By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

City Hall open house includes changes to 3 Ave S and new downtown bike corridors

Mar 12, 2019 | 4:53 PM

LETHBRIDGE – An open house was held Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 12) at Lethbridge City Hall, to update the public and to get input on 15 different current and future city projects.

Among those, were plans for big changes along 3 Ave. S. from 4 St. S. to 8 St. S., which include cutting down the number of lanes from the current four, down to three, according to project manager Craig Richter.

“So, there’s going to be a single travel lane in each direction, plus a dual left turning lane in each direction. And then the parking areas are going to be raised up. So that means if you’re travelling on 3 Avenue, you have to pull up onto the parking stall. What that does, is it allows the whole parking area to be level with the sidewalk, so that when businesses want to put out patios or have some kind of event on the sidewalks, that there’s a larger space that they can utilise for that. They can block off parking spaces if they need.”

Other changes include the addition of more trees and shrubs, garbage bins, benches and bicycle racks. There will also be “bulb-outs” at the intersections which will also be prominently coloured with brick.

The idea, says Richter, is to make it a better pedestrian corridor and better pedestrian experience. However, he does anticipate there will be some pushback from residents because of the changes.

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“We’re confident that the three lanes can still handle the traffic, so we’re not concerned about that. And it’s really going to be a neat experience for a vehicle to drive down, so I think people will see the benefits of it more than the consequences of it for sure.”

The project could begin in late 2019, but more likely in the spring of 2020, while the project will be completed by the fall of 2021.

Some changes to the Cycling Corridor Functional Study were also presented at the open house. Transportation Engineer Adam St. Amant says rather than having a bike corridor along 6 St. S. in the downtown, they are getting feedback on putting bike lanes along 7 St. S. from the current bike corridor along 7 Ave. S., to 1 Ave. S. where Park Place Mall is located. There would be a two-way cycling path on the north side of 1 Ave. S. which would one-day also connect to Stafford Drive, and the overpass, and extend to north Lethbridge.

“We’re looking at cycling in two directions. One direction on each side of the road.

“We have a couple of options on the table. Both options that we’re looking at have the cycling lane, then parking, and then motor vehicle traffic. One of the two options has cycling down at the same level as the motor vehicles…the other option would have cyclists raised up to sidewalk level with a bicycle pathway that’s marked and dedicated for cyclists, but it would be up off the road service.”

At this point, there is no real time-line for the bike lanes, and it’s also dependent on funding, says St. Amant.

Some of the other projects highlighted at City Hall include a new fire hall on the far south-west side of the city in the community of Watermark, twinning of University Drive, input on the developing Municipal Housing Strategy, the city’s Mobility/Accessibility Master Plan, urban forest development and what parks and pathways are in the works.

For more information on the projects go to https://getinvolvedlethbridge.ca/ .