Thank god they're redoing 26 ave, its so rough at the moment, and pulling out onto it from the side streets is sketchy with cars parked so close to the intersections. Biking on it is also sketchy, it never shoukd have been classified as a preferred bike route.
Im curious how they will do the transition for cyclists from south side west of 22nd to the north side, east of 22nd
Details seem hard to find on this one, but I think this is where they landed - essentially bike lanes convert to multi-use pathway starting west of the bridge over Crowchild and continue on both sides until 22nd Street, where the sidewalk starts again. It's pretty basic stuff, but I kind of like it - it essentially creates better walking and cycling space on both sides of the high-traffic pinch-point around Richmond Road/Crowchild. Will make it so much easier for children to access the school and ride their bikes over Crowchild, without having to navigate 26 Avenue traffic.
Overall 26 Avenue SW and surrounding areas is one of those interesting corridors that really highlight the black-box of local transportation design decisions. There's all sorts of minor intersection improvements, lifecycle improvements and upgrades sprinkled around the area, but all seemingly random, applied at random times, and with little systematic thought to how the corridor is designed overall - it's all about 100 years of piecemeal, but steady, tweaks. But almost zero insight into when, why and what is being built (at least until this 26th Avenue corridor upgrade project).
I just don't understand how so few intersections remain uncontrolled given the volume of traffic flows and pedestrian safety issues, Richmond Road and 26th Avenue being one of the best examples.
Bike lanes west of Crowchild are another great example. I think they are some of the oldest in Calgary and are well used, but haven't seen any upgrades or re-investment until now. Even when they were installed the abrupt ending at 22nd Street was criticized - with nothing done to resolve the issues for another 15 years. Meanwhile the local population has increased substantially in 20 years through redevelopment, there's probably been a billion dollars of infills in the surrounding communities over that period.
Just a collection of strange had-hazard tweaks in a local area with high growth. Hopefully the corridor project really progresses things to a new and better level with a bit more organization!
