MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

1. 4th and 5th Street don't both need bike lanes. The city picked 5th over fourth. Makes sense to me.

The city also picked 12th over 10th.

2. 10 ave would be an alternative to 12 ave and would probably be better for cyclists and motorists. Yes, would lose a bit of parking of 10 ave, but could optimize traffic down 12 street better. Slower vehicle traffic speeds on 10 ave make it more cyclist friendly imo.

The speed limits on 10th and 12th are the same. If the vehicle speed feels faster it's because 12th is more optimized for through travel, which is also better for cyclists. 10th also isn’t more residential than 12th. 14th and 15th is working so well the city is blowing them up to make better lanes.
And what are you trying to optimize vehicle traffic on 12th to? There’s already less volume on it than there was pre-pandemic. The goal isn’t to have more vehicles travelling on it. What does optimal mean in this case?

4. If you had cycle infrastructure on 10 ave instead of 12 ave, then you can do cycle infrastructure on.7th Street or 9 street instead of 8th Street. And have it connect to underpass at 8th Street via 10 avenue SW.

The high traffic point on 8th is the underpass, so if you're building it anyway, what's the justification for diverting the cycle lanes after they cross it? You're now creating disruption on two streets instead of one, to the benefit of neither drivers or cyclists. What’s being optimized?

5. Fair point about 5A street. I was thinking as an alternative to a cycle track on 5 Street to south of 17 ave. You could go 5A to Cliff to 25 to river pathway. But you don't really need cycle infrastructure on those quiet streets.

How did you plan on getting people from 5th to 5A and from 25th to the River Pathway? Again, what’s being optimized with this proposal?

[GullFoss]

Twelfth is faster than 10th because it's multiple lanes of one way traffic. It's the same rationale the city used for wanting to make 2nd Street and 5th street one way in Mission.

Meanwhile, 10th is safer than 12th for cyclists because there's fewer cross intersections to get hit by a turning vehicle. And the slower vehicle speed makes it safer too.

Do you work for the city?

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

Twelfth is faster than 10th because it's multiple lanes of one way traffic. It's the same rationale the city used for wanting to make 2nd Street and 5th street one way in Mission.

Meanwhile, 10th is safer than 12th for cyclists because there's fewer cross intersections to get hit by a turning vehicle. And the slower vehicle speed makes it safer too.

Do you work for the city?

10th is littered with driveways.

12th has about 18 (+/- depending on how you count two driveways cutting side by side) from 14th to Macleod. Plus 14 cross roads (almost all controlled with signals).

The north side of 10th has 34 driveways. Plus 6 cross roads. You would hope to close a bunch of those when designing the bike lanes, but you're probably not getting to a lower conflict number than 12th.

Driveways are probably more dangerous than road crossings - especially controlled crossings.


I'm not sure if 10th would have been 2-way on the north side, or 1-way on each curb (in which case EB gets all the road crossings anyways)? 2-way bike lane on one side of a 2-way road is terrible.

10th also terminates at 4th St SE. With tight crappy ramps down to the underpass. The way the lanes on 12th ended was never great, but at least it's not a dead end, and should be improved when the road is rebuilt.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

Twelfth is faster than 10th because it's multiple lanes of one way traffic. It's the same rationale the city used for wanting to make 2nd Street and 5th street one way in Mission.

The city was looking to reduce speeds on 2nd and 5th. The rationale for one-way was because they'd plan on going down to one permanent travel lane and have one lane be an off-peak parking lane. Instead 2nd remained a two-way street at the expense of off-peak parking. Faster was the opposite of the rationale.

Meanwhile, 10th is safer than 12th for cyclists because there's fewer cross intersections to get hit by a turning vehicle. And the slower vehicle speed makes it safer too.

Cross, signal-controlled intersections are a lot safer than what the north side of 10th has going on. As pointed out there are a lot more uncontrolled interaction points on 10th than on 12th.

Do you work for the city?

No. Do you?

[curves2000]

I hate when political leaders like to pacify the public as they don't already know what is going on. The on going and never ending debacle that is Marda Loop construction is getting worse with more and more people are fed up. The Mayor and associated area councilors are pretending like they don't know why all the fuss is about! Sad and tragic for the people who live in the area and for those who's businesses has been affected too. The workers who's livelihoods have been impacted as well.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/artic...op-businesses/

People in charge know what the concerns are for locals and for businesses. Traffic, construction, parking, never ending development, missed timelines, missed promises, increased taxes and more local frustration. Ruining the area for a lot of people for years and nobody cares. The irony is that the big projects haven't even started yet and should go on for ages, adding to the frustration. I love the quip about the city adding a parking lot close by! That was a corporate decision by Boardwalk to better use their land on 33rd Ave until rents stabilize and the frustration with the area calms down a bit. Contrary to what a lot of people think, nobody wants to live next to a perpetual construction zone.

[shermanator]

The construction is brutal in Marda Loop right now but it's not the sole reason some of these places are failing.

Doodle Dogs opened 1 block away from another pet store that had been in the neighborhood for years. And they signed the lease after construction had already started. Not the best location to choose it turns out.

I remember APT 22 bragging about how in Marda Loop they could lease a space double the size of their space in the Beltline and within a year they were blaming construction for their store closing, and not the fact that there were already two well established consignment stores close by that offered the same for less money with loyal clientele.

Phil and Sebastian has seen significant competition enter the neighbourhood and they are losing customers because the other coffee shops are where people are choosing to go.

Most of the small businesses a couple blocks down from the places complaining are thriving, and they faced the same construction challenges along the way.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by shermanator

The construction is brutal in Marda Loop right now but it's not the sole reason some of these places are failing.

Doodle Dogs opened 1 block away from another pet store that had been in the neighborhood for years. And they signed the lease after construction had already started. Not the best location to choose it turns out.

I remember APT 22 bragging about how in Marda Loop they could lease a space double the size of their space in the Beltline and within a year they were blaming construction for their store closing, and not the fact that there were already two well established consignment stores close by that offered the same for less money with loyal clientele.

Phil and Sebastian has seen significant competition enter the neighbourhood and they are losing customers because the other coffee shops are where people are choosing to go.

Most of the small businesses a couple blocks down from the places complaining are thriving, and they faced the same construction challenges along the way.

Exactly. I live in the neighbourhood and went to Doodle Dogs when they opened and thought "why would I go here when they have better selection and pricing at the place I've been going to for years?"

There are legitimate concerns about the volume and pace of construction in Marda Loop. The planned tower (where the other pet store is) is concerning due to access, egress and congestion and there are more examples. However, it's really been affecting 33 and 34 Ave, with the majority being 33rd where it's mostly commercial. I still walk there most days and go to the same stores. I don't know for sure but I'd guess that Shoppers Drug Mart, which is in the same building as Doodle Dogs, hasn't seen any downturn. The amount of whining about the construction has been substantially louder than the noise from construction.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Exactly. I live in the neighbourhood and went to Doodle Dogs when they opened and thought "why would I go here when they have better selection and pricing at the place I've been going to for years?"

There are legitimate concerns about the volume and pace of construction in Marda Loop. The planned tower (where the other pet store is) is concerning due to access, egress and congestion and there are more examples. However, it's really been affecting 33 and 34 Ave, with the majority being 33rd where it's mostly commercial. I still walk there most days and go to the same stores. I don't know for sure but I'd guess that Shoppers Drug Mart, which is in the same building as Doodle Dogs, hasn't seen any downturn. The amount of whining about the construction has been substantially louder than the noise from construction.

They should have a giant sign going in with planned finish date, forecasted finish date. Planned cost, forecast cost. It's just a bizarre project management style whatever is happening. The CO-OP development is going to be a disaster. I hope they are preparing for that one. I'm sure it will look good at then end and be net positive. But this will be like Chemo for the neighborhood to go through. Suffer to get better.

Also, WTF is doodledogs?

[chemgear]

Wasn't it supposed to be done in 2024? They dragged it out into 2025. Then to summer 2025? And now with a few more months now still . . . maybe?

Wonder what the budget overrun on this is hitting now.

[shermanator]

It's funny watching everyone complain about parking in Marda Loop while the free temporary parking lot on 33rd and 21st sits 90% empty every day.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by shermanator

It's funny watching everyone complain about parking in Marda Loop while the free temporary parking lot on 33rd and 21st sits 90% empty every day.

Is that a failure of visitors or is that a failure of communication from the city for the recently added parking lot? To my knowledge there has not been very good communication from the city on this parking lot.

Visitors and employee's are not accustomed to parking on random lots. Up until very very recently this was suppose to be a Boardwalk rental project but they decided to make better use of the dirt lot and made a corporate decision to turn it into parking with the city.

[PepsiFree]

I don’t remember the last time the city pre-communicated the existence of a parking lot to me.

[btimbit]

Looks like it was posted to their social media as well as their webpage for the marda loop project.

That seems more than sufficient to me

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I don’t remember the last time the city pre-communicated the existence of a parking lot to me.

What, you didn't get the Emergency Alert Temporary Parking Lot pushed to your phone? Huh. Must be a provider issue.


It's on Google Maps and the Calgary Parking website, the two places I'd look before I went to an unfamiliar place.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What, you didn't get the Emergency Alert Temporary Parking Lot pushed to your phone? Huh. Must be a provider issue.

He was on the list but we blocked him prior to the first alert.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What, you didn't get the Emergency Alert Temporary Parking Lot pushed to your phone? Huh. Must be a provider issue.


It's on Google Maps and the Calgary Parking website, the two places I'd look before I went to an unfamiliar place.

I wouldn’t look at all and would just find a parking spot somewhere when I arrived, hopefully, maybe, ending up in that very parking lot, by the grace of god, which is how I’ve found parking for my entire adult life.

Honestly, sometimes it’s a miracle I’m alive.

[shermanator]

You know what they really need? A giant sign, perhaps on the fencing surrounding the parking lot, that details that it is a temporary lot for the duration of the construction.

They already have that, but maybe they need 7-8 more of them to get the message across. Throw a couple up over that new entrance sign to Marda Loop for good measure.

[fotze2]

There’s a big parking lot there? I had no idea. I have a condo on 33rd.

[Amethyst]

Actually they should announce it. That would be a simple, inexpensive way to help. I don't live anywhere near Marda Loop, so wouldn't just "discover" it, but occasionally someone will mention a restaurant or something in that area that I might try out. But I've just been ignoring that because to me it's the "construction nightmare" area that I figured I'd just avoid.

Like during the water main issue last year when they told us Bowness businesses were open and we should go. When they interview the mayor about Marda Loop, she could mention that they've opened a temporary parking lot to try and alleviate the problems.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by fotze2

There’s a big parking lot there? I had no idea. I have a condo on 33rd.

Looks like they're now using the lots where there used to be a bunch of homes. You can see it was fenced off on google maps in 2024 street views. Looks like it was just newly opened as part of their July 2025 update?

https://www.calgary.ca/planning/proj...in-street.html

Did they actually put up signs for people in the area to see it being newly available now? I guess it would have been helpful during 2023 and 2024 as construction was dragged out.