Patio fests, movies to help test changes along Jasper Avenue

Pilot project will give city closer look at options for main street redesign

Jasper Avenue’s bus lanes will give way to patios this summer and into the fall as Edmonton trials a slimmed-down version of its main street.

Councillors gave the plan a vote of confidence Tuesday.

The pilot project starts July 10 — with traffic engineers getting ready to count not just cars waiting at traffic lights, but people having a pint or gathering for a movie night, too.

They hope that real-life study will help everyone visualize options for the street and identify any changes or pinch points before the design becomes permanent.

“The concept is good (but) I pushed for the pilot to be longer so we can see how it does affect traffic,” said Ward 5 Coun. Michael Oshry, worried about a plan engineers predict will add up to four minutes to a commute from downtown to the west end during the worst of the afternoon congestion.

That could be a 10-minute impact when LRT-related changes to 104 Avenue are factored in, Oshry estimated.

The pilot will run into October. Several councillors raised congestion concerns at council’s executive committee Tuesday.

But Jason Meliefste, head of infrastructure planning and design, said congestion for private vehicles is naturally going to get worse as the city expands.

“If all we thought about was cars, we could find ourselves (stuck with miserable congestion) in 10, 20 years,” he said.

“But we’re ... providing a planning perspective that incorporates more than just automobiles.”

The LRT on 104 Avenue will give commuters a reliable option in public transit, and these changes to Jasper Avenue are meant to make the surrounding residential neighbourhoods more walkable, said Meliefste.

Pedestrians will have first priority with three-metre-wide sidewalks and traffic signals timed to always be green for someone using an average walking speed down Jasper Avenue.

If this succeeds, it is meant to encourage more people to live in Oliver and downtown, closer to where they work, so they can walk or bike for errands and to work.

Traffic engineer Satya Gadidasu said his team is organizing at least three events for the pilot project, which runs from 109 Street to 115 Street on Jasper Avenue.

That might include Zumba classes, painting lessons or a movie night in the Alberta Health Services parking lot, plus half a dozen new patios.

Details will be at edmonton.ca/ImagineJasperAvenue.

The entire project runs from 109 Street to 124 Street.

The project team is working on detailed design and cost estimates to bring to council for the 2019-22 capital budget cycle.

Construction would start at 109 Street and take about three years.

The road itself was scheduled for renewal in the last budget cycle, but work was postponed for the redesign.