Encana trying to make its mark on Calgary skyline

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Yep, one of the towers of "London" has started construction....

I was actually quite suprised by how muchh they've done already. Part of it is already out of the ground although I don't thinkk its the base of a tower.

There is a proposed midrise tower for the corner of that intersection as well.

[Claeren]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Have they begun construction on the condo complex in south calgary by heritage station? When finished, it'll be 4 or 5 towers I believe... It'll fill in that area nicely. Traffic will suck though.

Traffic will suck?

I don't understand this line of thinking at all.

Building ~1200 units on a transit station 10 min from downtown will make traffic WORSE?

Beyond building them right downtown where would be a better place? I would count the city blessed if there were 1200 units on every LRT station.

If these people all lived in the suburbs, say McKenzie Town; Instead of having high LRT use and people driving from Heritage to downtown in the morning you would have just as many people having to at least drive to an LRT stop (and taking up a valuable parking spot) with most of them driving allllllll the way to Heritage and THEN the rest of the way to downtown. Many times more traffic!


I hear this 'horrible traffic' complaint all the time when new developments are proposed and i just do not understand what the hell these people think happens to the traffic if it is not concentrated in one development? (Answer - it is spread out all over the place in 1200 little SUV-castles twice as far from downtown).


Sorry - end of rant.

Claeren.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Claeren

Building ~1200 units on a transit station 10 min from downtown will make traffic WORSE?

You're thinking too one-dimensional.

Not everyone works downtown.

Not everyone takes transit.

Most will still need to drive on weekends.

Sure the commute to work should be better (assuming transit can keep up with that flow), but the non-work times in that area will be insane.

[Claeren]

Originally Posted by calculoso

You're thinking too one-dimensional.

Not everyone works downtown.

Not everyone takes transit.

Most will still need to drive on weekends.

Sure the commute to work should be better (assuming transit can keep up with that flow), but the non-work times in that area will be insane.

Sorry, i still do not understand your reasoning.

YOU are thinking too one dimensionally.

Most people live in the suburbs. You are taking ~1000 people out of the suburbs. So you are releaving pressure on every intersection further away then Heritage/MacLeod without increasing the total increase at Heritage and every intersection up MacLeod.

People working outside of downtown are still more likely to work near downtown then away from it. And those that are most likely to work far from downtown are most likely to be well served by that location.

And people that chose to live on an LRT stop will likely use that VERY conveinent LRT stop more often then those who do not.

This location/development it probably taking MILLIONS of driven kilometers off of our roadways/year (if not per month). How is that BAD for traffic?

It is no wonder i guess that if this basic concept in traffic patterns and system loading is beyond the average persons grasp that the 'suburb' in all of its brutally unsustainable glory is so prevelent.


Claeren.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Claeren

Sorry, i still do not understand your reasoning.

YOU are thinking too one dimensionally.

Most people live in the suburbs. You are taking ~1000 people out of the suburbs. So you are releaving pressure on every intersection further away then Heritage/MacLeod without increasing the total increase at Heritage and every intersection up MacLeod.

People working outside of downtown are still more likely to work near downtown then away from it. And those that are most likely to work far from downtown are most likely to be well served by that location.

And people that chose to live on an LRT stop will likely use that VERY conveinent LRT stop more often then those who do not.

This location/development it probably taking MILLIONS of driven kilometers off of our roadways/year (if not per month). How is that BAD for traffic?

It is no wonder i guess that if this basic concept in traffic patterns and system loading is beyond the average persons grasp that the 'suburb' in all of its brutally unsustainable glory is so prevelent.


Claeren.

You are taking that many people out of the suburbs but people currently living in the suburbs dont blow up their houses and move to London. Others move into those houses. Your also not reducing sprwal around the city, just making waiting lists for lots shorter.

Have you ever tried to get on a train at Heritage during rush hour? Good luck. When the idiots plan to "improve" our LRT system, their method in increasing ridership is to add more stations at the ends of exsisting lines rather than increase capacity and improve on our exsisting stations to hold 4 or more trains. Adding more stations only shortens the distance you would have to drive to get to the train station benefiting commuters in Okotoks and Ardrie more than inner city folk whom pay taxes to the city.

The east west line was planned in 1968. Think its about time? I would love to take public transit everyday from the suburbs but the opportunity cost of driving is lower for me than cramming into a train at 5 o'clock.

Its time for this city to get serious about its transit system and be a little progressive with planning.

[Daradon]

There was a report on Global news a week or so ago saying that Calgargians have one of the highest ridership levels per capita for their train system in NA, and I think the highest in Canada. You are absolutely right when you say they need to get serious about the train system. (Expanding it, using the underground tunnels, adding lines, maybe even extending it out of town so we don't have as many of the vehicles coming in from outside the city.

The public uses it, even loves it. We're doing our share, we're ready to be green, responsible. The city and most of all the province has to pony up the dough and make it a true city train system.

[4X4]

Claren, do you know the area well? I certainly do, and I can tell you that 8 or 900 cars living on horton road is going to affect the area pretty significantly. Right now, mcleod and heritage is ok. Except when a big train comes thru. The lrt kinda screws with rush hour, but it's not that bad. Southland is worse than heritage, but still not too bad. But those extra cars aren't just passing through. They are all turning left and right into a small intersection that is really only used for shortcutting at this time. mcleod trail and hull ave (86th on the east side of mcleod) is suddenly going to become the place where half of the northbound traffic are going to turn because turning north on mcleod from heritage from horton is not for the meek. Getting across two lanes in tto the turning lane is tough for alot of people, so instead, they will turn left from hull ave.
Then you have the other end of the street by southland drive. That's a headache right now. Not a huge headache, but it'll become on pretty quickly because those cars LIVE ON TAHT STREET.

Really man, I know you're no stupid guy, but unless you know that area well, you're probably not qualified to conclude that it'll be no problem.

And tru dat to the poster that said that the trains are packed by the time they hit heritage station. If it wasn't for Bishop Grandin being right there (and some students getting off the train) NOBODY would be getting on the trains at heritage in the morning. Unless they were to ride a SB train to the end, only to get on a NB train.


Horton road will have to get two lanes each direction, and likely a light at the entrance to the parkade. Heritage drive needs to go over the train lines, and horton road NB needs to be able to go WB on heritage.

[J pold]

Sorry if this is bring up an old thread, but because this is so closely related

Because I work for a downtown real estate company I just got these pictures emailed to me

They are ideas for what Calgary's downtown might look like in 2010

[J pold]

[J pold]

[J pold]

[J pold]

[Winsor_Pilates]

nice pics J pold.
Are those actually planned buildings, or just random guesses?
If they are planned, do you know what any of them are?

[Calgary Flames]

Those buildings look awesome

[calculoso]

looks good to me... where do I sign up?

[getbak]

So, if I'm reading those pictures correctly, we'll be looking at 3 towers taller than Petro-Can and one between Banker's Hall and the Petro-Can?

It will be an interesting next few years if that's even partly true.

[octothorp]

Imperial's rumoured to be planning one in the 60+ range. Apparently they want to wait until Encana's is announced and then possibly announce one that is even taller. Personally, I don't think it really matters how tall it is. The thing that makes Encana's exciting is the architect and the rumoured cultural hub that will be built into the building.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by J pold

Because I work for a downtown real estate company I just got these pictures emailed to me

you had them emailed to you? are you sure you didnt just steal them off of skyscraperpage?

[Incogneto]

Any update on this story? Have drawings been released to the public, yet?

[Claeren]

Check out forum.skyscraperpage.com (Western Canada section) for updated info. There was an article posted today in fact...


Claeren.