For those asking for more context, here's a Google Map of the street in question: www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=18dCaRfZWH9w92N_9yeTYjLttx_QhOQQ&usp=sharing
@@LankyFrank I was initially trying not to name it because I didn't want people to get hung up on this specific street rather than the bigger issues. But clearly people just want to know!
I lived there for about three years. There is paid underground parking in nearby buildings on 33rd and 34th avenue that is underused. Suggest removing parking from one side of the street to accommodate a bike lane, wider sidewalks and some additional landscaping. There is a good bike route on 20th street but nothing east-west in Marda Loop, so a lot of value in having more connections. Especially, if you can get the bike lane all the way down to 14 street and to River Park
I really appreciate how easy the City of Calgary makes it to participate in this stuff. BUT! It is VITAL that we actually show up. Like you said, people turn up to these meetings and to fight for wider lanes, more parking, and ultimately less access for pedestrians, cyclists and locals looking to use the space for gathering. SHOW UP!
Theres a bit of a paradox that the rich politicians drive, and therefore the rich politicians that rule the city don't care about public transit. What many don't realize is that with proper alternatives to driving, even for wealthy people, would mean that driving would also be faster with less traffic.
Wow I live on this street! I was hoping you would cover the changes to this neighborhood! We try to live without a car, so these changes are very exciting. I've probably seen you around without realizing. Great video:)
Hi neighbour! I'm on 35th and also trying to use our car as little as possible (pretty much use it exclusively to get out to the mountains now). I love how much this community is changing for the better and I'm so excited to see how it can evolve from here!
I already went through a similar exercise. In a nutshell, here is my opinion. Measuring the existing motorway, divide by car widths to find the whole number of cars that would fit side-by-side. Presuming it is 4, divide the street into 4 lanes. Dedicate one outside lane to parking. Dedicate the opposite outside lane to human powered traffic such as bikes & scooters. There is already plenty of walking space, just leave it there. Leave the remaining 2 inside lanes for motor traffic, but add all the Dutch styled traffic calming measures such as curb extensions & raised crosswalks & raised veloways, & convert all intersections to Dutch styled roundabouts. Set the speed limit to 15mph & enforce that heavily. Ban motor traffic between certain hours on certain days.
I agree but split the bike lane in half and put it on each side of the car traffic. I believe in general it is best practice to keep the bike lanes on the outside if the cars, since having a bidirectional bike lane can cause connectivity issues when expanding the network. I think Montreal has had issues with this in integrating their center running bike lanes with outside running bike lanes. But I’m not a planner or engineer or anything so don’t take my word for it lol
1.5 m wide sidewalks are pretty marginal and that's assuming there is a separate place for lamp and sign posts so they don't further narrow the sidewalks - which if you watch the video you see is not the case - there are many sign posts in the already narrow sidewalk.
There were a few things that struck me about 34th but the biggest was around parking when I checked out the street on Google Maps. There is a lot of off street commercial parking that was not being fully utilized with all but one commercial section. There is so much residential on-street storage of private motorized vehicles in the residential areas. And little to no bike parking. It suggested to me that at least part of the issue with street redesign needs a rethink of parking management and incentives to replace space eating vehicles with bikes and walking.
"Good movement" refers to the literal movement of goods (it's usually called "Goods Movement" which is a little more clear). Deliveries to businesses and homes on this street are in this category, as are service workers like plumbers or electricians. Definitely an important consideration for this Main Street!
(already submitted it through the form) 2X 1.5m sidewalk 0.5 trees 2.1 segr. bike lanes/paths 3.5 railbound p.t. ...on central viaduct with 3m-wide lanes underneath, if need be? otherwise, the central lanes can be made narrower and the sidewalks wider (+ parking in private underground parkings, provided its users can afford building&maintaining them w/o any subsidies)
Nearly nobody who has an actual stake in the place (residents) will ever say it needs more cars and traffic. Misinformed business owners might but they will change their tune when their bottom line improves after the street starts to draw in people instead of cars.
One idea is to not be restricted to only planning the street itself but to also have access to the alley behind and the last half block of the side streets. Street parking is limited and not equitable and just causes a bunch of extra traffic from people driving up and down the street searching for a one in a million spot. ALL of the parking should be angle in spots on the side streets for no net loss of parking and a huge gain of on-street space and sightlines across the street to other people and businesses instead of being shut in by a wall of SUVs and vans.
That was awesome! Great way to make your followers more involved and actually think about what all these video's (by you, NJB, Strong towns, etc) talk about.
I work in the area and frequently bike in the summer. 34th would be much better if there were separated bike lanes and they filled in all the holes in the road. The intersection with 14th also needs to be updated. It's incredibly difficult to get across 4 lanes of traffic when it's busy.
Hi Tom! Thanks for your videos! In addition to more space to people instead people in their cars I think Calgary needs more trees! I recently moved here from Burnaby and I crave green! The cities look so much better when we have lots of trees in them.
Great point. The city is at least assigning value to trees now, so that developers need to pay when they are removed. I think that will help preserve some of them. (Also: Welcome to the prairies 😂)
Brill vid Tom🙂 I live in Crawley. Sussex. England. U.K where there was a redesign of a junction to assist better motorised traffic flow. We now have a dangerous crossing, that includes a "skinny" shared pavement for pedestrians and cyclists, that goes round a blind corner too! I can see future pedestrians and cyclists bouncing off car bonnets a distinct possibility! Here in the UK I.C and C.I engines in new vehicles, but not hybrids, are to be banned in 2030. I feel we will suffer more shared skinny paths and cycle ways as vehicles become so much, much more volumptuous, but less polluting. We sure need street planners to change attitudes, and plan for all users.🙄🇬🇧
Thanks for sharing the specific street, I understand your hesitation. I think the downside to trying to focus on the "bigger issues" of it is that a lot of response will be more idealized largely based on individual biases, rather than a practical solution filtered through those biases. Being able to look at the street and surrounding area made it much easier to understand how things could improve. For me, noticing that there was a transit line a block north meant my attention could be focused on making the area accessible indirectly by transit riders, rather than directly. I enjoyed doing this exercise, and it was nice chance to think through my hybrid parking/sidewalk as a chicane idea. With the main goals of removing some street parking while still allowing for parking on both sides of street (and avoiding mid-block pedestrian crossing), the idea is to think of the side walk and parking as both using the 3.6m, occasionally pushing the sidewalk back to 1.5m to allow for a few spaces, but never having it happen on both sides of the street at the same time. The bird's eye view of this looks like a chicane, even though the travel lanes are still straight.
I will try this out. I love the laugh when #2 is parking. One thing: the details of the surrounding streets is important. For example: Bike routes that connect at either end and are dead ended is just brutal design.
How important is through-traffic for this street? Are there alternate routes better suited to handle cars that only want to go past everything on this street? If so, making the vehicle lanes more narrow and adding some form of traffic calming would be good. I would also suggest alternating trees with parking spaces, so at least every 5 or so parking spaces there should be a small stretch of green and a tree. In general, any "parking lanes" can be used for all sorts of things, like putting the bus stop there. If the street is properly traffic-calmed, cars can wait the 30 seconds it takes for the bus to stop and take on passengers. I kind of think that with parking likely being such a big concern of the residents, there likely isn't enough space for good bike lanes. If traffic is properly calmed (20-30 km/h max) I don't mind riding on the street. But honestly my expectation of what makes a nice street or decent infrastructure seems to differ a bit from Americans sometimes.
This route is important for car-traffic. The main road, one street over gets closed off on Sundays in the Summer for a market. The one that gets closed off links to a highway. Traffic in the area definitely isn’t an easy solution. Hope this helps!
The alternation of parking and other uses (bike parking, green spaces designed for stormwater management) is something that doesn’t really shine through with streetmix but is a really important tool at planners disposal.
@@humanecities For my design I assumed it was safe to make it one way due to the highway connection one block north. (Managed to squeeze in 55,000 people/hour)
I live in marda loop and ride up/down 34th Ave for my summer commute downtown- a proper, separated bike lane on this street would be a game changer! Aside from this, I'm so excited to live in a neighbourhood that is undergoing so much change for the better- density, multi-modal transport...the streets feel more and more alive each year with more visitors and pedestrians. I think the future of marda loop is bright if we can figure out how to make it better for all modes of transportation (with a strong bias against drivers and parking!) One thing that has always struck me is a lot of people who live outside the neighbourhood think it's fun a trendy, but also a no-go zone of traffic madness....as someone who experiences my neighbourhood as a pedestrian, I don't find that at all the case. I could do without the car traffic, but it's easy to ignore most of the time.
Watching your video, what a messy street to attempt to remove parking. This is why on street parking needs to be removed before the street gets busy. look forward to thinking about this.
Doesn't sound like its headed in any sort of good direction. This is *clearly* a "street," which means the lanes should be narrower, the speed limit should be lower, and crossings should be plentiful. But it sounds like they also want it to be an effective throughway-- a "road"-- and that's obviously just not possible. The problems they're dealing with here can't be solved on a single road. Best case scenario, I see them shrinking the lanes, and widening the sidewalks. Obviously, this is the kind of non-biking infrastructure we hate, but without a fundamental shift in thinking in the community, it might be the best you can do.
"Funny" thing about my suggestion: in the Streetmix tool, it literally marks the existing sidewalks red for being too narrow, and the car lanes for being too wide. 🤣
Submitting my design to utilize one-side angle parking as a mean of preventing excess space taken up by parked cars on both sides of the street. With pedestrian travel to and from the businesses after parking on the other side. Good luck to everyone else submitting!
Toronto resident here and a huge fan of the StreetMix tool. The roadway width in this video is similar to our Bloor Street between Bathurst and Spadina. You will need to remove parking on one side to accommodate bike lanes, while only one side - the one with parking - can have protection. A bi-directional cycle track may work better in this case, but they are not best practice any longer. If bike lanes were planned for a nearby parallel street, it may be worth widening sidewalks on this street instead given 2.1 metres is the new minimum.
Love your content and this video! What a great idea. Thinking through the actual width of the road really made my brain hurt especially trying to keep those conflicting interests in mind, haha!
Amazing, thank you for supporting the channel. These aren't easy questions if you want to accommodate everybody. But I'm already amazed at some of the creative ideas coming in.
One thing which could work well: a combo bike/bus lane. It's the right-most lane, separated from car lanes on the left by a rumble strip. On the right of the lane, there's an adjacent sidewalk. The curb between them is smooth enough you could ride up and onto the sidewalk if you had to. And you will, because: When a bus approaches a bike from the rear, it sounds a bell or chime of some kind. Bikes have to pull over onto the sidewalk until the bus passes. Basically the same idea as pulling over for the ambulance when you hear a siren. This way, buses won't get stuck behind cars nor bikes, making them the fastest way to travel. Both buses and bikes can fly right past traffic when it gets backed up, making more people opt to use them, since they'll often be faster than driving! As opposed to a dedicated bus lane, the space doesn't go unused 90% of the time.
That would be ridiculous, mixing slow traffic with fast traffic. It is a disaster in the making. Why invent the wheel all over again? There are countries that know how to design a street, use that for one.
How well does the city handle snow removal (and debris sweeping) from bike lanes? Asking for a friend... Because if the bike lanes remain impassible due to debris pile hazards, it may affect the answer to this planning question
I know exactly where this is… its also worth mentioning that the neighbourhood immedately west of this mainstreet (honestly, 200m west) is divided from the mainstreet by an overpass unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists. I would actually start there. A seperate bike + pedestrian path that allows all nearby neighbourhoods to safely walk and bike to the mainstreet. Then, re-route car traffic to a side street with designated underground parking. Then adjust for a low-car environment on the main street itself.
The first thing I would add to the street would be a row of shops as the face of a parking garage. A good garage lets the city move the parking off the curb, but ideally it shouldn't be obvious that there's a garage next to the pedestrians who pass by. With the parking moved there's now room for good bike infrastructure. Bikes are very good for business.
there is a garage already on the street on the north west corner that looks like an underground parkade with store fronts on the street and further east the density / set back is to "residential"
"There are a lot of people who thing that because it's so crowded with traffic here the answer is to make room for more cars" (slow pan over a street with some parked cars but no cars driving. Shot ends as one person comes into view on foot) :) nicely done
From a UK perspective our road infrastructure would shut down completely with only half the amount of snow shown in the video The fact that you guys just get on with it despite weather conditions is commendable. We get painted markings for cycle lanes that stop and start randomly. They would be invisible in snow. I like separate lanes for each user. Pedestrians, cyclists and cars. As for parking- if you make it easier cars will still use the route. Make parking harder and cars will avoid the route BUT more pedestrians and cyclists will come. I’m sure the businesses will not like this though and I appreciate deliveries need to be considered. It’s a tough challenge.
Haha, I tried doing what you did but I was too scared of what others would think of me. I just want to but one of those digital measuring tools so it's not as obvious that I am measuring the road. 😂
Please try cycling on Anderson, or walking on Anderson in the winter. I used to have to commute on Anderson (canyon meadows to woodbine) and let me tell you it was not pleasant.
That sounds horrific and I hope to never have to ride a bike on that road. Although I did get yelled at by an angry dude in a pickup truck several years go for riding for about 200 metres on Canyon Meadows Drive.
@@Shifter_CyclingThanks for the reply I'm glad you're still in one piece. I got knocked over (glancing blow by a mirror) for cycling on Canyon Meadows Drive. Namely because I'm shorter than the height of the hood on a fair portion of pickup trucks. They couldn't find the culprit since "Black pickup truck" isn't an accurate enough of a description. But I've seen pickup trucks intentionally try and knock over cyclists using their giant extended mirrors. Stay safe out there!
Are we allowed to make the street one-way for car and bus traffic? Edit: (Based on pinned link with context) looks like the major through street is 1 block north. Also looks like the power line right-of-way is outside the street corridor we are working with.
One question - is there a nearby lot that could be freed up for parking? Before everyone jumps on me for suggesting surface parking on a shifter video (I understand, I hate it too), I just want to suggest that in an effort to make peace with those who demand parking, it may be wise to open up a bit of surface parking at a back lot on the street - for instance, behind a building that has shopfronts on the curb. If you publicize that parking lot with signs, and especially if it can be somewhat central to the street, it can relieve some of the perceived loss of parking caused by including dedicated bike lanes. This is based on experience in Provo UT, which has an excellent Center street with a large amount of pedestrian infrastructure relative to the rest of the city. Austin Taylor headed up a small parking study there. Admittedly, when it was shown just how much parking was actually available to people right around center street, it did little to quell the constant complaining for more parking, since people simple can’t be bothered to park more than five feet from their destination. However, that parking study DID show the city just how much parking was available, which helped (I think) keep them from destroying the infrastructure that’s already there. Now, they weren’t considering a redesign at the time. But I hope they’ll add bike infrastructure in the near future. And perhaps even just remove the cars altogether!
Amsterdam built a huge car parkade in central area then removed street parking but the question which private property do we buy to knock down for a garage?
Can you do more of these? I just found your channel recently and just missed the submission date. I would love to participate in the future. Maybe a monthly redesign would be a fun way to engage your audience.
Read my mind! I've been going to a gym here for the past six months, and have been thinking about this a lot. So what's interesting about this neighbourhood (for those who don't know), it is named after its past as a streetcar suburb! My wife grew up in this neighbourhood, on 33rd ave, and she had no clue why it was called Marda LOOP. It took a visit to the Original Joe's on the corner of 34th (the street in question) and saw that it was a loop for the streetcar. ANYWAY. What is funny about 34th ave is, it's one street over from the actual thoroughfare of the neighbourhood, 33rd ave. But with limited access to the neighbourhood by anything other than car (it took me 30 minutes to get there from the Telus Sky building on bike, and 40+ minutes by bus) 33rd ave can be an absolute nightmare. So 34th ave is the second option, and can get pretty busy. Google maps marks 34th ave as a "bike-friendly road", it's not. But it does connect to 20th street, which has bike lanes (paint on the ground mostly) going north-south. Redesigning 34th as a complete street is a great idea, but will see serious pushback from neighbours who are afraid it will cause even more traffic on a road that was once a quiet side street to the main road. Better transit access is a MUST for this to be a success and reduce car traffic in the area. Realistically, I'm not expecting much, but one can hope.
The problems with Mardaloop/Altadore are deeper than this street. Transit and bike lane connections to the rest of the city need to improve before congestion improves. I suggest bulldozing a strip through the mansions in mount royal and building an LRT route up to Altadore.
Connections are great if you go by the river. But that only works for recreational trips. If you actually want to get somewhere, connections are pretty bad.
I can't do that computer stuff, but here's my idea: One side has a sidewalk, one side has a dedicated bike route, cars stay the same but add crosswalks every so many feet.
Nice idea! You can make it a nice street, but not with cars AND transit. Since it will be impossible to get rid of cars here while inserting other stuff, I would place the transit somewhere else.
There's always the option to make it 1-way. Lots of downtowns utilize alternating 1-way roads. Then you can still allow cars a single 3m lane and use the rest for transit and nature.
I would take the option of a bike lane,with all the safety measures that is needed.Like a curve into the crossing street of the bike lane,so the drivers off cars can see the bikers better,and the bikers see the crossing cars better.And of course on the other side a wide walk lane.On the side off the bike lane parking for cars.On the side off the walkers no parking so the walkers can have a wider view than always those cars on the side.On the side off the bike lane a smaller walk lane.Thats my vision as a Dutchman..
Could you remove the roadside parking for separated bicycle paths? Then you would have an underground parking lot somewhere close where you could leave your car and then walk around a walkable lively neighborhood. The streets probably could be a bit narrower to slow down traffic and make room for other things. I don't know how we could fit public transit in here that doesn't get stuck in traffic and doesn't remove the street entirely, but I'm sure there's a way. Would also help if you Americans didn't have enormous tanks for driving around with, but i understand that it's unsafe to have a small car when everyone else has hot tanks.
I used the link to send my plan. I went with a one way street to offer more space for pedestrians ans bicycles while still leaving some on street parking. One way streets are possible if you can also turn an adjacent street into a one way going in the opposite direction. Montreal has streets set up that way to provide space for bicycles.
Assuming the streets wide enough, I’d do what’s been done on the streets around my city centre. I’d move the parking to the centre of the road with spaces oriented at 90 degrees to the direction of traffic with motor traffic on the outside. This would eliminate the risk of cyclists getting doored by parked cars and because you can drive through the car parks traffic won’t be held up be people reversing into or out of a space. Put the moving motor vehicles between the parked cars and the slower foot and cyclist traffic.
What's the address on Google maps? We need more context, to see for example if it's possible to make the whole thing one-way, à-la-Montréal. Makes it easier to cross when you only have to look one way for cars.
TH-cam keeps deleting my comment with the link so I'll post it in plain text: 2.7m sidewalk, 2.1m parking lane, 2x2.4m traffic lanes, 0.6m buffer zone (street lights go here), 3m bike path, 2m sidewalk PS: before anyone asks: 1. It's a little wider than my parents street and I've seen two F-150 pass each other and a real car parked 2. Do not pay attention to large truck owners, when it's finished they would see it's enough space
@@paxundpeace9970 In my design I opted to separate the bus stop from the (two way) cycle track to avoid conflicts with blind pedestrians. (Needed to make motor traffic one way though.)
I submitted the following.. nothing too fancy, I think. 3.1m sidewalk with street trees, street lights and street furniture on outside. Width to accommodate both outdoor commercial uses (read: seating, queues, signs) and pedestrian clearway 1.5m one-way recessed (and painted!) biking lane with 0.3m sidewalk-level curb buffer. Bike lane rises to sidewalk level to merge with transit platforms (see: 1472 Hollis St., Halifax in street view) 2.8m drive lanes (one with sharrow.. sorry), separated by 0.8m tree-lined median/pedestrian island 2.1m parking lane 1.8m sidewalk In far-flung future with less cars, my dream design would be to keep only a 3m driving lane, in exchange for 1.3m more sidewalk space for plazas and seating etc, a second bike lane beside the first in the opposite direction, transit platforms interrupting the parking lane (if there is one.. maybe that's where the other bike lane should go instead?), and street trees on the opposite side. But that's a bit too far-future.. more like a second redevelopment in 30+ years after we've drastically reworked how we live and move.
in my opinion a decent street needs to have enough side walk width to accomodate pedestrian peak hour to discourage pedestrians from walking on the bike lane, and also a two way bike lane with at least enough space for cyclists to be overtaken by other cyclists and no bike gutter pls
streets can only have 1 lane per direction of traffic, you can remove 1 of the car parking and leave it as a bi-directional bike lane, also increasing the sidewalks to 1.8. And making the car parking there for residents only
Since it's mixed use I guess pedestrianizing is out of the question, but maybe removing public parking and implementing Japanese styled parking rules could be viable. I bet if you combined that with something like municipal parking and a tram it would work well.
IMO, the people who benefit most from parking in front of a business are instant delivery couriers. Sure there's the odd handicapped individual that would benefit from a shorter trip, but using a parking permit system would allow them to park without opening the floodgates for the average driver. This would also apply to things like delivery trucks, but ideally we'd limit them to a certain time of day.
Parking and good movement just sounds like people who visit wanting automotive convenience who can't think of alternative and perhaps due to never experiencing anything else that could be better.
or it is people 2- 5 KM away and going to the closest "main street" and are in the catchment area of the study OR live inside the area and "NEED" to drive to work as transit is NOT up to standard
Well it doesn't work on my phone, so imagine another car lane, no parking, and a center walking area with greenery separating the two sides of the street.
man I get so tired of cramped side walks, even when the government somehow decided to be nice and build a bike lane, the side walk tends to be so tight that people just walk on the bike lane
The program seems busted, I couldn't make my dream street: Large canopy of trees on both sides shading a multi-use path (again, on both sides). Venice-style canal in the middle full of peaceful roving manatee packs. Rope swings at the intersections so pedestrians can cross the canal. Underwater clear acrylic tunnels so cyclist can ride underneath. *chef's kiss* Bikes, pedestrians, landscaping, manatees and movement galore. Everything the neighborhood requested.
Put the bike lanes on 32nd or 35th Ave: the quiet car traffic streets, adjacent to the busy car streets. I’m not against bike lanes, I’m against ones that destroy commuting for most people in a city: the drivers.
I can see why putting bike lanes on less busy streets would be good, but it's a little pointless. People want access to where they work and shop without having to back track.
33 is the MAIN ROAD and 34 is already a "side" road that actually is a dead end on the west end so to use a partly residential street as a commuter road you are getting off crowchild parkway and onto 33 going one block and then turning off onto 22 ST then onto 34 AVE driving on a side street then dropping back up to 33 ST doing a LEFT onto a busy road with NO traffic lights and if you are "local" then drop down / up to the your street / cross street and cut through the residential neighbourhood
Steal half a meter from each lane, axe the parking right at the businesses. Widen the residential sidewalk to twoish meters for improved walkability and a mixed use buffer zone . On the opposing side add a bike lane and a buffer area betwene bike lane and the death amchine zone. Not optimal but yo ucan't just cold turkey parking, and it's more important to have the bike lanes at the business side of the street where people coming in and out from elsewhere will be incentivized to use their cars less, reducing the need for cars to come in and out of the area. Assuming this has a positive effect, maybe in time the mixed use/p[arking area can be trimmed at a later date. However for now we do need parking for those that live in the community itself. yes i know this presents a problem for people wanting to park on the business side, but you have to thieve from somewhere to get a bike lane in and I'm not budging on the bike lane or the divider between bike lane and road.
I'm not 100% the site is suppose to completely represent which side is business and which is residential, I think it's mixed. If it is the case the left side is business I went with putting a bike lane between the parking and the sidewalk essentially using the parking as free space to make the bike lane protected. Widened the sidewalk like you said and narrowed the road a bit.
@@Zarrx It'll be interesting to compare reactions on our plans vs what ends up getting done. And it's moments like these I wish I could go back twenty five years and smack highschool me for not going into city planning as a career.
Half a meter? I would say 1.5 meters. Basically you got free bike lane on this street. I would make the bike lanes on sidewalk level and protected by parked cars.
@@alenpete8480 nono. I'm talking half meter from each lane so that's a meter to play with. I was also beign conservitive with changes and going off the idea that it would be the first change, but others would follow as the community adjusts.
Lost cause. When 2 is cars and 3 more cars, what most people want is to put up a couple signs for sharrows and call it a day. Then they can say current need doesn't warrant more.
You can't ignore the GM universal declaration of car rights :-( (and in Alberta a compact car = F150). There should be a debate on whether the right approach is slow incremental retaking of streets from the cars, or whether to go nuclear and elect notjustbikes as mayor. Incrememtal could start by limiting parking to 1 car per household and if home has garage, limit it to 1 car and then no parking permit for on-street parking. The fight for climate change is a good opportunity to force a change of mindset on people. And to do this, you show them videos from people such as notjustbikes that show that living without a car can be more pleasant that with one. You can't impose "no cars" on slaves to cars, you need to make these people want to go car free by showing them examples of places that have done that and are more succesful withjout cars. and the denser you go in housing, the more you need space to live outdoors and that means more pleasant streets to live on.
And more parking, especially for people who move into these homes and shoppers like it's been for years and yes you can have both a great neighborhood and great parking it can be done.
For those asking for more context, here's a Google Map of the street in question:
www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=18dCaRfZWH9w92N_9yeTYjLttx_QhOQQ&usp=sharing
As a fellow Calgarian I would love to see you name the street/neighbourhood in your intro going forward so I have context.
Wow... there's a lot of side streets and alternative ways. Leave just 5m for cars and the rest allocate for bike+walk...
@@LankyFrank I was initially trying not to name it because I didn't want people to get hung up on this specific street rather than the bigger issues. But clearly people just want to know!
@@Shifter_Cycling that's reasonable, people do tend to have a "why not me?" attitude.
Thanks for those extra details! 😊
I would plant four rows of trees
More useful than to add another lane
Same! Trees was my first thought!
I would bulldoze those houses and build more lanes and connect the parallel streets together, more space more freedom vroom vroom
Yeah,on the side off the wide walk lane!But just one row..
I lived there for about three years. There is paid underground parking in nearby buildings on 33rd and 34th avenue that is underused. Suggest removing parking from one side of the street to accommodate a bike lane, wider sidewalks and some additional landscaping. There is a good bike route on 20th street but nothing east-west in Marda Loop, so a lot of value in having more connections. Especially, if you can get the bike lane all the way down to 14 street and to River Park
(Shhh. Don't tell anyone, but I took away *all* the street parking. There's so much off-street parking, they won't miss it. Probably.)
I really appreciate how easy the City of Calgary makes it to participate in this stuff. BUT! It is VITAL that we actually show up. Like you said, people turn up to these meetings and to fight for wider lanes, more parking, and ultimately less access for pedestrians, cyclists and locals looking to use the space for gathering.
SHOW UP!
Theres a bit of a paradox that the rich politicians drive, and therefore the rich politicians that rule the city don't care about public transit. What many don't realize is that with proper alternatives to driving, even for wealthy people, would mean that driving would also be faster with less traffic.
Wow I live on this street! I was hoping you would cover the changes to this neighborhood! We try to live without a car, so these changes are very exciting. I've probably seen you around without realizing. Great video:)
Which street and neighborhood? Looks like Marda Loop but I haven’t lived in Calgary for a while so I can’t remember
I like to call it the "Communauto lifestyle" (I'm a Vancouverite, I just love the name of Calgary's car share program)
@@nairbos 34th Ave, but the full Main Street project involved 33rd, as well.
Marda Loop. I just pinned a comment with a link
Hi neighbour! I'm on 35th and also trying to use our car as little as possible (pretty much use it exclusively to get out to the mountains now). I love how much this community is changing for the better and I'm so excited to see how it can evolve from here!
I already went through a similar exercise. In a nutshell, here is my opinion. Measuring the existing motorway, divide by car widths to find the whole number of cars that would fit side-by-side. Presuming it is 4, divide the street into 4 lanes. Dedicate one outside lane to parking. Dedicate the opposite outside lane to human powered traffic such as bikes & scooters. There is already plenty of walking space, just leave it there. Leave the remaining 2 inside lanes for motor traffic, but add all the Dutch styled traffic calming measures such as curb extensions & raised crosswalks & raised veloways, & convert all intersections to Dutch styled roundabouts. Set the speed limit to 15mph & enforce that heavily. Ban motor traffic between certain hours on certain days.
I agree but split the bike lane in half and put it on each side of the car traffic. I believe in general it is best practice to keep the bike lanes on the outside if the cars, since having a bidirectional bike lane can cause connectivity issues when expanding the network. I think Montreal has had issues with this in integrating their center running bike lanes with outside running bike lanes. But I’m not a planner or engineer or anything so don’t take my word for it lol
I see loads of cars, but don’t see anyone walking but you.
That sounds great!
I like all of this until 15mph. Way too low, 20/25 would be appropriate to design for
1.5 m wide sidewalks are pretty marginal and that's assuming there is a separate place for lamp and sign posts so they don't further narrow the sidewalks - which if you watch the video you see is not the case - there are many sign posts in the already narrow sidewalk.
There were a few things that struck me about 34th but the biggest was around parking when I checked out the street on Google Maps. There is a lot of off street commercial parking that was not being fully utilized with all but one commercial section. There is so much residential on-street storage of private motorized vehicles in the residential areas. And little to no bike parking. It suggested to me that at least part of the issue with street redesign needs a rethink of parking management and incentives to replace space eating vehicles with bikes and walking.
"Good movement" refers to the literal movement of goods (it's usually called "Goods Movement" which is a little more clear). Deliveries to businesses and homes on this street are in this category, as are service workers like plumbers or electricians. Definitely an important consideration for this Main Street!
I am having an absolute field day doing this. Thanks so much for telling us about street mix
Glad you're having fun. It's a great tool.
(already submitted it through the form)
2X
1.5m sidewalk
0.5 trees
2.1 segr. bike lanes/paths
3.5 railbound p.t. ...on central viaduct with 3m-wide lanes underneath, if need be?
otherwise, the central lanes can be made narrower and the sidewalks wider
(+ parking in private underground parkings,
provided its users can afford building&maintaining them w/o any subsidies)
Nearly nobody who has an actual stake in the place (residents) will ever say it needs more cars and traffic. Misinformed business owners might but they will change their tune when their bottom line improves after the street starts to draw in people instead of cars.
I'm really interested to see the results of this!
I made mine a 15.2m wide sidewalk. I win, de facto.
Valid response!
One idea is to not be restricted to only planning the street itself but to also have access to the alley behind and the last half block of the side streets. Street parking is limited and not equitable and just causes a bunch of extra traffic from people driving up and down the street searching for a one in a million spot. ALL of the parking should be angle in spots on the side streets for no net loss of parking and a huge gain of on-street space and sightlines across the street to other people and businesses instead of being shut in by a wall of SUVs and vans.
This is an interesting idea. Thanks for sharing.
That was awesome! Great way to make your followers more involved and actually think about what all these video's (by you, NJB, Strong towns, etc) talk about.
I work in the area and frequently bike in the summer. 34th would be much better if there were separated bike lanes and they filled in all the holes in the road. The intersection with 14th also needs to be updated. It's incredibly difficult to get across 4 lanes of traffic when it's busy.
Hi Tom! Thanks for your videos! In addition to more space to people instead people in their cars I think Calgary needs more trees! I recently moved here from Burnaby and I crave green! The cities look so much better when we have lots of trees in them.
Great point. The city is at least assigning value to trees now, so that developers need to pay when they are removed. I think that will help preserve some of them. (Also: Welcome to the prairies 😂)
@@Shifter_Cycling Thanks! :)
Brill vid Tom🙂 I live in Crawley. Sussex. England. U.K where there was a redesign of a junction to assist better motorised traffic flow. We now have a dangerous crossing, that includes a "skinny" shared pavement for pedestrians and cyclists, that goes round a blind corner too! I can see future pedestrians and cyclists bouncing off car bonnets a distinct possibility! Here in the UK I.C and C.I engines in new vehicles, but not hybrids, are to be banned in 2030. I feel we will suffer more shared skinny paths and cycle ways as vehicles become so much, much more volumptuous, but less polluting. We sure need street planners to change attitudes, and plan for all users.🙄🇬🇧
Hi. Some good points, but to be more accurate the “selling”of these cars will be banned, not the use of.
Thanks for sharing the specific street, I understand your hesitation. I think the downside to trying to focus on the "bigger issues" of it is that a lot of response will be more idealized largely based on individual biases, rather than a practical solution filtered through those biases. Being able to look at the street and surrounding area made it much easier to understand how things could improve. For me, noticing that there was a transit line a block north meant my attention could be focused on making the area accessible indirectly by transit riders, rather than directly.
I enjoyed doing this exercise, and it was nice chance to think through my hybrid parking/sidewalk as a chicane idea. With the main goals of removing some street parking while still allowing for parking on both sides of street (and avoiding mid-block pedestrian crossing), the idea is to think of the side walk and parking as both using the 3.6m, occasionally pushing the sidewalk back to 1.5m to allow for a few spaces, but never having it happen on both sides of the street at the same time. The bird's eye view of this looks like a chicane, even though the travel lanes are still straight.
I will try this out. I love the laugh when #2 is parking.
One thing: the details of the surrounding streets is important. For example:
Bike routes that connect at either end and are dead ended is just brutal design.
How important is through-traffic for this street? Are there alternate routes better suited to handle cars that only want to go past everything on this street? If so, making the vehicle lanes more narrow and adding some form of traffic calming would be good.
I would also suggest alternating trees with parking spaces, so at least every 5 or so parking spaces there should be a small stretch of green and a tree. In general, any "parking lanes" can be used for all sorts of things, like putting the bus stop there. If the street is properly traffic-calmed, cars can wait the 30 seconds it takes for the bus to stop and take on passengers.
I kind of think that with parking likely being such a big concern of the residents, there likely isn't enough space for good bike lanes. If traffic is properly calmed (20-30 km/h max) I don't mind riding on the street. But honestly my expectation of what makes a nice street or decent infrastructure seems to differ a bit from Americans sometimes.
This route is important for car-traffic. The main road, one street over gets closed off on Sundays in the Summer for a market. The one that gets closed off links to a highway. Traffic in the area definitely isn’t an easy solution. Hope this helps!
The alternation of parking and other uses (bike parking, green spaces designed for stormwater management) is something that doesn’t really shine through with streetmix but is a really important tool at planners disposal.
@@humanecities For my design I assumed it was safe to make it one way due to the highway connection one block north. (Managed to squeeze in 55,000 people/hour)
@@jamesphillips2285 interesting choice 🤔 Did you have the one way traveling West (onto the highway) or East (toward 14th Street)?
@@humanecities East I guess. Maybe [32nd] ave can be made one way the other way.
Edit: My cycle-track is two way.
I live in marda loop and ride up/down 34th Ave for my summer commute downtown- a proper, separated bike lane on this street would be a game changer!
Aside from this, I'm so excited to live in a neighbourhood that is undergoing so much change for the better- density, multi-modal transport...the streets feel more and more alive each year with more visitors and pedestrians. I think the future of marda loop is bright if we can figure out how to make it better for all modes of transportation (with a strong bias against drivers and parking!)
One thing that has always struck me is a lot of people who live outside the neighbourhood think it's fun a trendy, but also a no-go zone of traffic madness....as someone who experiences my neighbourhood as a pedestrian, I don't find that at all the case. I could do without the car traffic, but it's easy to ignore most of the time.
Great video, submitted my design, good luck to others! And thanks Tom has been working to make our lives better.👍
Tom, your content is great. I greatly enjoy it.
Watching your video, what a messy street to attempt to remove parking. This is why on street parking needs to be removed before the street gets busy. look forward to thinking about this.
This is an interesting point. Thanks for sharing.
When do we get an update on this?
Doesn't sound like its headed in any sort of good direction.
This is *clearly* a "street," which means the lanes should be narrower, the speed limit should be lower, and crossings should be plentiful. But it sounds like they also want it to be an effective throughway-- a "road"-- and that's obviously just not possible. The problems they're dealing with here can't be solved on a single road.
Best case scenario, I see them shrinking the lanes, and widening the sidewalks. Obviously, this is the kind of non-biking infrastructure we hate, but without a fundamental shift in thinking in the community, it might be the best you can do.
"Funny" thing about my suggestion: in the Streetmix tool, it literally marks the existing sidewalks red for being too narrow, and the car lanes for being too wide. 🤣
I thought this was funny too.
Submitting my design to utilize one-side angle parking as a mean of preventing excess space taken up by parked cars on both sides of the street. With pedestrian travel to and from the businesses after parking on the other side.
Good luck to everyone else submitting!
so thats the point of angled parking spaces. I always wondered why you would want to have those vs the generic parking.
I also put angled parking in my design.
Toronto resident here and a huge fan of the StreetMix tool. The roadway width in this video is similar to our Bloor Street between Bathurst and Spadina. You will need to remove parking on one side to accommodate bike lanes, while only one side - the one with parking - can have protection. A bi-directional cycle track may work better in this case, but they are not best practice any longer. If bike lanes were planned for a nearby parallel street, it may be worth widening sidewalks on this street instead given 2.1 metres is the new minimum.
Done! Thanks for the opportunity do do a street right. Not sure you can have 2.4m travel lanes, but it's worth a shot. 👍
“Good movement” is supposed to be “Goods movement” like transporting goods - transport trucks, etc.
I was thinking GOOD in / out access for people IN CARS but hopefully they are referring to good movement around the whole area using any / all modes
Love your content and this video! What a great idea. Thinking through the actual width of the road really made my brain hurt especially trying to keep those conflicting interests in mind, haha!
Amazing, thank you for supporting the channel. These aren't easy questions if you want to accommodate everybody. But I'm already amazed at some of the creative ideas coming in.
One thing which could work well: a combo bike/bus lane.
It's the right-most lane, separated from car lanes on the left by a rumble strip.
On the right of the lane, there's an adjacent sidewalk. The curb between them is smooth enough you could ride up and onto the sidewalk if you had to. And you will, because:
When a bus approaches a bike from the rear, it sounds a bell or chime of some kind. Bikes have to pull over onto the sidewalk until the bus passes. Basically the same idea as pulling over for the ambulance when you hear a siren. This way, buses won't get stuck behind cars nor bikes, making them the fastest way to travel.
Both buses and bikes can fly right past traffic when it gets backed up, making more people opt to use them, since they'll often be faster than driving! As opposed to a dedicated bus lane, the space doesn't go unused 90% of the time.
That would be ridiculous, mixing slow traffic with fast traffic. It is a disaster in the making. Why invent the wheel all over again? There are countries that know how to design a street, use that for one.
How well does the city handle snow removal (and debris sweeping) from bike lanes? Asking for a friend... Because if the bike lanes remain impassible due to debris pile hazards, it may affect the answer to this planning question
Fun Idea I hope the City of Calgary could use this kind of approach for better community engagement of the city.
Looking forward to seeing all the designs that people submit
Definitely will have a look on the weekend at a redesign 🚴👍
EDIT: DONE, streetmix was a great tool 😀
I know exactly where this is… its also worth mentioning that the neighbourhood immedately west of this mainstreet (honestly, 200m west) is divided from the mainstreet by an overpass unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists. I would actually start there. A seperate bike + pedestrian path that allows all nearby neighbourhoods to safely walk and bike to the mainstreet. Then, re-route car traffic to a side street with designated underground parking. Then adjust for a low-car environment on the main street itself.
I gave it a shot, looking forward to the results you get. Great idea.
The first thing I would add to the street would be a row of shops as the face of a parking garage. A good garage lets the city move the parking off the curb, but ideally it shouldn't be obvious that there's a garage next to the pedestrians who pass by.
With the parking moved there's now room for good bike infrastructure. Bikes are very good for business.
there is a garage already on the street on the north west corner that looks like an underground parkade with store fronts on the street
and further east the density / set back is to "residential"
"There are a lot of people who thing that because it's so crowded with traffic here the answer is to make room for more cars"
(slow pan over a street with some parked cars but no cars driving. Shot ends as one person comes into view on foot)
:) nicely done
This is a brilliant idea! I love it! I make sure to share my design! Also tnx alot for introducing this awesome new website!
Thank you!
@@Shifter_Cycling I just submitted my design!
What a cool idea; thanks Tom! I foresee many hours playing around on this website in the future... :)
Thanks! I just had supper at a restaurant there!
Thank you for the support. Hope your restaurant experience was good!
They should put in a woonerf! This sounds like a fun exercise. Thanks for another interesting video!
From a UK perspective our road infrastructure would shut down completely with only half the amount of snow shown in the video
The fact that you guys just get on with it despite weather conditions is commendable.
We get painted markings for cycle lanes that stop and start randomly. They would be invisible in snow. I like separate lanes for each user. Pedestrians, cyclists and cars.
As for parking- if you make it easier cars will still use the route. Make parking harder and cars will avoid the route BUT more pedestrians and cyclists will come.
I’m sure the businesses will not like this though and I appreciate deliveries need to be considered.
It’s a tough challenge.
Haha, I tried doing what you did but I was too scared of what others would think of me. I just want to but one of those digital measuring tools so it's not as obvious that I am measuring the road. 😂
I've had prouder moments than that one, but it was over quickly.
Please try cycling on Anderson, or walking on Anderson in the winter.
I used to have to commute on Anderson (canyon meadows to woodbine) and let me tell you it was not pleasant.
That sounds horrific and I hope to never have to ride a bike on that road. Although I did get yelled at by an angry dude in a pickup truck several years go for riding for about 200 metres on Canyon Meadows Drive.
@@Shifter_CyclingThanks for the reply I'm glad you're still in one piece. I got knocked over (glancing blow by a mirror) for cycling on Canyon Meadows Drive. Namely because I'm shorter than the height of the hood on a fair portion of pickup trucks. They couldn't find the culprit since "Black pickup truck" isn't an accurate enough of a description. But I've seen pickup trucks intentionally try and knock over cyclists using their giant extended mirrors. Stay safe out there!
Are we allowed to make the street one-way for car and bus traffic?
Edit: (Based on pinned link with context) looks like the major through street is 1 block north.
Also looks like the power line right-of-way is outside the street corridor we are working with.
Do it!
transit is ONE street north 33 AVE
so there is NO transit on our street
@@jasonriddell Another commenter said that street is closed down on weekends. No transit then?
One question - is there a nearby lot that could be freed up for parking?
Before everyone jumps on me for suggesting surface parking on a shifter video (I understand, I hate it too), I just want to suggest that in an effort to make peace with those who demand parking, it may be wise to open up a bit of surface parking at a back lot on the street - for instance, behind a building that has shopfronts on the curb.
If you publicize that parking lot with signs, and especially if it can be somewhat central to the street, it can relieve some of the perceived loss of parking caused by including dedicated bike lanes.
This is based on experience in Provo UT, which has an excellent Center street with a large amount of pedestrian infrastructure relative to the rest of the city. Austin Taylor headed up a small parking study there. Admittedly, when it was shown just how much parking was actually available to people right around center street, it did little to quell the constant complaining for more parking, since people simple can’t be bothered to park more than five feet from their destination.
However, that parking study DID show the city just how much parking was available, which helped (I think) keep them from destroying the infrastructure that’s already there.
Now, they weren’t considering a redesign at the time. But I hope they’ll add bike infrastructure in the near future. And perhaps even just remove the cars altogether!
Amsterdam built a huge car parkade in central area then removed street parking
but the question which private property do we buy to knock down for a garage?
Can you do more of these? I just found your channel recently and just missed the submission date. I would love to participate in the future. Maybe a monthly redesign would be a fun way to engage your audience.
Read my mind! I've been going to a gym here for the past six months, and have been thinking about this a lot.
So what's interesting about this neighbourhood (for those who don't know), it is named after its past as a streetcar suburb! My wife grew up in this neighbourhood, on 33rd ave, and she had no clue why it was called Marda LOOP. It took a visit to the Original Joe's on the corner of 34th (the street in question) and saw that it was a loop for the streetcar.
ANYWAY. What is funny about 34th ave is, it's one street over from the actual thoroughfare of the neighbourhood, 33rd ave. But with limited access to the neighbourhood by anything other than car (it took me 30 minutes to get there from the Telus Sky building on bike, and 40+ minutes by bus) 33rd ave can be an absolute nightmare. So 34th ave is the second option, and can get pretty busy. Google maps marks 34th ave as a "bike-friendly road", it's not. But it does connect to 20th street, which has bike lanes (paint on the ground mostly) going north-south.
Redesigning 34th as a complete street is a great idea, but will see serious pushback from neighbours who are afraid it will cause even more traffic on a road that was once a quiet side street to the main road. Better transit access is a MUST for this to be a success and reduce car traffic in the area. Realistically, I'm not expecting much, but one can hope.
one question is the traffic on 33 how much is LOCAL VS crossing through
IMHO that is a BIG question when looking at 33 AVE
The problems with Mardaloop/Altadore are deeper than this street. Transit and bike lane connections to the rest of the city need to improve before congestion improves. I suggest bulldozing a strip through the mansions in mount royal and building an LRT route up to Altadore.
Connections are great if you go by the river. But that only works for recreational trips. If you actually want to get somewhere, connections are pretty bad.
Canadians are built different! People sitting outside without beanies and coats at 1:10, talking :D
Awesome idea and thanks for introducing me to this tool. I feel like I will spend a lot of time on it 😅
I can't do that computer stuff, but here's my idea: One side has a sidewalk, one side has a dedicated bike route, cars stay the same but add crosswalks every so many feet.
Cool project! Does the winner get a free trip to see the street?
Nice idea!
You can make it a nice street, but not with cars AND transit. Since it will be impossible to get rid of cars here while inserting other stuff, I would place the transit somewhere else.
There's always the option to make it 1-way. Lots of downtowns utilize alternating 1-way roads. Then you can still allow cars a single 3m lane and use the rest for transit and nature.
@@theJmanStriketh I did get away with 2 lanes in my suggestion.
I would take the option of a bike lane,with all the safety measures that is needed.Like a curve into the crossing street of the bike lane,so the drivers off cars can see the bikers better,and the bikers see the crossing cars better.And of course on the other side a wide walk lane.On the side off the bike lane parking for cars.On the side off the walkers no parking so the walkers can have a wider view than always those cars on the side.On the side off the bike lane a smaller walk lane.Thats my vision as a Dutchman..
Could you remove the roadside parking for separated bicycle paths? Then you would have an underground parking lot somewhere close where you could leave your car and then walk around a walkable lively neighborhood. The streets probably could be a bit narrower to slow down traffic and make room for other things. I don't know how we could fit public transit in here that doesn't get stuck in traffic and doesn't remove the street entirely, but I'm sure there's a way. Would also help if you Americans didn't have enormous tanks for driving around with, but i understand that it's unsafe to have a small car when everyone else has hot tanks.
I used the link to send my plan. I went with a one way street to offer more space for pedestrians ans bicycles while still leaving some on street parking. One way streets are possible if you can also turn an adjacent street into a one way going in the opposite direction. Montreal has streets set up that way to provide space for bicycles.
Dig it into a canal. 😛
Bonus: it will freeze over for hockey in the winter. And what's more Canadian than that?
Assuming the streets wide enough, I’d do what’s been done on the streets around my city centre. I’d move the parking to the centre of the road with spaces oriented at 90 degrees to the direction of traffic with motor traffic on the outside. This would eliminate the risk of cyclists getting doored by parked cars and because you can drive through the car parks traffic won’t be held up be people reversing into or out of a space.
Put the moving motor vehicles between the parked cars and the slower foot and cyclist traffic.
What's the address on Google maps? We need more context, to see for example if it's possible to make the whole thing one-way, à-la-Montréal. Makes it easier to cross when you only have to look one way for cars.
It's in Marda Loop. One block south of the main street.
I just pinned a comment with a link to a Google map of the street.
Done and Done, but I did like 3 different cross sections so theres extra links in the description box
Remove the driving lanes and parking. Replace with lovely greenery, seating and wide cycling and foot traffic paths.
Great Work! -
Tom why are they getting rid of the bike lane on 3rd ave downtown ???
TH-cam keeps deleting my comment with the link so I'll post it in plain text:
2.7m sidewalk, 2.1m parking lane, 2x2.4m traffic lanes, 0.6m buffer zone (street lights go here), 3m bike path, 2m sidewalk
PS: before anyone asks:
1. It's a little wider than my parents street and I've seen two F-150 pass each other and a real car parked
2. Do not pay attention to large truck owners, when it's finished they would see it's enough space
I like No. 2.
Bike path only on one side might be dangerous particularly as a teo way system
@@paxundpeace9970 In my design I opted to separate the bus stop from the (two way) cycle track to avoid conflicts with blind pedestrians. (Needed to make motor traffic one way though.)
put the power underground would make a start to opening up the space.
2:32 - 2:38 Contacts mothership & teleports out.😉
thats a fun project! I will gladly submit my idea from my european perspective :D
Anyone else see 'Chatime' in a video made in Canada and go 'sha-teem' in your head?
That’s what my family half-jokingly calls it too 😂
I submitted the following.. nothing too fancy, I think.
3.1m sidewalk with street trees, street lights and street furniture on outside. Width to accommodate both outdoor commercial uses (read: seating, queues, signs) and pedestrian clearway
1.5m one-way recessed (and painted!) biking lane with 0.3m sidewalk-level curb buffer. Bike lane rises to sidewalk level to merge with transit platforms (see: 1472 Hollis St., Halifax in street view)
2.8m drive lanes (one with sharrow.. sorry), separated by 0.8m tree-lined median/pedestrian island
2.1m parking lane
1.8m sidewalk
In far-flung future with less cars, my dream design would be to keep only a 3m driving lane, in exchange for 1.3m more sidewalk space for plazas and seating etc, a second bike lane beside the first in the opposite direction, transit platforms interrupting the parking lane (if there is one.. maybe that's where the other bike lane should go instead?), and street trees on the opposite side. But that's a bit too far-future.. more like a second redevelopment in 30+ years after we've drastically reworked how we live and move.
in my opinion a decent street needs to have enough side walk width to accomodate pedestrian peak hour to discourage pedestrians from walking on the bike lane, and also a two way bike lane with at least enough space for cyclists to be overtaken by other cyclists and no bike gutter pls
i would like 5 lanes of traffic. no more than 60kmph. but i'm ok without parking. how does that sound?
streets can only have 1 lane per direction of traffic, you can remove 1 of the car parking and leave it as a bi-directional bike lane, also increasing the sidewalks to 1.8. And making the car parking there for residents only
Quote to remember: “You can have a great neighborhood, or you can have great parking.”
Since it's mixed use I guess pedestrianizing is out of the question, but maybe removing public parking and implementing Japanese styled parking rules could be viable. I bet if you combined that with something like municipal parking and a tram it would work well.
IMO, the people who benefit most from parking in front of a business are instant delivery couriers. Sure there's the odd handicapped individual that would benefit from a shorter trip, but using a parking permit system would allow them to park without opening the floodgates for the average driver. This would also apply to things like delivery trucks, but ideally we'd limit them to a certain time of day.
Another great vid
Thank you for taking the time to watch, and thank you so much for the support. It really means a lot!
That's a lot of snow left at the end of March. Is that typical?
Parking and good movement just sounds like people who visit wanting automotive convenience who can't think of alternative and perhaps due to never experiencing anything else that could be better.
or it is people 2- 5 KM away and going to the closest "main street" and are in the catchment area of the study
OR live inside the area and "NEED" to drive to work as transit is NOT up to standard
you need a surveyors measuring wheel
Well it doesn't work on my phone, so imagine another car lane, no parking, and a center walking area with greenery separating the two sides of the street.
Submitted!
man I get so tired of cramped side walks, even when the government somehow decided to be nice and build a bike lane, the side walk tends to be so tight that people just walk on the bike lane
The program seems busted, I couldn't make my dream street: Large canopy of trees on both sides shading a multi-use path (again, on both sides). Venice-style canal in the middle full of peaceful roving manatee packs. Rope swings at the intersections so pedestrians can cross the canal. Underwater clear acrylic tunnels so cyclist can ride underneath. *chef's kiss* Bikes, pedestrians, landscaping, manatees and movement galore. Everything the neighborhood requested.
toss the cars in the canal as "artificial reefs"?
Put the bike lanes on 32nd or 35th Ave: the quiet car traffic streets, adjacent to the busy car streets. I’m not against bike lanes, I’m against ones that destroy commuting for most people in a city: the drivers.
I can see why putting bike lanes on less busy streets would be good, but it's a little pointless. People want access to where they work and shop without having to back track.
33 is the MAIN ROAD and 34 is already a "side" road that actually is a dead end on the west end so to use a partly residential street as a commuter road you are getting off crowchild parkway and onto 33 going one block and then turning off onto 22 ST then onto 34 AVE driving on a side street then dropping back up to 33 ST doing a LEFT onto a busy road with NO traffic lights
and if you are "local" then drop down / up to the your street / cross street and cut through the residential neighbourhood
Steal half a meter from each lane, axe the parking right at the businesses. Widen the residential sidewalk to twoish meters for improved walkability and a mixed use buffer zone . On the opposing side add a bike lane and a buffer area betwene bike lane and the death amchine zone. Not optimal but yo ucan't just cold turkey parking, and it's more important to have the bike lanes at the business side of the street where people coming in and out from elsewhere will be incentivized to use their cars less, reducing the need for cars to come in and out of the area.
Assuming this has a positive effect, maybe in time the mixed use/p[arking area can be trimmed at a later date. However for now we do need parking for those that live in the community itself.
yes i know this presents a problem for people wanting to park on the business side, but you have to thieve from somewhere to get a bike lane in and I'm not budging on the bike lane or the divider between bike lane and road.
I'm not 100% the site is suppose to completely represent which side is business and which is residential, I think it's mixed. If it is the case the left side is business I went with putting a bike lane between the parking and the sidewalk essentially using the parking as free space to make the bike lane protected. Widened the sidewalk like you said and narrowed the road a bit.
@@Zarrx It'll be interesting to compare reactions on our plans vs what ends up getting done.
And it's moments like these I wish I could go back twenty five years and smack highschool me for not going into city planning as a career.
Half a meter? I would say 1.5 meters. Basically you got free bike lane on this street. I would make the bike lanes on sidewalk level and protected by parked cars.
@@alenpete8480 nono. I'm talking half meter from each lane so that's a meter to play with.
I was also beign conservitive with changes and going off the idea that it would be the first change, but others would follow as the community adjusts.
Lost cause. When 2 is cars and 3 more cars, what most people want is to put up a couple signs for sharrows and call it a day. Then they can say current need doesn't warrant more.
Make it narrow. So narrow it becomes Diagon Alley, where you could just barely walk. Step 2> do that for all the streets 😈
Great neighbourhood, TERRIBLE sidewalks.
You can't ignore the GM universal declaration of car rights :-( (and in Alberta a compact car = F150). There should be a debate on whether the right approach is slow incremental retaking of streets from the cars, or whether to go nuclear and elect notjustbikes as mayor. Incrememtal could start by limiting parking to 1 car per household and if home has garage, limit it to 1 car and then no parking permit for on-street parking. The fight for climate change is a good opportunity to force a change of mindset on people. And to do this, you show them videos from people such as notjustbikes that show that living without a car can be more pleasant that with one.
You can't impose "no cars" on slaves to cars, you need to make these people want to go car free by showing them examples of places that have done that and are more succesful withjout cars. and the denser you go in housing, the more you need space to live outdoors and that means more pleasant streets to live on.
What about legal junk like zoning-laws? Real life is so broken, no wonder people think the "metaverse" will be popular. 🤦
I thought diving too far into reality would take the fun away. Just enjoy the idea that you can do (almost) whatever you want with the street.
th-cam.com/video/2rdVsKwPvmc/w-d-xo.html
Time for a new trip to Canmore Tom?
And more parking, especially for people who move into these homes and shoppers like it's been for years and yes you can have both a great neighborhood and great parking it can be done.