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Roads, Highways & Infrastructure

From the Priorities and Finance Committee meeting today, the city is looking at a new pedestrian bridge linking the existing Bridgeland LRT station to St. Patrick's Island:

CMLC Feasibility study here:

Some conceptual designs, nothing confirmed yet (including project, which would need about $30 million)
1631038816031.png

1631038838641.png
 
That's actually really awesome. I've walked/biked between Inglewood and Bridgeland so many times and had to walk all the way over to east village and double back to the train station. This would be huge in terms of connecting the neighborhoods where the rivers meet.
 
First, I think it's a cool design, and I'm not opposed to anything that adds pedestrian / wheel connections. And the Bridgeland LRT ramp on the south side could really use a big upgrade. But this bridge doesn't actually add any connectivity (other than from Bridgeland to St Patrick's Island). Here's the current (dark) and with-bridge (light) paths from Bridgeland (1st Ave / 9th St) to East Village (the Simmons building, magenta) and Inglewood (Spolumbo's, cyan).

1631049486988.png


The paths using the proposed bridge are actually about 40m further in both cases, which is pretty small in the scale of the trips (1.4 km to EV, 1.8 to Inglewood), but it doesn't actually save any distance. The existing paths are also reasonably pleasant in that they're separated, river-side paths; certainly not the best in the system and not as nice as going through the park, but far from the worst.

The actual connection that would improve connectivity for Bridgeland, IMO, is shown in orange - a crossing of Memorial west of the LRT bridge. It would shave 200m off the distance to East Village (and the downtown) from 1st Ave and 9th St, but would reduce distance even more for residents and businesses west of 9th St. In the exact location I show, it would have to be a tunnel, since the LRT is rising up and a bridge over it would be even higher than normal. If it were a little to the east where the big old apartment building is, it could be built as a bridge. That big apartment building is, by the way, both a City owned building and being demolished by 2023. A new crossing of Memorial would be a great opportunity for the renewal of the site.
 
I thought about that; the full crossing would improve access from Bridgeland to the western part of Inglewood, up to about the Ironwood (a little west of 12th St), but not really to East Village since the Fort Calgary area doesn't have any redevelopment planned. Maybe once the Vic Park bus barns get redeveloped...
 
ByeByeBaby said:
First, I think it's a cool design, and I'm not opposed to anything that adds pedestrian / wheel connections. And the Bridgeland LRT ramp on the south side could really use a big upgrade. But this bridge doesn't actually add any connectivity (other than from Bridgeland to St Patrick's Island). Here's the current (dark) and with-bridge (light) paths from Bridgeland (1st Ave / 9th St) to East Village (the Simmons building, magenta) and Inglewood (Spolumbo's, cyan).

View attachment 347141

The paths using the proposed bridge are actually about 40m further in both cases, which is pretty small in the scale of the trips (1.4 km to EV, 1.8 to Inglewood), but it doesn't actually save any distance. The existing paths are also reasonably pleasant in that they're separated, river-side paths; certainly not the best in the system and not as nice as going through the park, but far from the worst.

The actual connection that would improve connectivity for Bridgeland, IMO, is shown in orange - a crossing of Memorial west of the LRT bridge. It would shave 200m off the distance to East Village (and the downtown) from 1st Ave and 9th St, but would reduce distance even more for residents and businesses west of 9th St. In the exact location I show, it would have to be a tunnel, since the LRT is rising up and a bridge over it would be even higher than normal. If it were a little to the east where the big old apartment building is, it could be built as a bridge. That big apartment building is, by the way, both a City owned building and being demolished by 2023. A new crossing of Memorial would be a great opportunity for the renewal of the site.
Click to expand...

I would love more access to St Patricks Island from Bridgeland and the LRT. My kid loves going to the playground there and it would be great to have easy transit access, and a shorter walk for ice cream afterwards.
 
Great idea as it would make the walk from Bridgeland to dt so much more enjoyable.

Some random comments:
-rather than a jog in the bridge to avoid the playground on the Island, why not build a straightline bridge and relocate the playground? That playground is one of the most underwhelming aspects of St. Patrick's Island. I would suggest a much larger playground closer to the parking lot could easily be funded by the savings from a shorter bridge
-the City should consider a bridge over Memorial closer to the north abutment of the St. Patricks Island Bridge once Bridgland Place is demolished. Redevelopment of that site should be build around a pedestrian corridor eminating from a new Memorial Drive crossing
-the City should consider redeveloping a portion of the St Patrick's Island parking lot as a restaurant, similar to River Cafe
 
MichaelS said:
From the Priorities and Finance Committee meeting today, the city is looking at a new pedestrian bridge linking the existing Bridgeland LRT station to St. Patrick's Island:

CMLC Feasibility study here:

Some conceptual designs, nothing confirmed yet (including project, which would need about $30 million)
View attachment 347094
View attachment 347095
Click to expand...
Sweet Jesus please god YES!
 
ahuch said:
Anyone hear any rumblings on that last little portion of the SW ring road lately?
Click to expand...
Just that it is still planned to open to traffic on schedule on October 1. They are doing a lot of final little things right now it seems. Signage, line painting, etc. so there is no reason to believe it will be delayed at all.
 
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