^^^^ Actually,
@Daveography I think there is a very valid case to be made...
1. On the eastern extreme (
all industrial or mercantile in terms of adjacent uses) it would tie-in directly to Wye Road (
Sherwood Park's equivalent of Jasper Avenue). A "clover loop" at about the equivalent of 9th/10th Street would take westbound traffic over the Sherwood Park Freeway and connect the loop to 76th Street. Similarly an eastbound lane off of 76th could cross over the exit ramp of the SP Freeway thereby completing the extension into Sherwood Park -- in both instances the land is sitting there idle in terms of use.
2. Heading west the industrial mercantile uses continue all of the way to 50th street. It would be an easy matter to widen this section of 76th street to 4 lanes (
total -- two in each direction), put in a sidewalk on one side of the street and a protected 2-way bike lane on the other -- again, the land is sitting idle to achieve this. With a little artful landscaping a palette of native plants, shrubs and occasional vertical planters could make the visual aspect far, far more pleasant than it currently is.
3. A multi-functional bridge could span the tracks at 67th street, allowing the same 4-lane plus sidewalk plus bike lanes to carry on westward through industrial-then-commercial zones all the way to Argyll Road (
upgraded to a traffic-light-controlled intersection).
4. From Argyll to 75th Street -- more Industrial/Commercial -- we create the same design elements described to this point, and, I might add, the effort is very inexpensive compared to other alternatives and we make the 75th Street/76th Avenue another light-controlled intersection.
5. West of 75th Street, 76th Avenue is already a four-lane thoroughfare all the way to the CP lands that, incidentally, are in a comparable state of dis-use. Along the route we simply eliminate curb parking altogether and change all intersections to cobble/stone paving alternatives so that traffic is naturally moderated from a speed perspective (
traffic at 40 kph gets you there almost as fast as traffic at 50 kph). Pedestrian sidewalk on the north side of the Avenue; bicycle lanes on the south. Landscape-wise and in conjunction with a widened boulevard on both sides of the avenue we create a treed allée with benches along the route and information/technology modules interspersed here and there. We also create City-maintained landscape buffers that improve the aspect of front-yards for residences.
