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Roads, Highways & Infrastructure

zagox said:
Hope this will be a nice route for cycling - I usually go out to Chestermere on the canal path but there are no great options to loop back to the city - 17th ave south is kind of sketchy until you get to 52nd st and can switch to 16th ave south, going up to Conrich and back on McKnight is also kind of sketchy and also a pretty big lap for me.
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When I lived in Abbeydale back in the 90's, I used to bike out to Chestermere a fair bit using 17th. It was actually decent back then as there wasn't much traffic, but the last couple of times I drove 17th out to Chestermere it was crazy busy. It would be very nice to see a pathway along the Memorial extension.
 
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This may have been discussed before but the McMahon - Foothills redevelopment plan (see attached snips) is suggesting Crowchild become an “Urban Boulevard” with reduced speed limit and lane widths between 16th & 24th Avenues in the NW.

Please god NO!
Crowchild is set to become a continuous freeway with 3 core lanes each way for it’s entire length according to the Crowchild Plan. Do not ruin this by implementing an “Urban Boulevard” for this one segment.

End rant.
 
What does this have to do with the viability of the Entertainment District, which I took to be the area on the Stampede Grounds where the new Arena was (is?...) proposed?

It is frustrating that so much effort is put into big, long range plans (like the Crowchild corridor study) only to see them questioned/re-opend in a very short time frame before any implementation happens. If we just churn in endless planning, how can anything ever be accomplished with any confidence that it is correct? That said, the solution in that Crowchild plan isn't exactly ideal, so maybe it does need to be reopened.
 
They already inexplicably reduced the speed limit on Crowchild south of the river after all the new construction wrapped up.

They went to all this effort of widening lanes, improving the flow of traffic, reducing weaves and increasing the overall safety of the road design - but after all of that expense the speed limit is lower than it was prior to the improvements. It's completely illogical.
 
MichaelS said:
What does this have to do with the viability of the Entertainment District, which I took to be the area on the Stampede Grounds where the new Arena was (is?...) proposed?

It is frustrating that so much effort is put into big, long range plans (like the Crowchild corridor study) only to see them questioned/re-opend in a very short time frame before any implementation happens. If we just churn in endless planning, how can anything ever be accomplished with any confidence that it is correct? That said, the solution in that Crowchild plan isn't exactly ideal, so maybe it does need to be reopened.
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This totally separate from the entertainment district on the Stampede grounds.
They are referring to the “Entertainment District” within the McMahon Stadium - Foothills Athletic Park redevelopment plan.
 
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Duck Lightning said:
An entertainment district around McMahon Stadium only really makes sense during Stampeders games and if they are allowed to have open air concerts again. So I don't see it being at all that likely of ever being built
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MichaelS said:
Are we short on words in the english language or something?..... sigh....
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Expect a curated University District type development with maybe a bit more before and after games type retail.

All the develop-able land is university owned.
 
I'm a wheelchair user.
For several years we'd fly into Calgary for the summer and stay in the U of C's excellent - and accessible - Summer Residences.

My wife's family home was in the NW, less than 3km away across Crowchild Trail.
'An easy 45 minute wheel' I thought at first, not realising what a god-forsaken thing the intersection of 24th Ave & Crowchild was.
The second time I began to cross (that off-camber, cracked and rutted wasteland of literally shimmering asphalt) a truck - approaching too fast - locked his Pup up, and scared the crap out of me.
I drove across from then on.

Now we live in the old family home and my kids have to cross that intersection.

The Crowchild Medium-Term plan's long showed a future overpass there - with a lowered Crowchild roaring beneath.
Their sketch looks terrible with sweeping on-off ramps to cross, but I'd hoped something would eventually be built, to connect - now cycle friendly - 24th Ave to the Athletic Park/University.

My dream would be a 500m cut-and-cover tunnel for Crowchild - with greenspace and an extended Athletic Park on top.
Densify Banff Trail, fill in the Parking-lot-wasteland of Motel Village... and of course that's just not going to happen.

But what sort of Urban Boulevard carries 88,000 (2019) Vehicles per day? What sort of Public Realm/Streetscape can they realistically create?
I can only hope the City has an Einstein-like planner and an incredible simplified theory - that I can't grasp yet - about how this is going to happen.
 
I do agree that trying to make an urban boulevard out of Crowchild by the McMahon area seems fairly illogical, and wouldn't reap the benefits of what it's intending considering no matter what, Crowchild is going to function as a freeway north and south of it. It would be a case where it does both functions badly, and it's not worth it for the kilometer stretch there.

I do wish though that stronger consideration be given to moving the Stampeders to the Grandstand on Stampede Grounds, and McMahon could be torn down. Therefore that entire area of the University lands could a University District development by Banff Trail. Maybe call it University Village or something. Still have Crowchild function as a highway, but a solid amount of density and commercial could thrive on both sides of Crowchild. This I feel would maximize Banff Trail TOD potential.
 
^That just makes too much sense for the reasons you mention … plus:
- Stampede grandstand gets more use.
- Stampeders games provide a little more synergy with/for the proposed Event Center “Entertainment District”.
- Stampeders play on the “Stampede Grounds”.

Potential bonus:
A more appropriate sized venue (i.e. intimate) venue could be built for the UC Dinos. At the very least they could play at Hellard Field at Shouldice Park, but it would be nice to have something closer to campus.
 
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