From a residents perspective, closing the main thoroughfare through town has a very detrimental impact on traffic through residential neighborhoods. It also effectively cuts off a section of town from quick access to emergency and evacuation lanes.
They could just as easily close down Bear Street to be pedestrian only, but then it becomes a pissing contest between the lesser Bear Street businesses and the more expensive restaurants and shops along Banff Avenue.
Just in terms of logisitcs, it makes more sense to shut down Bear, between Moose and Caribou. Or as a secondary option, shut down Banff Avenue between Moose and Caribou and then reopen for the last block before the bridge, but that creates the same serious access problems for busses and trucks as shutting down all of Banff Avenue, although it opens up the emergency access more.
Basically shutting down Banff Ave is just an economic play, and does some pretty serious harm to traffic flow.
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