Bow River Flow

[SebC]

So the hotly debated Memorial Drive closure is today.

This is the "festival" that's taking place: http://www.bowriverflow.ca/

Anyone been/going? It sounds pretty light on content.

Have to laugh at them asking people to take transit, pushing the whole green thing. Just happens that most of the work on the LRT is done on weekends, and today is one such weekend, meaning that if you're coming from south of Vicotoria Park, you'll have to make two extra transfers from LRT -> Shuttle and Shuttle -> LRT.

[getbak]

Hmmm, I might have to take a drive down there and see what it's like.

[SebC]

Oh yeah, not to mention that Sunday is the day with the lightest traffic on Memorial, but it's also the day with the lowest service levels even when there's no LRT maintenance. CT is focussed on getting people to and from work on weekdays, and whilst it does that exceptionally well, that's about all it does well.

[ricoFlame]

i mean, i guess it could be fun. don't think i'll make it down, but why not i guess.

[octothorp]

It's a block from my house so I'll head out to Druh Farrell Day. Yeah, looks light on content and Memorial Drive is completely backed up. They should have just closed the whole thing down and routed traffic through downtown rather than try to funnel all the traffic through the single lanes.

edit: just got back from it. Pretty weak overall. Unless you're between the ages of maybe 4 and 12 or have an unhealthy interest in municipal public information kiosks, there's very little to do. The activities that were there didn't have a lot of organization to them, and there wasn't a lot you could just stand around and watch. And as I mentioned before, the whole road closure idea didn't really work. Either close the whole thing or don't close it at all. Even with the meridian, people seemed reluctant to use the roadway, while the two lanes of motor traffic were backed up through the whole neighbourhood. It doesn't make it a pleasant experience to walk down a street when half the street is full of gridlocked traffic.

I actually do hope that they do it again next year, as it could be a decent festival if it was more planned out.

Also funny to see the "official beer gardens" at Osterio in Kensington. They closed off their entire parking lot, filled it with table and umbrellas. And they had four customers out there.

[MelBridgeman]

[Regulator75]

It was a complete joke. What a waste of time.

[tigger777]

I think a lot of people were attracted to the Cross Iron Mills instead.

[ricoFlame]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Also funny to see the "official beer gardens" at Osterio in Kensington. They closed off their entire parking lot, filled it with table and umbrellas. And they had four customers out there.

yikes, that's tough. that would be funny to see though.

[MRCboicgy]

I took a walk. Wow, i got to walk on the street rather than the path, that made the whole debate worth it...

I really hope I don't need green txt.

[Shazam]

It was environmentally friendly because no one bothered to waste energy going there.

[First Lady]

We went down.... here is my better-half's review, with pictures.

http://www.corymorgan.com/?p=324

He likely will do a Youtube sequel to the first one; we got some good footage... including someone biking down the centre of vehicle traffic in the remaining lanes of Memorial....

[RW99]

Thanks for the link. While the blog post is of course biased in one direction I did get a good chuckle at the parking lot traffic and two empty lanes

[Jedi Ninja]

By chance, I went through there this morning at around 10:00AM on my bike as I was taking a bike ride on the pathway, and at that hour, there wasn't really anyone out there on the street. I was sticking to the pathway, but halfway down one of the organizer ladies sternly shouts at me "you know, you can ride on the street today!" So I humoured her and moved onto the street. Two blocks later, the lane closure comes to an abrupt end with no way to get back onto the pathway. So, suddenly I'm in eastbound traffic, being buzzed by angry motorists, and am stuck there for a block or two until I finally have an opportunity to jump the curb and get back onto the pathway. Well planned. I see all of the city's brightest brains were working on the logistics of that baby. Thanks, lady.

[C-Four]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Pretty weak overall. Unless you're between the ages of maybe 4 and 12 or have an unhealthy interest in municipal public information kiosks, there's very little to do. The activities that were there didn't have a lot of organization to them, and there wasn't a lot you could just stand around and watch.

Went to go check it out after a run in the area and that's exactly the same impression I got... not a lot to do. And not too many food vendors either.

[Bunk]

The Herald photo shows a lot of people on the road. More community-oriented events are good for Calgary, where that feeling often seems to be lacking. I'm sure this one will grow and get better year by year. You should see the photos of the Lilac Festival when it first started - very modest, now has over 100,000 people every year.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Gallery...518/story.html


I'm not sure why some Calgarians are getting their panties in a knot over a lane reduction that will slow people down for a few minutes on a sunday.

[bcb]

Originally Posted by Bunk

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Gallery...518/story.html

Wow, playing chess on the road...How progressive

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by bcb

Wow, playing chess on the road...How progressive

At least they are still wearing their bike helmets.

[bcb]

Originally Posted by arsenal

At least they are still wearing their bike helmets.

Chess can be a dangerous game.

[First Lady]

More coverage here:
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/loc...ub=CalgaryHome

But most people stayed on the pathway and boulevard and didn't use the two closed lanes of Memorial Drive. At many points there were more pylons than people on the closed roadway.