gsunnyg
Senior Member
What's weirder is that they built a massive parkade in preparation for 2 more towers. I helped work on it back in 2013/14.
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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Calgcouver
Active Member
I don’t disagree that Macleod is a lost cause without a significant reimagining, but the City isn’t communicating that they are pretending it is a Main Street which is my point. Other places have been able to convert these stroad typologies or arterials into places that move a significant volume of cars and create main streets, but they are in Europe where they understand a street and a road is the same thing. Either déclaré it a un changeable car sewer or actually make it a main street.
In Copenhagen there are roads that were multi lane arterials they reconfigured the excessive width roadway to create a high speed roadway in the middle with quiet parking areas adjacent to the pedestrian spaces to make a decent pedestrian realm and street oriented buildings possible. Here are some picture of a major boulevard in Copenhagen that fulfills both functions of moving cars very effectively while creating fulfilling and decent places for pedestrians and cyclists. This is the kind of road format they could convert Macleod Trail from Riverfront to Anderson into in my opinion and could meet mobility objectives (car movement) with the City’s other stated objectives. The problem being the mobility engineers still live in 1970s Houston in there heads. I think a retrofit like this is achievable and is something both Paris and Copenhagen successfully executed on similarly scaled roads
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jhappy77
Active Member
Macleod's inertia is not a question of city admin or engineers being short-sighted (although they have been), it's a question of politics. How much political capital would the "pro-urbanist" crowd burn trying to fix it?
Because of space constraints, there aren't many solutions that don't involve removing lanes or otherwise constraining commuters.
And the moment you do, you have a mob of angry people with pitchforks and torches ready to fight you.
They'll say you're spending a lot of money to make their commutes worse, and they'll be right. They'll say the development could be better elsewhere, and they'll be right. And crucially, the average Joe, who might not otherwise care about urbanist issues, will probably take their side, because the effects on their commute will be immediate and obvious whereas the effects on the urban development on Macleod will be more gradual and tenuous.
So you'd end up with a backlash that would suck the energy out of the efforts to make urban improvements everywhere, and then the next election there would be a whole slew of anti-urban candidates boosted into power.
Because of space constraints, there aren't many solutions that don't involve removing lanes or otherwise constraining commuters.
And the moment you do, you have a mob of angry people with pitchforks and torches ready to fight you.
They'll say you're spending a lot of money to make their commutes worse, and they'll be right. They'll say the development could be better elsewhere, and they'll be right. And crucially, the average Joe, who might not otherwise care about urbanist issues, will probably take their side, because the effects on their commute will be immediate and obvious whereas the effects on the urban development on Macleod will be more gradual and tenuous.
So you'd end up with a backlash that would suck the energy out of the efforts to make urban improvements everywhere, and then the next election there would be a whole slew of anti-urban candidates boosted into power.
haltcatchfire
Senior Member
Space constraints along Macleod trail. That's a new one.
Calgcouver
Active Member
which plays directly into having the pro urban voices pushing for Elbow, Acadia, Fairmount, Southland and Heritage Drives as Main Streets instead. Which the City conveniently avoided in favour of Macleod Trail in the recent LAP. That’s how they’ve got away with having zero main streets in South Calgary. Politics be damned on that one create decent main streets in the south
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MichaelS
Senior Member
Sounds like you were involved in the Corridor Study....
Macleod Trail Corridor Study
www.calgary.ca
The plan to turn it into a "complete street", which actually didn't remove any lanes of traffic, but had a significant capital cost for land acquisition. It was voted down during the June 15, 2015 meeting of Council, see item 10.2.1 for the minutes and video of the meeting here:
Combined Meeting of Council - June 15, 2015
adamyyc
Active Member
The problem with the Macleod Main Street is that it focuses on the wrong portions of Macleod (North: 50 Ave to Elbow River; South: Glenmore to Anderson). The focus should be 25 Ave to 9 Ave (both forks), followed by 25 Ave to 50 Ave, and then maybe Glenmore to Anderson if there is time/money.
Maybe the City didn’t include 25 Ave to 9 Ave because it’s part of other plans, or private investment will partially address it, but why not focus on the areas that will visited by tourists, and have some pedestrian potential.
Let the suburbanites keep their lanes, until the get into the core, after which they can slow down and merge to fewer lanes so we can have proper mainstreets.
Maybe the City didn’t include 25 Ave to 9 Ave because it’s part of other plans, or private investment will partially address it, but why not focus on the areas that will visited by tourists, and have some pedestrian potential.
Let the suburbanites keep their lanes, until the get into the core, after which they can slow down and merge to fewer lanes so we can have proper mainstreets.
DougB
Active Member
The focus should be on Macleod north of Chinook and TOD along Horton Road. Spending lots of money to enable half assed TOD on the Heritage Square site would be a poor investment. All it deserves is a pedestrian bridge
KrisYYC
New Member
Speaking of Macleod trail, what ever happened to that Midtown Station idea? I think it called for a chunk of land on the East side of Macleod in Fairview to be redeveloped and even a new LRT station?
whatchyyc
Active Member
potatopizzafan
Active Member
Noticed this sign up at the viscount bennett school site today
KrisYYC
New Member
Ah gotcha. I wonder what the chances are of this thing actually going ahead.
whatchyyc
Active Member
City Building
The City of Calgary is updating plans that will shape the Calgary of the future and make sure our city keeps on being a great place to live. We want to hear from you.
engage.calgary.ca
Duck Lightning
Senior Member
I highly suggest people go to the website and write at the bottom where it asks:City Building
The City of Calgary is updating plans that will shape the Calgary of the future and make sure our city keeps on being a great place to live. We want to hear from you.
"Picture Calgary in 10 years: What news headline would you like to read about how the city has grown and changed?"
Dārayavauš
Active Member
I remember this and was surprised at how myopic the responses were. Anderson LRT is a great opportunity to actually try and showcase the potential of a TOD. There would still be parking, just in a parkade, but somehow this was purposely ignored by the public. I never understood what character they’re trying to protect, a massive ugly parking lot is not character.