New Underpass open at 4th St SE

[shermanator]

I think the overpass, in addition to the Cantos Music Centre / King Eddy renovation is really going to rejuvenate the area.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Last night the overpass seemed to work wonders.
The Saddledome emptied out about 10 minutes into the 3rd period.
If that isn't efficent traffic movement I don't know what is.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by goodyear

Does anyone know if there are plans to fix/upgrade the existing downtown underpasses?

Originally Posted by Bigtime

There is a plan for the 8th street underpass to be renovated, but it is an un-funded project right now (~3 million).

Add in the 8th Street corridor improvements project for ~$2M, which is related and also unfunded.

Our community association is pushing for the underpasses to be refurbished, and we had identified 8th Street and MacLeod Trail northbound (2nd Street East) as priorities. We want the 8th Street projects to be added to the Capital Infrastructure budget when that goes to council this month.

Really it's amazing that they've been allowed to go this long in the state they are in.

[Bill Bumface]

I'm curious why 2nd Street East? It seems that would have the lowest pedestrian traffic out of all of them, and 1st st E, 1st st W, 4th st W, 5th st W and 8th st W would all be higher priority?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

I'm curious why 2nd Street East? It seems that would have the lowest pedestrian traffic out of all of them, and 1st st E, 1st st W, 4th st W, 5th st W and 8th st W would all be higher priority?

I guess it can't hurt to plan for it receiving more use as more projects go up in east Beltline.

[Bill Bumface]

It just seems with a snazzy new 4st E underpass already there, parts of the city with more use are sitting in a more painful state with regards to pedestrian infrastructure.

On a separate note, they are implementing a lot of separated bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure which is great. Now can they implement some separated bum/non-bum walkways for the Langevin Bridge?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

It just seems with a snazzy new 4st E underpass already there, parts of the city with more use are sitting in a more painful state with regards to pedestrian infrastructure.

Do you latte sippers really need another $25M chinese finger trap bridge?



The 8th St SW underpass is more used, but the 1st St SW underpass is about 10x as sketchy. Those ugly train wall-art things just make it worse and make it feel more narrow; it honestly is a pretty unsafe feeling place despite being so close to the Palliser.

[Travis Munroe]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Dig a hole, do a bunch of shoring, build temporary support for freight train tracks, relocate freight train tracks, dig whole on other side, do a bunch of shoring, build deck for freight train tracks, move tracks back to permanent position, install permanent concrete shoring, prepare road bed, install and wire traffic signals, terminate 10th ave and create cul-de-sac, crib sidewalks/curbs, pour walks/curbs, finishing concrete, pave road, install hand rails, lighting, ornamental tunnel heads, paint road lines, re-time surrounding traffic signals, have $69 million dollar underpass opening ceremony.

Yup, seems normal

Love the detail lol.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Do you latte sippers really need another $25M chinese finger trap bridge?

Haha, I'm still waiting on my snazzy bridge (St. Patricks Island) even though it will be a bit of a detour, I won't have to install a plow on my bike to push away all the bums piled up on the Langevin Bridge walkway

The 8th St SW underpass is more used, but the 1st St SW underpass is about 10x as sketchy. Those ugly train wall-art things just make it worse and make it feel more narrow; it honestly is a pretty unsafe feeling place despite being so close to the Palliser.

That's exactly what I meant. 1st SW sees a ton of traffic and is pretty terrible. I used to walk under there every day. Nothing like starting your morning with some human poop.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

I'm curious why 2nd Street East? It seems that would have the lowest pedestrian traffic out of all of them, and 1st st E, 1st st W, 4th st W, 5th st W and 8th st W would all be higher priority?

It's an easy win. Of the 4 corners surrounding the underpass, two don't have buildings, one has a building that is fairly set back. The fourth is the Enmax substation building on the southeast corner of the underpass. So it would be comparatively easy to do and isn't much "less" desperately needed than any of the others.

To be clear, our position is that they should all be refurbished as soon as possible, but if you had to pick any as a first phase, we suggested 8th West and 2nd East.