Emerald Necklace (13th Avenue Greenway)

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by Wooster

West of 4th (or 5th) 13th is already perhaps the nicest tree line avenue in Beltline. No need for much physical intervention - perhaps some interpretive stuff related to heritage and open space - but in my view, don't fix what's not broken. Crappier corridors like 8th Street, 10th Ave, 14th St etc, need much more attention.

Agree. Hope the 8th street corridor starts this summer. Decent amount of new shops/towers, but the current public realm along the strip is mostly crap!

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Wooster

West of 4th (or 5th) 13th is already perhaps the nicest tree line avenue in Beltline. No need for much physical intervention - perhaps some interpretive stuff related to heritage and open space - but in my view, don't fix what's not broken. Crappier corridors like 8th Street, 10th Ave, 14th St etc, need much more attention.

Yeah the rest of the ave is treed right to 17th street. Could probably just use a few spot plantings to fill in gaps. Good call on the heritage intepretation too, would give another reason to continue down the corridor. I count at least 17 historic sites (counting some groups of buildings as one site) if you go all the way to 17th st, maybe more if you had signage point to sites one block north or south of the ave.

[Calgarian]

I think they should extend it to 5th (but the way they did between 2nd and 4th where there is still parking) and call it done. I agree with Wooster, the stretch west of 5th has great trees and is already super green already, no need to rip that up. They could make the sidewalk a bit wider, but that shouldn't require much work and they could probably do most of it in a single year.

I'm still really choked they removed the cycling component though, that was what really made this project worthwhile.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by Wooster

West of 4th (or 5th) 13th is already perhaps the nicest tree line avenue in Beltline. No need for much physical intervention - perhaps some interpretive stuff related to heritage and open space - but in my view, don't fix what's not broken. Crappier corridors like 8th Street, 10th Ave, 14th St etc, need much more attention.

Absolutely agree. They just seemed to quietly shelve it. I would be happy with an upgrade to 5th or 6th street and stop there. 5th to have some connectivity to the new cycletrack slated there (in feeling more than actual route, as the greenway never quite aimed to be the cycling/pathway infrastructure it was originally proposed for. 6th to connect to the Park with the Loughheed house.

8th Street is supposed to be going soon right? This year or next?

[McMurph]

Originally Posted by Wooster

West of 4th (or 5th) 13th is already perhaps the nicest tree line avenue in Beltline. No need for much physical intervention - perhaps some interpretive stuff related to heritage and open space - but in my view, don't fix what's not broken. Crappier corridors like 8th Street, 10th Ave, 14th St etc, need much more attention.

Definitely agree. There are two blocks of 13th in Sunalta that is amongst the nicest inner city streetscapes in Calgary -- the kind of street that some other prairie cities seem to have miles of.

The only thing it's missing on 13th west of 5th is a bit of the pedestrian infrastructure (good sidewalks, signage and crosswalks) that would draw more people onto it. But absolutely 8th ought to be the priority. All of 8th. Now.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by McMurph

Definitely agree. There are two blocks of 13th in Sunalta that is amongst the nicest inner city streetscapes in Calgary -- the kind of street that some other prairie cities seem to have miles of.

The only thing it's missing on 13th west of 5th is a bit of the pedestrian infrastructure (good sidewalks, signage and crosswalks) that would draw more people onto it. But absolutely 8th ought to be the priority. All of 8th. Now.

I actually used to live on one of those blocks and it prompted me to find a similar street in Mount Pleasant when I was ready to buy.

[Surrealplaces]

I got a chance to walk up and down the greenway the other day, and was quite impressed. Once New Generation Tower, Maple Projects, and Live on Park are completed the corridor should settle out nicely. I was surprised by how many people were using it.....that area used to be a total dead zone.

[CorporateWhore]

This name still makes me giggle.

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

I got a chance to walk up and down the greenway the other day, and was quite impressed. Once New Generation Tower, Maple Projects, and Live on Park are completed the corridor should settle out nicely. I was surprised by how many people were using it.....that area used to be a total dead zone.

Wouldn't it be something if that proposal north of DJD and the 4 tower Bentall project get going along this strip as well.

[outoftheice]

I see the city has now installed traffic lights at 13th Ave and Macleod Trail which is a step in the right direction of creating a truly cross-beltline pedestrian corridor. Does anyone know if there is a plan to create an at grade pedestrian crossing over the LRT tracks? At the moment the Greenway kind of awkwardly dead-ends at the Stampede grounds. An LRT pedestrian crossing would essentially place the Greenway at the front doors of the BMO Centre/Cowboys Casino and help draw traffic along the Greenway's east end. (In my experience most pedestrians still use 17th Ave or 12th Ave to access the Stampede grounds/Saddledome). It looks like perhaps there is some sort of modification happening to the fencing on the east side of the LRT tracks but I'm not sure if that's related to the new traffic lights/potential pedestrian crossing or not....

[UofC.engineer]

Originally Posted by outoftheice

I see the city has now installed traffic lights at 13th Ave and Macleod Trail which is a step in the right direction of creating a truly cross-beltline pedestrian corridor. Does anyone know if there is a plan to create an at grade pedestrian crossing over the LRT tracks? At the moment the Greenway kind of awkwardly dead-ends at the Stampede grounds. An LRT pedestrian crossing would essentially place the Greenway at the front doors of the BMO Centre/Cowboys Casino and help draw traffic along the Greenway's east end. (In my experience most pedestrians still use 17th Ave or 12th Ave to access the Stampede grounds/Saddledome). It looks like perhaps there is some sort of modification happening to the fencing on the east side of the LRT tracks but I'm not sure if that's related to the new traffic lights/potential pedestrian crossing or not....

Excellent news, that roadway is underutilized by cars anyways.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.04024...D5vW35RqHg!2e0

P.S. I'd love to see that old building fixed up.

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

Excellent news, that roadway is underutilized by cars anyways.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.04024...D5vW35RqHg!2e0

P.S. I'd love to see that old building fixed up.

Macleod Trail North-bound has some gem old store-fronts. It's too bad they are left to decay on such an auto-oriented corridor. Time will change that I think if traffic counts continue to decrease on Macleod and other cross-streets get better priority with all the development in the area. Should help slow down the one-way, wall of high-speed traffic effect that is so destructive to the pedestrian experience there.

Excellent news on the Greenway completing the last block between the Macleods. It is very noticeable how much pedestrian traffic is pulled onto this route. Their is nearly constant pedestrians crossing 2nd Street SW on 13th during rush hour now. The route seems to be attracting people

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by MasterG

Macleod Trail North-bound has some gem old store-fronts. It's too bad they are left to decay on such an auto-oriented corridor. Time will change that I think if traffic counts continue to decrease on Macleod and other cross-streets get better priority with all the development in the area. Should help slow down the one-way, wall of high-speed traffic effect that is so destructive to the pedestrian experience there.

Excellent news on the Greenway completing the last block between the Macleods. It is very noticeable how much pedestrian traffic is pulled onto this route. Their is nearly constant pedestrians crossing 2nd Street SW on 13th during rush hour now. The route seems to be attracting people

13th is how I walk east and west, mostly because there are no lights due to 13th being too narrow for heavy traffic, that and I get the right of way no matter what at most intersections.

Not sure a light is required at 13th and 2nd St SE (MacLeod) though, it won't go anywhere and there is a crossing a block away. I doubt they will build a pedestrian overpass there either, it would go directly onto private property and there is a nice wide sidewalk on 12th and the overpass to the BMO / Saddledome on 15th.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

Excellent news, that roadway is underutilized by cars anyways.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.04024...D5vW35RqHg!2e0

P.S. I'd love to see that old building fixed up.

I'd say 95% chance it will be torn down in the next 5 years.

[Surrealplaces]

The wife and I took a walk down 13th the other day, and we were both impressed by the look and feel of it.

I've been in and around the emerald necklace a lot and have walked portions of it, but have never actually walked a long stretch of it until just now (Walked from 1St SE, to 5th Street SW), and never in the evening until now. My wife was really impressed by how nice it looked and by busy it was, even on a Monday night......

[dazzlingdave88]

Looks like they are starting construction on extending this from 4th street to just past 5th street.

[Wooster]

I love this street. Once the east end is filled out with Gablecraft, Bentall, etc, it'all be such a nice corridor overall!

[MasterG]

Originally Posted by dazzlingdave88

Looks like they are starting construction on extending this from 4th street to just past 5th street.

Wait really? I thought this project had completed stalled and was relegated to a dusty shelf? Good news if this is the case

I would be really interested to see how pedestrian movements have changed before and after this project. Pedestrian movements are never tracked or studied very well, but I would love to prove my observations that 13th avenue and 2nd Street is significantly busier than previously. Pedestrian infrastructure works, successes need to be better documented though.

It would be nice if the original project was updated to include modern traffic design standards like pedestrian bump-outs on corners and zebra crossings. This project seemed to slip through just before the city starting taking pedestrian safety more seriously (on paper in design standards, if not in actual practice).

[dazzlingdave88]

Originally Posted by MasterG

Wait really? I thought this project had completed stalled and was relegated to a dusty shelf? Good news if this is the case

I would be really interested to see how pedestrian movements have changed before and after this project. Pedestrian movements are never tracked or studied very well, but I would love to prove my observations that 13th avenue and 2nd Street is significantly busier than previously. Pedestrian infrastructure works, successes need to be better documented though.

It would be nice if the original project was updated to include modern traffic design standards like pedestrian bump-outs on corners and zebra crossings. This project seemed to slip through just before the city starting taking pedestrian safety more seriously (on paper in design standards, if not in actual practice).

I can't guarantee it 100%, but there was construction fencing on the south side the whole length of 13 ave from 4th st. past 5th. They sidewalk was dug up and it looked very similar to how they started in the other sections.

[CalgaryAlex]

It was only last year that they completed work on this between 1 St SE and Macleod, so there must be some sort of plan to continue work over time.

I really hope they stretch this all the way to 14th St. I think 13th Ave is a remarkable piece of the pedestrian realm. Other than the lack of advanced pedestrian infrastructure mentioned above by MasterG, it has turned out very well. Quiet, clean, attractive and safe. Even without the extension past 4th St, it already provides a nice stretch for walks during the lunch hour.