New design aims to make ‘End of the World’ safer
The City of Edmonton released new designs for the End of the World lookout this week that would tame and make safe a controversial spot on the river bank.
The site overlooking the North Saskatchewan River is in the Belgravia neighbourhood, where the old Keillor Road met Saskatchewan Drive. The road was closed in 1994 because of the unstable slope and the site is supposed to be offlimits to the public.
The new designs propose demolishing the tall concrete piles that tempt thrill-seekers out to a more than 15-metre high cliff. Instead of the rugged piers, sightseers would have stairs, benches and a barrier to allow people to safely stand at the edge of one of Edmonton’s best viewpoints.
“The setting itself ... it’s one of those unique gems,” said Martina Gardiner, director of open space infrastructure for the city.
But even the new viewing platform comes with risks. The slope is still moving, said Gardiner. The city is monitoring it and, if council approves the environmental assessment, will do more engineering and geotechnical studies before starting construction in 2018.
“We can’t guarantee it’s going to be there for 20, 30 years,” said Coun. Ben Henderson. “But we’ve run out of other ideas to deal with it . ... It’s creating huge problems in the neighbourhood.”
Because the site is off-limits, people can be fined for trespassing if they go. Both police and the city’s peace officers have stepped up enforcement in recent years. “But there’s no amount of enforcement you could do to stop people using it,” said Henderson.
Instead, it’s attracting large groups of late-night partiers, who walk drunk back to their vehicles late at night through the neighbourhood.
“Kids sit on the edge and it’s an extremely high drop off,” said Roger Laing, member of the Belgravia Community League’s subcommittee on the issue.
Creating a safe, family-friendly viewing area should change the dynamic.
“We’re very pleased with the design. It’s well thought out,” he said.
Gardiner doesn’t have a firm cost yet for the project, but hopes it can be done within existing budgets for river valley work.
Crews would try to preserve as much vegetation as possible to hold the slope during construction.
Gardiner hopes the project would have a long-term benefit to the environment by reducing erosion and encouraging people to stick to the path.
It would have wooden stairs down from the shared-use path and a granular path to provide wheelchair access.
The site would be well-lit, with rocks to be used as benches, bike racks and a garbage bin.