About Those Underpasses...

So it's clear: we like bikes and so do you!

We had a great response to our bike lane post from a couple Sundays ago. Thank you so much for your feedback - we read and appreciate your comments.

We also try, whenever possible on this blog, to investigate your ideas. One theme that came up a few times in that discussion about where a dedicated bike lane might work in our Centre City - was on how we use and view our underpasses.

Here in the Centre City, we are excited about the ideas coming from our urban designers to change how we use and view those necessary but sometimes not so user-friendly concrete pass-thrus.

(photo by GrantH)

Can we change them to be more welcoming of bike and foot traffic? Absolutely, says Lothar Wiwjorra. He is a Senior Urban Designer in Land Use Planning and Policy with The City of Calgary. Earlier this year, Wiwjorra led a project called The Downtown Underpass Urban Design Guidelines (or simply, the “Guideline”). In it, a strong directive was formulated to include: "...urban design principles and design solutions which address common issues associated with Calgary's downtown underpasses related to the following categories: Safety, Connectivity, Accessibility, Context, Vitality, Greenery and Beauty" (taken from The Guideline's Report). 

Wiwjorra told us this week that the "guiding principal (in the underpass recommendation project) is 'Pedestrian and Cyclist First'. The pedestrian and cyclist count shows high volumes on 1 St SW, 4 St SW, 5 St SW and 8 St SW. So what that means for future underpass planning/rebuilding is that it is their intention "...to provide those underpasses with high bicycle volumes - additional cycle facilities through either on-street shared travel lanes with a marked bike lane, off street multi-use pathways with a clearly marked cycle track and all stairs should be provided with a bike channel." 

(8 St SW underpass by Splorp)

So what about the dark or dirty appearance of some underpasses with pedestrian right-of-ways? The Senior Urban Designer says the urban design team came up with some great new recommendations to improve current underpasses as well as for future building plans. In addition to the focus on cyclist and pedestrian lanes and pathways, the intention is also to include better signage and lighting (he says "lighting and illumination in daytime and night time is crucial"), landscaping, universal design and public art. Traveling through an underpass could be a pleasant, cultural experience rather than just a necessary passage for getting to-and-from work. 

Here's another interesting idea; Wiwjorra mentioned the concept of providing "active edges" to underpasses which could be storefronts, transparent windows, patios, soft landscaping and so on - an idea he says could be negotiated during the application process for new developments. This kind of change to our underpasses could help keep them well-travelled (safer) and more interesting to visit (vibrant). In fact, Wiwjorra pointed out there are already two new developments which demonstrate this: 8th Ave Place on 4 St SW and Palliser South on 1 St SE. 

We want to leave you with one final note. If you haven't already had a chance to learn more about the 4 St SE underpass, you should definitely check out this link. There, you can watch the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation's video concept of how the underpass will look and function once it's complete (and hey, there's no snow on the roads in the video...oh dry roads...we miss you already...).

 Here are some renderings from The Downtown Underpass Urban Design Guidelines:

 

 

 
 

Comments

[Jesse]

Thanks for sharing. My observation watching a typical bicyclist is that they are on the shoulder and have to risk getting creamed by a cement truck, or race in the middle of the road to keep pace with traffic. The situation is even worse at night with lower visibility. Hopefully some of the higher priority items can be implemented in 2011...

[mike]

While I really appreciate that these issues are getting more attention from the City, go outside right now and you can see why "bike lanes" and "shoulders" aren't very good in Calgary. The "wide outside lane" concept seems much more suited to this climate, especially since you can't even get snow plowing (or, more importantly, spring-time gravel sweeping) to happen on the tiny handful of lanes you DO have right now.

Those bike lanes might look nice on the computer, but after one snowfall they'll look like all the rest of the bike lanes and shoulders in the city right now: a big slushy gravel heap.

I also feel wide outside lanes makes motorists a lot less angry, since if there IS a dedicated space for a cyclist and they're not in it (e.g. it's full of slush) a few motorists get quite upset.

For another example, go take a look at the fiasco you just made on Charleswood Drive: you took a nice, wide road on which motorists where happy to give cyclists a really wide berth and put a ridiculous median in it. Now EVERY motorist has to pass cyclists too closely, even if there's nobody else on the road. At your open house, you called this "bike infrastructure" (and I really, really wish I was kidding)...

Don't get me wrong, bike infrastructure is good and appropriate in many cases, but I really think wide outside lanes serve our purposes better than bike lanes/shoulders. Another side benefit is that I think it makes everyone more aware that there are a bunch of different road users, not "cars over here, bikes over there".

[Richard Zach]

That's pretty awesome. Thanks for listening!