As it prepares for neighbourhood renewal in Wîhkwêntôwin, the City of Edmonton wants feedback on its design proposals for new bike infrastructure, traffic-calming measures, and linear parks in place of portions of roads.
The neighbourhood just west of the downtown core (technically named Oliver until January) is bounded to its east by 109 Street, its north by 104 Avenue, its west by 124 Street, and its south by the river valley. It is one of the city's densest communities, with more than 18,000 residents as of the 2019 municipal census, most of whom live in multi-family buildings. It's also up for renewal, meaning the streets and sidewalks will be repaved and resealed. The city said it will also use the opportunity to update Wîhkwêntôwin's infrastructure to current standards by widening sidewalks and narrowing automobile lanes, and to increase green space.
Edmonton residents can provide feedback on the city's draft design options for part of the neighbourhood renewal until July 25. The city will release design options for other parts of the neighbourhood later this year. Residents can offer feedback on each portion of roadway. Some portions have multiple options for renewal, while others have just one.
Ward O-day'min Coun. Anne Stevenson, who represents Wîhkwêntôwin, said the proposals could make an already walkable neighbourhood even more so. "What's so exciting about Wîhkwêntôwin renewal is it's building on strengths that are already there," she told Taproot. "We know that we have the users who would really appreciate and use and make best use of enhancements."
Aaron Budnick, lead organizer with the Edmonton Bike Coalition, said the draft options include "really great highlights and a few really excellent options," but also said there are "a number of areas for improvement as well."
City council approved funding the planning, design, and construction phases of Wîhkwêntôwin neighbourhood renewal in the 2023-2026 capital budget. There is $546 million allocated for 55 neighbourhood renewal projects across the city in the budget cycle.
Street closures, parklets
Of all the changes presented in the documents, proposed closures for vehicle access to some streets could most profoundly affect how drivers can move through the neighbourhood.
Stevenson said the proposed changes reflect the design principle that it should be easy to move around Wîhkwêntôwin but not necessarily through it. "I think that idea of our community not being a thoroughfare or just someplace that you pass through is a really important one — it is where tens of thousands of Edmontonians live," she said.
The city is proposing to close one or both directions of traffic on 121 Street in Wîhkwêntôwin to create a linear park. (Tim Querengesser)
On 121 Street between 102 Avenue and 103 Avenue, adjacent to Paul Kane Park, the city is proposing to close either one or both directions of vehicular traffic to build a linear park.
Shannon Lohner, chair of Paths for People, said the organization wants the city to go further and extend this proposed park to Jasper Avenue.
"We think, especially with the pedestrian and bike connections down to Victoria Promenade, the city has a lot of opportunity here to really just say, 'Hey, this is what this neighbourhood is — it is for transit, it is for walking, it is for cycling, it is for getting around in places without a car," Lohner said.
Because the majority of Wîhkwêntôwin residents live in apartments or condos, the city said many survey participants view the neighbourhood's public open spaces as their backyard, and want more of them.
Budnick said the area's green space is substandard, especially since the city plans for many more people to live in the neighbourhood in the future.
City administration has also proposed to close 97 Avenue east of 110 Street to drivers. This closure would cut off one vehicular access point to the High Level Bridge from the neighbourhood, and connect Constable Ezio Faraone Park to the Ribbon of Steel shared-use path. The current design involves two right-turn slip lanes intersecting with the shared-use path.
Coincidentally, Budnick said the Edmonton Bike Coalition was leading a tour through Wîhkwêntôwin earlier this month to discuss the proposal when participants watched a driver hit a cyclist who was crossing the street at that exact spot.
"This is a very busy city park, so (the proposed closure is) a good opportunity to really massively increase safety at common conflict points," Budnick said.
Other smaller street closures for drivers proposed in the draft options include 112 Street for half a block north of 102 Avenue, 99 Avenue for half a block east of 112 Street, and the intersection of 119 Street and 103 Avenue. In those proposed closures, drivers would be diverted while active transportation users could continue through. The city recently installed a similar closure on 105 Avenue NW between 112 Street NW and 113 Street NW.
Bike lanes
There could be new all-ages-and-abilities bike lanes — suitable for school-aged children to elderly people — coming to several streets in the neighbourhood.
City administration is proposing bike infrastructure on 112 Street, starting west of MacEwan University's Allard Hall and connecting to Constable Ezio Faraone Park. One option would be to remove one lane of vehicular traffic to build a two-way bike lane along the street. The other option is to make the street a "bike-way," an unprotected bike route that involves pavement markings and traffic-calming measures such as roundabouts, raised intersections, curb extensions, and a closure to drivers north of 102 Avenue.
Bike infrastructure is also proposed for either 118 Street or 119 Street. There are three options for this bike connection: a two-way protected bike lane with one-way vehicle traffic on 118 Street; a shared-use path with two-way vehicle traffic on 118 Street; or a bike-way with two-way traffic on 119 Street.
All design options for 121 Street call for protected bike lanes from Jasper Avenue to 104 Avenue, along with the proposed linear park. Currently, there are unprotected painted bike lanes on that street.
Lohner said the proposed north-south cycling connections are some of the highlights of the draft options. However, the group is pushing for protected bike infrastructure instead of bikeways. "The bikeways make it really hard to do things like adequate winter maintenance," she said. "They aren't super inviting to people who aren't yet comfortable with cycling, who don't want that mixing with traffic."
Roundabouts, chicanes, and other traffic-calming measures
Nearly every street in the first round of design options has some form of traffic calming proposed. There are raised intersections and curb extensions, which are designed to slow drivers down as they approach pedestrian crossings. There are proposed chicanes, which could force drivers to slow down to navigate curves. There are modal filters proposed, which would allow pedestrians and cyclists to travel through but would force drivers to detour.
These options could slow traffic but also make it less convenient to drive through the neighbourhood, especially for non-residents, which is a main consideration of the project, Lohner said. "Residents are going to have vehicles, they're going to drive, that is going to happen, but we want it to be so that's the only type of vehicles that are coming in and out of this neighbourhood, aside from the major arterials of Jasper Avenue."
Stevenson said because Wîhkwêntôwin is already a walkable community with many residents supportive of active transportation, the neighbourhood renewal could act as a "proof of concept" for neighbourhoods where 50% of trips are taken with active transportation, which is one of the goals in the City Plan.
"We often hear (that) we'll never get to a 50-50 mode shift because it's Edmonton and it's winter, et cetera," she said. "But Wîhkwêntôwin as a neighbourhood has effectively hit the 50-50 split between driving and active modes … That's not to say that everyone in Wîhkwêntôwin is carless, but that we have options, that we are able to use other modes, and it's Edmonton, and (there's) winter (weather)."
The online public survey is open until July 25. There will be an in-person engagement session on July 17 at Wîhkwêntôwin ᐄᐧᐦᑫᐧᐣᑑᐃᐧᐣ School. This phase of engagement is described as "exploring options and trade-offs," where residents can share feedback as the city works toward final designs.