[Silence&Motion]

All I really want for the neighbourhood now is for the City to begin executing the Streetscape Masterplan. I know the work on the Max BRT station is technically part of it, but I’d like to see other aspects of the Plan come together so 33/34 Aves start to feel like more of a cohesive main street. I don’t imagine my wish will come true any time soon in the current economy.

Marda Loop is desperate for improved street crossings, particularly across 34 AVE. On 34 Ave, there are no stop signs, traffic lights, or lighted crosswalks between 20 and 14 street. Making matters worse is that all the streets that meet 34 between 20 and 14 are offset (i.e. the south and north do not line up). That means that there are no clear intersections and no clear crossings. Instead you have a jumble of curb cuts, curb extensions, and painted crosswalks, but almost none of them actually fit together.

Some examples:

A painted crosswalk with two curb cuts, with a curb extension on one side that doesn't line up with the crosswalk.

A painted crosswalk with a curb cut on one side that leads to grass with no curb cut or sidewalk on the other side.

A curb extension with no curb cuts or crosswalks.

A curb extension+curb cut with no painted crosswalk and no curb cut on the other side. (Another example of this just got added in front of Infinity at 34 ave and 19 street).

An intersection with one curb cut at the NW corner, but nothing on the south side and no painted crosswalks.

An intersection with no north-south crossings, and only one west-facing curb cut at the SE corner.

Another intersection with no north-south crossings, though weirdly the NE curb cut is positioned on the diagonal to encourage people to cross south.

This final example characterizes all 8 intersections along 34 between 17 st south and 14 street (a distance of 600 meters). There is not a single painted crosswalk along this stretch. There are some diagonal curb cuts, but none of them line up with anything on the other side of 34 Ave. In fact, very often, the other side of the street is obstructed by parked cars.

Add to this the fact that drivers increasingly take 34 to avoid the increased traffic and construction along 33 Ave. And when they do, they're usually speeding, angry, and unwilling to yield to crossing pedestrians. It's only a matter of time before someone gets killed along here.

33 is also pretty bad, but at least it has more evenly distributed painted crosswalks and streets that actually line up.

 

[potatopizzafan]

Was that where Kaffa used to be?

it was The Farmers House before it got knocked down. Was a cozy little spot. What a shame. I wish the city could do more to prevent this from happening. The lot accross the street is in the same situation. Empty lot in a prime spot for years

 

[UrbanWarrior]

that lot has been cleared for a few years. used to be a cool old house converted to a restaurant, lots of trees around it. Then it got developed into a dirt and grass lot....yay

Awe man I remember that place, so beautiful. Such a damn shame.

 

[Beltline_B]

@Surrealplaces and @potatopizzafan , you gentlemen are talking about the same location, but different times. It used to be Kaffa, before if was the Farmer's House.

Kaffa

 

[adamyyc]

Marda Loop is desperate for improved street crossings, particularly across 34 AVE. On 34 Ave, there are no stop signs, traffic lights, or lighted crosswalks between 20 and 14 street. Making matters worse is that all the streets that meet 34 between 20 and 14 are offset (i.e. the south and north do not line up). That means that there are no clear intersections and no clear crossings. Instead you have a jumble of curb cuts, curb extensions, and painted crosswalks, but almost none of them actually fit together.

Some examples:

A painted crosswalk with two curb cuts, with a curb extension on one side that doesn't line up with the crosswalk.

A painted crosswalk with a curb cut on one side that leads to grass with no curb cut or sidewalk on the other side.

A curb extension with no curb cuts or crosswalks.

A curb extension+curb cut with no painted crosswalk and no curb cut on the other side. (Another example of this just got added in front of Infinity at 34 ave and 19 street).

An intersection with one curb cut at the NW corner, but nothing on the south side and no painted crosswalks.

An intersection with no north-south crossings, and only one west-facing curb cut at the SE corner.

Another intersection with no north-south crossings, though weirdly the NE curb cut is positioned on the diagonal to encourage people to cross south.

This final example characterizes all 8 intersections along 34 between 17 st south and 14 street (a distance of 600 meters). There is not a single painted crosswalk along this stretch. There are some diagonal curb cuts, but none of them line up with anything on the other side of 34 Ave. In fact, very often, the other side of the street is obstructed by parked cars.

Add to this the fact that drivers increasingly take 34 to avoid the increased traffic and construction along 33 Ave. And when they do, they're usually speeding, angry, and unwilling to yield to crossing pedestrians. It's only a matter of time before someone gets killed along here.

33 is also pretty bad, but at least it has more evenly distributed painted crosswalks and streets that actually line up.

I agree 100%! The Streetscape Master Plan would address a lot of this by clearly marking crosswalks at more intersections and creating boulevards to restrict left turns at some of the offset streets (34 Ave at 17 St for example).

It may not be popular in the community, but I also think the city needs to remove/restrict parking near corners of intersections and paint the outline of the permitted parking area on the roads. It’s a nightmare trying to see past parked cars at the corners. Since I moved to Calgary from Toronto, I haven’t been able to figure out what Calgarians do with their garages, because clearly they aren’t parking their cars in them!

Finally, I think there needs to be at least one more intersection on 33 Ave between 22 St and 16 St with at least a flashing pedestrian signal (like the one they have at 33 Ave and 16 St). I talked to some people from Transportation and they said there isn’t any data to support the need...but maybe 18 St would be a good candidate when Harrison is occupied.

 

[Silence&Motion]

City of Calgary typical logic: 1. Create dangerous intersection that pedestrians avoid. 2. People demand safer crossing. 3. Run study to see how many pedestrians use the intersection. 4. Find out that not many pedestrians use the intersection. 5. Reject requests for safer crossing.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

Let me dig through my files, one of my main projects of my degree was a revision of the Marda Loop Mainstreets plan...


Edit: Oh never mind it was a redo of the Marda Loop ARP. We recommended expanding the ARP up to cSpace and to include South Calgary Park. Enhanced pedestrian connections from the retail node up to cSpace and the park. A cycle track along 34 Avenue, with a public bicycle parking area/station expropriated from part of the (way too large) Petro-Canada parking lot as a connection to the new MAX BRT Station a block away. Included reduced speed limits on both 33 and 34 Avenues with controlled crosswalks at every intersection from 22 Street to 17 Street. There was probably more but I forget...

This is the map I drew up for the project...

For comparisons sake, here is the actual Marda Loop ARP and land-use...

 

[haltcatchfire]

City of Calgary typical logic: 1. Create dangerous intersection that pedestrians avoid. 2. People demand safer crossing. 3. Run study to see how many pedestrians use the intersection. 4. Find out that not many pedestrians use the intersection. 5. Reject requests for safer crossing.

6. Add to road capacity because people drive instead of walk, further compounding the problem.

 

[adamyyc]

Let me dig through my files, one of my main projects of my degree was a revision of the Marda Loop Mainstreets plan...


Edit: Oh never mind it was a redo of the Marda Loop ARP. We recommended expanding the ARP up to cSpace and to include South Calgary Park. Enhanced pedestrian connections from the retail node up to cSpace and the park. A cycle track along 34 Avenue, with a public bicycle parking area/station expropriated from part of the (way too large) Petro-Canada parking lot as a connection to the new MAX BRT Station a block away. Included reduced speed limits on both 33 and 34 Avenues with controlled crosswalks at every intersection from 22 Street to 17 Street. There was probably more but I forget...

View attachment 277894



For comparisons sake, here is the actual Marda Loop ARP and land-use...

View attachment 277895

Yeah, I was disappointed in the final result. It felt like the City bowed to the pressures from the community, to the community’s detriment.

I think it’s funny that people think the less aggressive plan will stop the City from approving every Land Use Redesignation application they receive anyways.

 

[Patrick.1980]

My thoughts too.

I would suggest not holding your breath on the cladding.. at the end of the day, this is still a super exciting, interesting, and innovative project. Cladding aside.. Publicly accessible courtyard with three courtyard facing CRUs - does this even exist in AB? Two full sized murals by local artists. 6 CRUs and 63 dope apartments. It's a win across the board, for both the community and the fans of design/development.

 

[zagox]

Yeah, I was disappointed in the final result. It felt like the City bowed to the pressures from the community, to the community’s detriment.

I think it’s funny that people think the less aggressive plan will stop the City from approving every Land Use Redesignation application they receive anyways.

It's pretty obvious in practice that the ARP density is the lower limit of what Council will approve for a land use redesignation. Negotiations assume that as a guaranteed right and go up from there. If you look at the ARPs with this lens then they are pretty reasonable.

 

[Beazley66]

Quick question for anyone: How did they handle universal accessibility to the courtyard. I confess my eyesight isn't as great as it used to be, but I don't see any ramping, (not that it was at all feasible), but I can't find vertical circulation that accesses the courtyard. I've probably just missed it.

 

[Mountain Man]

Probably an elevator somewhere.

 

[LloydBraun]

Elevator

 

[October]

I believe the elevator is located just above the '04' on the diagram, looks like there's 2.