CONGESTION WILL WORSEN
Motorists who commute daily between Edmonton’s west end and downtown must wonder if the city’s unspoken goal is to make the drive so frustrating and inconvenient they abandon their private vehicles and even city buses for good.
There is the long-term plan to run the LRT down Stony Plain Road and 104 Avenue, leaving only one driving lane in each direction on parts of the route. Planners expect traffic displaced from this major downtown connector to take 107 Avenue. But they voiced the same hopes in 2013 during bridge rehabilitation on 104 Avenue over Groat Road and later, during the two long years it took to replace the 102 Avenue span.
As long-term detours, 107 and 111 Avenues were inadequate to the task and congestion reached infuriating levels on either 102 or 104 Avenues. Traffic tie-ups grew so bad and commuters so angry that the city was forced to temporarily scrap parking in the area to dislodge traffic jams during peak times.
Just when west-enders thought it was sane to drive or bus back into downtown again, the city has now announced plans to narrow lanes, change traffic signals to favour pedestrians and widen sidewalks on yet another major route into the core. Drastic changes will be tested in a four- or six-week trial this summer on Jasper Avenue from 124 Street to 109 Street.
Jasper Avenue currently has three lanes in each direction, but only two are for traffic. The outer lanes are for buses only during peak periods and provide parking the rest of the time.
The city plans to narrow the lanes and turn the bus lanes into 24-hour parking, patio space or flex lanes, where buses would mix with other traffic. It’s laudable to improve the walkability and the look of Jasper Avenue for people who live, work and shop on the street and in the neighbourhoods adjoining it. But the fact remains, the avenue is also a busy commercial and commuter route that connects the west end with the core for drivers and bus riders.
Turning it into a pedestrian-oriented boulevard at the expense of traffic flow, without providing adequate alternative routes, will only exacerbate congestion, especially when the LRT line robs Stony Plain Road-104 Avenue of much of its vehicular capacity. With traffic on both Jasper and Stony Plain-104 Avenue constricted, how do city planners expect motorists and transit buses to get downtown and back without major delays? One can only hope that city planners carefully weigh the ideals of making Jasper Avenue more walkable and aesthetically pleasing with the practicalities of needing to help Edmontonians get where they need to go.