[Tothewest]

There's also the fact that 11th and 12th are in the Beltline, the area of our inner-city that has the most significant population density. If the trade-off is to keep 9th, 6th, 5th and 4th Aves as one-ways and turn 11th and 12th I think that's a win. As for the downtown one ways... You can't park along those avenues at rush hour anyways so at rush hour just use a curb lane on each for a bus lane, another fair compromise from an all-day bus lane (blocks with numerous stops already act as a permanent bus lane, 5th Ave at Bow Valley Square and 6th Ave across from the Intact building).

I wonder what closing the Chumir's safe consumption will do for the area around here. It should move some people out of the area but again, like with closing the DIC, there needs to be a plan for where services will go that serve those people.

I think shelters, housing services, and mental health supports....in areas outside the downtown are what most would agree with. Safe consumption is a different animal, with zero consensus not on the where but the why

 

[KensingtonLurker]

Put me down for 2-way for 11th or 12th. Downtown is becoming less and less a place where a crush of people leave at 4:00pm and then empty after that.

I agree with everything that you have said, but unfortunately don't see it happening anytime soon. Developers and the city are doing a good job of getting more people to live inner-city, but the vast majority will continue to rely on cars for a long time. The last thing that the city will want to do is make it less convenient for companies to take space downtown and have their employees get in/out. If they could fill 4M square feet of vacant office space with 20 000 workers, that all want to drive, tomorrow, the city would be all for it.

 

[trtcttc]

The other challenge with making it harder to drive downtown is that if it's not paired with any type of constriction to the traffic coming into downtown, it'll just result in gridlock. If we have 14, Bow, Memorial, Macleod, Centre all bringing the volume into downtown, and then not making it easy to move in downtown, there will be traffic jams everywhere. I don't find walking in downtown Toronto where streets are much narrower to be a better experience during rush hour, where the entire street is filled with idling cars because the entire downtown is in gridlock.

The gripe I have with Calgary one ways is how narrow and dilapidated the sidewalk is in some places. Making the sidewalks larger so there's a gap between walking and traffic would make a huge difference.

 

[badc0ffee]

I don't find 11/12 Aves to be terrible as a pedestrian, or freeway-like in any way. That's just crazy.

In fact I like the one-way avenues as it's easier to jaywalk across them.

6 Ave where it meets Bow Trail is unpleasant, yes. But the speed limit there is 60, people go 70, and buildings are set back so far from the avenue. The whole thing is so wide. This is not the situation for 11/12 at all.

Jane Jacobs hated one-ways, but IIRC her context was Manhattan avenues that are like 250 metres apart, and that just adding to the distance required to make it to a bus stop going the right direction.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

I don't find 11/12 Aves to be terrible as a pedestrian, or freeway-like in any way.

To me, this means that they're great candidates for two-ways. Currently the one-way west on 11th ends up dumping all that traffic on to 14th Street West or into Sunalta. It is almost a road to nowhere. 12th at least dumps traffic on to Macleod. So maybe you just make 12th a two-way east of Macleod to start? 12th also has the bike line so is a bit more pedestrian friendly because of that. A single westbound lane along the bike lane couple with a single eastbound lane (off-peak) and two eastbound lanes (on-peak) could work well to make 12th feel that much better.

Adding in the traffic lights for the new two-ways also doesn't have to come with massive costs. On 12th, there are already light standards for the bike lane lights, a simple light change is all you need, not large infrastructure costs. On 11th there are also crosswalk lights that could perform the same function.

 

[badc0ffee]

Currently the one-way west on 11th ends up dumping all that traffic on to 14th Street West or into Sunalta. It is almost a road to nowhere.

No, it takes traffic to the big Crowchild/Bow interchange, where you can go west on Bow Trail or north on Crowchild.

The road curves right at 18 St SW, and then there's a really long left advance light to take those same cars onto 10 Ave and into the interchange.

Similarly, exiting the interchange into Sunalta, there's a really long right-advance light to carry traffic onto 19 St SW, which curves into 12 Ave SW.

 

[YYCguy]

In fact I like the one-way avenues as it's easier to jaywalk across them.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

No, it takes traffic to the big Crowchild/Bow interchange, where you can go west on Bow Trail or north on Crowchild.

The road curves right at 18 St SW, and then there's a really long left advance light to take those same cars onto 10 Ave and into the interchange.

Similarly, exiting the interchange into Sunalta, there's a really long right-advance light to carry traffic onto 19 St SW, which curves into 12 Ave SW.

I stand by what I said, the one-way goes into Sunalta, you're right that drivers then carry onto Bow and Crowchild sure. It is still odd to direct that amount of traffic through a community, including a playground zone, long advance or not.

Eventually the City will need to figure out 5th Ave, 6th Ave, Bow Trail, 14th Street, and 9th Ave. The Merc and Stellantis dealerships are all that is left out there. Oh, and an expensive soil cleanup.

 

[Golfing guy]

Can we move this chat to the appropriate thread??

 

[FCC1982]

^I second the motion put forward by Golfing guy

 

[Cowtown]

Two way all the way.

 

[Mountain Man]

I like the one ways, I think we should just make parking on both sides permanent, not banned in rush hour.