Winkwentowin is a key neighborhood for the city, presenting a rare (once in a lifetime, realistically) opportunity to implement strategies that align with the city's goals and set a precedent for future renewal projects. If you have not seen the proposed designs and vision for the neighbourhood, take a look here, though this post will break that document down and compare the designs on a location-by-location basis.

This post will detail some specific suggestions for improvement to the proposed designs with a focus on some of the larger, more visionary proposals. The other designs have be broken down here.

These suggestions take into account the following:

• Current City plans and goals
• The lived experiences of cyclists in Edmonton
• Empirical evidence
• The fiscal sustainability of the City, and the impact of this project (and others) on future tax increases

These considerations are detailed in a separate blog post, which also lays out why we think this renewal project is so important.

Project Overview

Below you will see a map of the project area. The locations highlighted in green are the locations with design proposals that are currently taking feedback.  We understand that designs for some locations in the project area will not be subject to public engagement as the changes will be inline with current neighborhood renewal and complete street guidelines. Other locations may be subject to the engagement process at a later time.

The full design package is available here.

Note:
Some deigns have point of view renders. When these are used, the deign will have an orange cone showing the direction and field of view of the street level rendering. 

Design Proposals

This post will focus on:

• The 112 Street Active Transportation Connection
• The 118/119 Street Active Transportation Connection
• The 121 Street Linear Park

The Bike Plan calls for additional north/south connections through this neighbourhood. Possible routes to achieve this have been identified at 112 Street, 118 Street, and 119 Street. This portion of the neighbourhood renewal would connect and align with existing work from Imagine Jasper Ave and the approved designs for the Valley Line West.

112 Street Active Transportation Connection

Two options are being proposed for 112 Street. Design one includes a two-way separated bike lane along with one-way vehicle traffic, and an intersection closure to vehicle traffic on 97 Ave. Design 2 keeps two-way vehicle traffic with a Local Street Bikeway and an intersection closure to vehicle traffic at 102 Ave by adding a new parklet.

This active transportation connection would include segments at:

• 112 Street, north of 104 Ave
• 112 Street, from 104 Ave to 102 Ave
• 112 Street, from 102 Ave to Jasper Ave
• 112 Street, from Jasper Ave to 98 Ave
• 98 Ave, from 112 to 111 Street
• 111 Street from 97 Ave to 98 Ave 

Both options take the same overall route, following 112 Street from 104 Ave to 98 Ave, then along 98 Ave until 111 Street, where it follows 111 Street to 97 Ave, ending east of 110 Street at the alleyway. 

We'll follow this route from the North and head south and east.

112 Street North of 104 Avenue

In general, we favour the separated, protected bike lanes over the substandard "Local Street Bikeways". If the designs could be updated to remove on street parking entirely wherever "Local Street Bikeways" are being proposed, and modal filters can be incorporated to massively reduce traffic wherever a Bikeway is present, then Option 2 may become more interesting. The goal here needs to be making trips that start/end within the neighbourhood by car possible for residents, while reducing through-cutting and cars circling around looking for free parking. Neither of these use cases benefits the neighbourhood, and allowing through-cutting and searching for free parking encourages vehicle traffic on the Bikeway, which reduces safety and essentially turns the proposed Bikeways into Shared Streets - an unsafe, substandard option that we oppose.

The section north of 104 Ave would align with the design choices made south of 104 Ave along 112 Street, however, even in the case that option 2 gets chosen further south, the City could consider separating the bike lane through the intersection to improve cyclist visibility and add some protection while waiting for the light.

112 Street from 102 Ave to 104 Ave

In this section, using a Local Street Bikeway (alongside the removal of on street parking) as shown in Option 2 is attractive. The addition of a modal filter at 102 Ave through a parklet is very attractive. This aligns with many City goals, while improving safety, and adding an amenity to the neighbourhood. 

The intersection at 102 Ave may be improved by having stop signs for cars at the new T-intersection with priority for cyclists, or a mini-roundabout could be considered at this location to further improve safety while improving bike traffic flow and prioritizing non-car traffic at the intersection of the two bike paths. If the one-way car traffic option below is selected, then car traffic volume at this location is further reduced, improving safety.

112 Street from Jasper Ave to 102 Ave

We strongly prefer the one-way traffic option with a massive reduction in mostly unused on street parking. This better aligns with the parklet and road closure above and would help reduce traffic at what will become a busy four-way intersection to bike and other non-car traffic travelling east/west on 102 Ave and north/south on 112 Street. 

112 Street from 99 Ave to Jasper Ave

South of Jasper Ave we see the opportunity to improve the pedestrian crossings near the hospital to include continuous sidewalks or traffic tables. We lke the mini-roundabout at 99 Ave though we would argue that the intersection could also be raised alongside the roundabout to further prioritize the safety of those outside of cars.

Mid-block crossings are a great way to help reduce traffic speeds, which will improve safety, however we do not believe it is necessary to provide free on-street parking for staff/guests at the hospital.

112 Street, 98 Ave to 99 Ave

We are concerned about the apparent lack of protection of the bike lane at the corner of 98 Ave and 112 Street in option 1, however we prefer the design of option 1 overall. 

111 St to 112 St on 98 Ave

97 Ave to 98 Ave on 111 Street

110 Street to 111 Street on 97 Ave

Generally, we prefer option 1, with some areas that option 2 do a better job prioritizing safety, like on 97 Ave. The Local Street Bikeways are really only Shared Streets in option 2, and these have been shown to be less safe than no bike infrastructure at all. However, removing on street parking, adding more modal filters and traffic calming, and improving pedestrian crossings could address these issues and improve option 2 so that the bikeway is actually a Local Street Bikeway. 

Active Transportation Connection: 118 Street or 119 Street

Similar to 112 Street above, this there is a proposal for another north/south connection to the existing active transportation network. This portion of the neighbourhood renewal would connect and align with existing work from Imagine Jasper Ave and the approved designs for the Valley Line West.

There are two options proposed for 118 Street, and one option to instead use 119 Street:

1. Two-way bike lane, one-way traffic on 118 Street
2. Shared pathway, two-way traffic on 118 Street
3. Local Street Bikeway, two-way traffic on 119 Street

Option 1 vs 2 on 118 Street

Given a choice between these two options, option 1 is superior, though there are significant opportunities for improvement to prioritize safety for cyclists, and pedestrians especially near the school.

There are also a number of alleyway access points that have been maintained which interupt the protection of the bike lanes. This increases the number of conflict points and the City may want to consider which of these really need to be maintained given other points of access to these alleys.

Option 1 does also include he only major concern here is the parking bay that replaces the median for the bike lane. This will almost certainly lead to vehicles parking in the bike lane.

118 Street vs. 119 Street

119 Street provides a direct access point from the neighbourhood to the Brewery District, and is likely the preferred route. The addition of a modal filter is an excellent concept, but the implementation of this modal filter should better align with other City goals, featuring a bioswale, new tree cover, and a less concrete centric design. Ideally, there would be additional modal filters on 103 Ave to help move traffic traveling along 199 Street out of the neighbourhood by forcing a turn northward on 118 Street. 

If the City goes this direction, there is still need for intersection protections near the school, ideally allowing bus drop-off and minimizing overall traffic through the area. A one-way lane as proposed in option 1 would complement the extra modal filter on 103 Ave to help minimize traffic near the school, and crosswalk improvements in the area like the traffic tables/continuous sidewalks, daylighting, and longer curb extensions would ensure that safety is prioritized.

121 Street

This connection improves upon the current bike lane gutters while also improving access to green space in the neighbourhood. This work will align with the Valley Line West and Imagine Jasper Ave to provide connections throughout the area for pedestrians and cyclists. The section proposes three distinct sections:

• 104 Ave to 103 Ave:
• 103 Ave to 102 Ave:
• 102 Ave to Jasper Ave

This portion of the neighbourhood renewal would connect and align with existing work from Imagine Jasper Ave and the approved designs for the Valley Line West.

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There are some parking spaces, driveways, and alley access points that the project team is attempting to maintain. Given the volume of cycling and micro mobility traffic through this area, we are strongly in support of the full closure and enhanced linear park space.

We believe that the City should dream bigger here. Winkwentowin is Edmonton's densest neighbourhood currently, and is expected to quadruple in size to 40,000 residents by 2050. This area already has a dearth of amenity space and more will be needed to support the anticipated growth in this area.

While doing a site visit at this location, we observed that the shared street being proposed in the linear park connects an alleyway to a single home. There seems to be adequate parking for the house at the alleyway access behind it, and that alley is currently not used as the land on both sides of it is undeveloped. The City could significantly reduce the project budget by focusing on providing space for people as opposed to providing space for literally a single car.
There is also potential to improve the space south of 102 Ave by extending the linear park halfway to Jasper Ave, maintaining one lane of bidirectional traffic from Jasper Ave to 102 Ave, extending the public space near the Oliver Exchange building, and  allowing only right turn traffic for vehicles at 102 Ave with left only traffic for buses heading towards 124 Street on 102 Ave. 

104 to 103 Street

There is only one design being proposed for this section. This involves removing on-street parking and maintaining car access into the neighbourhood while upgrading the current painted bike lanes into fully separated and protected lanes. Though we are generally happy with this design, there are some opportunities for improvement that would make better use of the proposed green space.

This design only serves to encourage shortcutting through the neighbourhood. It would be better to close down access at 103 Ave by extending the linear park north to the south most parking garage access point.

Additionally, this green space is inaccessible to anyone. By extending the park north slightly, this park would integrate with the proposed linear park south of 103 Ave, though even in this scenario, this is still a space surrounded by cars that is not attractive to be used by people in the neighbourhood. An improvement to address this would be to only allow southbound traffic which curves through the space and exits onto 103 Ave westbound or eastbound (not both). This would allow more greenspace to be added to this location and would best integrate this greenspace into the linear park south of this location, potentially allowing an improved access to Paul Kane park as well if traffic is exited eastbound.

103 to 102 Ave

We are definitely biased towards Option 2 here:

102 to Jasper Ave

This is another area of opportunity for improved designs. Other than access to a few parking garages, a bus route, and patrons accessing the businesses along 102 Ave east of 121 Street, there is little reason for car traffic on this street. Like 103 Ave to 104 Ave, this section includes only one proposal:

This is a location that should have no on street parking though loading zones and accessible parking spaces should absolutely be present.

Read more about why we think this neighbourhood renewal is so important here and read about the other proposed designs here!