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^ I like it. I think 1St SW is probably a lot more realistic for that, but why not both!

I think I might reverse your idea and make current NB Macleod the vehicle pipeline and SB the 'complete street'. NB is hemmed in by the LRT tracks and Stampede Park most of the way, so you couldn't really spur much development on the east side, and it's inherently more suited for flowing traffic. I think you'd probably be looking at full lane reversal all the way to 25 Ave at rush hours. But you extend the 'complete street' down there, too, which would be great for those undeveloped Erlton blocks south of the Elbow.

25th is already a mess of an intersection, but there might be opportunity for a crazy traffic circle type thing, and doing a pedestrian overpass from Erlton LRT to the west side of the roads to remove them from that messy intersection altogether.
 
lemongrab said:
NB is hemmed in by the LRT tracks and Stampede Park most of the way, so you couldn't really spur much development on the east side, and it's inherently more suited for flowing traffic.
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I think NB being hemmed in by the tracks and Stampede Park is what makes it a better option. That already acts as a bit of a wall to the Beltline so why not put a 'mural' on that wall? I see this making 17th Ave west of the new Stampede Park entrance as a 'front porch' to Stampede Park, I never envisioned a lot of car traffic actually entering into Stampede Park using that entrance but even if it does making that portion lane reversible could help cars get in and out Stampede Park. If you put the 'complete street' on the south bound lanes you affectively make the NB portion and streets between SB and NB Macleod a bit of an island. Not to mention that I took a 'streetview' drive down the SB lanes and there's a lot more egress with the adjacent properties to contend with (Gas Plus, Esso, Bernard Callebaut, and most importantly Repsol). I don't like the idea of isolating the Anthem property by 25th Ave but with improvements to 25th Ave and access to the 'complete street' using the Elbow River pathway, they're not completely cut off

You're right in the sense that it won't spur much development directly to the east of the street. But here's where I think you would get some development/improvements: The Hat Elbow River could rethink their podium to better integrate with the 'complete street', the parking lot between 15th and 14th Ave suddenly becomes more attractive for development, the triangle lot in the NW corner of the BMO (currently zoned for a hotel I believe) becomes a more attractive as a proposition, and the parking lot east of Enoch Park could be more than a parking lot.
 
I like it. But I also think the red line should have just stayed underground the entire distance between 42nd and the Central Library. Combining that with Macleod complete street from 25th to the Bow would be pretty awesome.

One thing I can't figure out is why the CP Line through downtown can't just be 1 or 2 tracks instead of 4? It's already one track west of 14th street anyway. If it were to be buried, it's a pretty simple process to bury one track in parallel while the others remained open.
 
MissingMiddle said:
One thing I can't figure out is why the CP Line through downtown can't just be 1 or 2 tracks instead of 4? It's already one track west of 14th street anyway. If it were to be buried, it's a pretty simple process to bury one track in parallel while the others remained open.
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I think this is all about CPs operations to stack and combine the trains in Inglewood and the Alyth Yards. CP recently completed it's quad-track bridge expansion over the Elbow, I think they are at least 4 tracks wide from 11 Street SW crossing to Alyth and perhaps farther out than that now.

My guess is that CP would never grant approval of any structure than permanently limits them to only 1 track, I assume they'd be thinking of doubling the mainline one-day from Downtown west at the least. Throw in any expansion for regional rail to the west that shares the CP right-of-way - whether it's dedicated 2 tracks or just a new shared track - and the effective width in the city centre is likely 3-4 tracks minimum to support long-range expansion build out.

Just guessing though - I would be curious to know what CPs long term plans are and what is their trigger points for deciding when they double their mainline or not.
 
Surrealplaces said:
might have an issue with hazardous materials.
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UrbanWarrior said:
Unquestionably a problem with hazardous materials.
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MissingMiddle said:
I like it. But I also think the red line should have just stayed underground the entire distance between 42nd and the Central Library. Combining that with Macleod complete street from 25th to the Bow would be pretty awesome.

One thing I can't figure out is why the CP Line through downtown can't just be 1 or 2 tracks instead of 4? It's already one track west of 14th street anyway. If it were to be buried, it's a pretty simple process to bury one track in parallel while the others remained open.
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The biggest problem is there's no way the city changes how they view Macleod, they view it as an Urban Boulevard and a Urban Mainstreet in the latest transportation plan from 2020 but how do they get from that designation to a complete street on the NB lanes? My hope is when they're building the green line (11 Ave cut and cover IMO) and inevitably have to close Macleod NB and SB, they end up moving them one at a time to reversible lanes and realize, maybe we can do this long term...

For the CP tracks going underground I'd say it's what Surrealplaces and Urban Warrior said: Dangerous Goods transportation. I don't see those rules changing ever.
 
YourBoy007 said:
Cool, more useless office conversion grants! God, do any of these politicians have the slightest idea on how to actually create a vibrant city, let alone a downtown?
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Decades of UCP/PC leadership hasn’t helped create a vibrant downtown, so to answer your question, no, so far they don’t have the slightest clue.
I’m not overly in favour of government money being used to subsidize developments that compete against other privately funded developments, but in the case of office conversions I can live with it.
I don’t think the conversions would happen without subsidization.
 
Personally, I don’t think it’s the provincial government’s job to create vibrant downtowns. That should be the city’s job but the province can help with funding.

I understand where AlexYYC is coming from regarding the government being in the development business, but this is the one case where I would make an exception.
I make the exception, because without more residential in the CBD, it is forever a lost cause. There is virtually no possibility of it ever becoming a vibrant place without that component. The other necessary component is to create active retail. Not the crap that we have in the Plus 15, but actual retail open past 5 o’clock and that faces onto the street.
Everything else such as improved streetscapes and greenery etc. are a completely pointless effort if you don’t have the people or the businesses.

My plan would be the reverse order of the city’s, starting with the most expensive, but important.
1-concentrate on office space conversions
2-create a retail epicentre that can be an anchor for the CBD. Useful retail, not more clothing and shoe stores.The perfect spot would be the Bay Parkade, demo it and build something similar to the Superstore in EV, but bigger and with more CRUs at street level. Less fancy than the Core in hopes of bringing more regular businesses.
3-help fund renovations of office building main floors that are adding street facing CRUs in strategic avenues and streets.
4-after 1 and 2 are completed or underway stat improving the streets and greenery.
 
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I think chasing a vibrant CBD might be a fruitless exercise that would only serve to dilute or cannibalize our more promising inner-city communities. We're getting pretty close to a decent inner donut' of vibrancy around the CBD: beltine, EV, Eau Claire, WV (eventually), with good branches out to Inglewood, Bridgeland, Kensington, Mission, etc.

There are a lot of good potential use-cases for office conversions (mostly short/mid term occupancy), but I don't think they are a viable path to establishing an actual 'community' of residents.
 
I think it has already been established that there are only a handful of office buildings in the CBD that could be converted to residential. More money from the provincial government is not going to change that. I would not waste any more money trying to bring residential into the core (as I define it ....north of 8th ave to 4 Ave, and west of Macleod Trail to 8 St SW). There are too many office ghettos that the odd residential building with street front retail, here and there is not going to bring vibrancy to downtown. The best we can hope for is the continued growth of Eau Claire, West Village, East Village, Beltline and the revitalization of Stephen Ave. Anything beyond that is wishful thinking and cost prohibitive in my mind.
 
I would still like to see a longterm plan for the CBD. The 'Inner donut' has been progressing marvelously, but having a somewhat vibrant core can take away the void currently in the middle of the inner donut, and help create better cross connections between those neighborhoods. I don't think it needs to be much. Adding residential through new projects, plus throwing in a few conversions can help bring some vibrancy as well as help bolster the inner donut neighborhoods, all of which would be within walking distance of the core. If enough residential is added to the core, it could create a synergy, where it's not just people in the CDB supporting the inner donut, but also people in the inner donut supporting the core. This won't happen overnight, but it can happen eventually if there is a vision for it.
 
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