Comment 111853

By higgicd (registered) | Posted May 29, 2015 at 12:50:33 in reply to Comment 111846

I don't claim to know what the city is thinking, but I know if I was in charge there would be 2 options:

  1. Mixed traffic, streetcar-type stop spacing. This is what Brampton is going to do with the chunk of their LRT that runs through downtown, and what we will do in the International Village. Travel times will be slower, but the lower speeds and shorter stop spacing also mean the service is more intimate, something befitting the street. Look up images of the downtown Portland Streetcar to see how that looks.

  2. Pedestrian/Transit/Active mall or arcade, closed to cars in certain sections. This could work too, and maybe well. Calgary runs their LRT downtown like this, with free on-and-off through the strip. With streetcar type service it could be great.

But I don't know enough about the success rate / factors of pedestrian malls, don't want to screw up what is working on the street. Buffalo's was a dismal failure, but I'd bet eating my hat that the failure isn't due to LRT/pedestrianization, rather bigger trends in suburbanization, downtown parking, etc.

I do know I have seen some very nice pedestrian malls in my day though... wide sidewalks, cafes, string lights across the street for a nice night ambiance... It could look amazing and be a huge boon. I get excited thinking of the street full of people on their way to an NHL game downtown like the red mile in Calgary (hey I'm a dreamer).

Plus, the West Harbour GO station is so long that losing James as an access point isn't a huge deal, not like you need the one node for cars. Can still get there via Bay, MacNab, maybe even John (traffic planners - resist the urge to turn that into a circuitous one-way network please!).

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds