Silence&Motion
Senior Member
The Victoria Park Station project (and this discussion) got me thinking, that Calgary's inner city has really got to commit to being a better pedestrian place with way less half-measures and compromises. I see no evidence here (or elsewhere) that 4 - 6 lane fast one-way thoroughfare couplets create better places or cities. You can't have both a car-prioritizing inner city and a pedestrian-prioritizing one.
The fact that Google Maps routinely routes me directly through the downtown core whenever I'm driving from the east side of the city to the west is the best explanation I can think of as to why our downtown is so dead and dreary. The entire area has been designed around a single priority: move as many cars as possible pass through the neighborhood as quickly as possible. They've been so successful in this goal that driving through downtown is often faster than taking 16 Ave, Memorial, or Glenmore.