dug up to the foundation and LDG's signs are on the houses (which is similar to what they did for Henry Block). If so, that is awesome. More from them please!
Kind of hard to differentiate the main streets construction work from the development work right now, there's so much construction going on. Entire blocks ripped up with no equipment on site. Buildings like Prairie Block which have a bit of action then go dormant for weeks, etc.
adamyyc
Active Member
That would be awesome! I noticed the front yards dug up but assumed it was related to Main Streets and that the City was going to put retaining walls in. Another LDG project would be a way better outcome!
Calgcouver
Active Member
What is the finalized design they are working to on the bridge? I don't believe i've seen it. It needs way more room for ped's and cyclists.
adamyyc
Active Member
I think it will still be 3 lanes but I believe it will be redesigned to be a more efficient use of space (i.e., I think the west lane will be narrowed as it will no longer share space with a bike lane) and wider multi-use paths will be created on both sides of the bridge. I imagine the multi-use paths will continue to have barriers as well. There isn’t much to go off of on the project webpage.
Mission Bridge Rehabilitation
www.calgary.ca
Calgcouver
Active Member
Looks the same to me from that one image. That's too bad, they did engagement and the feedback seemed to really favour much more space for pedestrians and cyclists, but mobility engineers can't help themselves but focus on auto throughput over everything else.I think it will still be 3 lanes but I believe it will be redesigned to be a more efficient use of space (i.e., I think the west lane will be narrowed as it will no longer share space with a bike lane) and wider multi-use paths will be created on both sides of the bridge. I imagine the multi-use paths will continue to have barriers as well. There isn’t much to go off of on the project webpage.
Mission Bridge Rehabilitation
Tarsus
Active Member
I noticed a 5-6 storey building has been built immediately SE of the ring road / 17th ave SE intersection. Does anyone know what it is?
Probably this development. East Hills Crossing. 6 storeys - 98 units.I remember it being proposed a while back.
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FCC1982
Active Member
^That looks depressing.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
I wish they were turning the area below the retaining wall into an urban beach. If there’s anywhere more perfect in the inner city for it, I don’t know it. The water is deep enough to swim in right there, noise concerns are mitigated by the retaining wall and Elbow Island, and the natural environment is already altered/destroyed. They could have built steps from the edge of the beach into the river like at RiverWalk Plaza. In my mind it stretches from Mission Bridge to about 100 meters past 5 Street. It’s also south facing so would be usable half the year, and the Elbow is warm enough to swim in 3 - 4 months of the year.I think it will still be 3 lanes but I believe it will be redesigned to be a more efficient use of space (i.e., I think the west lane will be narrowed as it will no longer share space with a bike lane) and wider multi-use paths will be created on both sides of the bridge. I imagine the multi-use paths will continue to have barriers as well. There isn’t much to go off of on the project webpage.
Mission Bridge Rehabilitation
Anyway, I dream…. I dream.