Notices by yaygya (yaygya@c.im)

@pluralistic a friend of mine was made to unlock their phone and had it taken from them for an hour when crossing the border into the USA from Canada.

I don't think Little Brother was intended to serve as inspiration in that way.

@skinnylatte there’s a certain kind of protectionist populist narrative on the left that tends to have a blind spot on issues like this.

First, let’s establish the area. This is a typical post-1950s car-oriented suburb, with wide stroads to match. Here’s a photo of what the old portion of 132 Avenue looks like. Bland, with fast cars and multiple wide lanes. Not very appealing.

Oh, but what’s this? There’s something across the street. Let’s take a closer look.

This weekend, I decided to visit a random suburb in north Edmonton, to check out something rather interesting: the first new segment of 132 Avenue, a road undergoing resurfacing. What makes this road in particular interesting is how it’s designed, and it’s something that has to be seen.

A thread.

#edmonton #urbanism #yeg #safestreets

Immediately we can see space for a bike lane and the makings of a protected intersection (still under construction). This isn’t something that I’ve seen anywhere else in Canada.

Another view of the protected intersection. These raised bumps (I’m not familiar with the proper term) are typically only seen in major city centre crossings, if even that. So seeing that in a typical suburb is quite impressive.

Notice how the intersecting street is interrupted by the raised sidewalk and bike path, and not the other way around. Subtle, but effective. This also had me questioning whether I was still in Canada or the Netherlands, although to be fair everything I saw along this road was like this.

Moving past the construction, you immediately see that the 132 Avenue is only one lane in each direction, a significant difference from the vaguely wide road it was previously. There’s a wide bike lane on both sides of the road, as well as a substantial sidewalk. I like what I’m seeing here.

Here’s a crosswalk with a walking path. You can see a car here too. I think this picture encapsulates what’s great about 132 Avenue: minimal space for cars, designed with safety in mind, plus some other tidbits.

This is what it looks like from across the street. It’s visually quite noticeable. Cars crossing through slowed down more than you’d expect at a typical intersection.

These bollards are a really clever touch. If there’s some out-of-control vehicle coming in that doesn’t make the turn, it protects people on the sidewalk and the bike path from getting hurt, and avoids damaging anyone’s homes.

No comment here, I just thought this view was nice. You can see the Stantec Tower in the distance.

They even have multi-unit housing here! This is from a while ago and looks old, but it fits with the road, and, in a way, gives a look into the future of suburbia.

A pedestrian-only crossing. These exist in other parts of the city and are always nice to see, but the fact that this one in particular has the raised bumps and doesn’t involve crossing extremely wide lanes makes it superior in my book. The bumps are even on both sides of the bike path!

It’s hard to see from this angle, but there is also a sign indicating there’s a crosswalk.

Another intersection. This one has the raised bumps on both sides of the road.

Roadside parking. But not just any roadside parking. This roadside parking is only given a certain amount of space and is visually distinguished too, disincentivizing overspeeding and avoiding turning parking into just another lane.

You’ve probably noticed there’s a significant lack of shade. That’s because the trees on the side of the road are quite new, and it’ll take a few years before they have a larger impact. I’m quite familiar with this process having spent time in new developments.

This is how a bus stop is handled. There’s a bit of paving on the other side of the bike path, which notably features a crosswalk. Raised bumps on both sides of the bike lane, once again.

Well, now I’ve reached the end of the road. Interestingly, there’s a crossing here specially for bikes, which is nice to see.

132 Avenue is being constructed in phases. This first phase was made in 2023, and construction will continue for different segments over the next few years, which means that there will be one long, end-to-end corridor linking communities with safe bike paths and sidewalks.

More information can be found here: https://www.edmonton.ca/transportation/on_your_streets/132-avenue-renewal