As part of the construction of the WCMUC (West-Central Multi-Use Trail) the city has come up with a design to fix the rail/road crossing at the confluence of the CP tracks, Avenue N and 19th Street. This unsafe crossing situation has led to complaints from both CP and area residents. This is the situation now:
Our favourite time of year, new sidewalk infill season! The following streets are getting sidewalks over the next three years, thanks to city council for making this happen!
McPherson Avenue from Ruth St to Elm St (both sides)
McPherson Avenue from Taylor St to 7th St (both sides)
Kenderdine Road from Park entrance to Kerr Rd
Isabella Street from Clarence Ave to Lansdown Ave (North side)
Diefenbaker Drive from 22nd St to Fairlight Dr (West side)
Duke Street from the Lane West of 10th Ave to King Cres (South side)
21st Street West from Avenue I South to Avenue P South (North side)
21st Street West from Avenue U South to Witney Avenue (South side)
29th Street West from Pierre Radisson Park to Avenue L North (South side)
18th Street West from Avenue U South to Avenue S South (both sides)
Ewart Avenue from 8th Street to Main Street (East side)
Grant Street from North of Spark Avenue (both sides)
8th Street East from Boychuk Drive to Golf Course (South side)
Boychuk Drive from 8th Street to Briarwood Road (West side)
Prince of Wales Avenue from Lane East of Empire Avenue to Spadina Crescent (both sides)
Avenue H South from 13th Street to 15th Street (East side)
St. Henry Avenue from Hilliard Street to Isabella Street (East side)
Victoria Avenue from Ruth Street to Elm Street (both sides)
Stonebridge Boulevard from Clarence Avenue to Wellman Crescent East intersection (South side)
In Summary: The City of Saskatoon needs to prioritise developing the environmentally and fiscally sustainable University Sector neighbourhoods over disconnected greenfield developments. Additionally, the city should completely cancel the development of the University Heights #3 neighbourhood.
Walking Saskatoon spends a lot of time advocating for the retrofitting of pedestrian infrastructure into existing neighbourhoods. What if we didn’t have to?
The true walkability of a city is determined well before any concrete is poured or houses built. Where neighbourhoods are located and how they are designed are by far the biggest influences on transportation choices made by residents. The walkability and sustainability of a city follow inexorably from the area and neighbourhood master plans developed by city planners and housing developers years before construction.
The City of Saskatoon is currently at an important crossroads when it comes to choosing which new neighbourhoods to develop next. Saskatoon is in a unique position for a North American city, in that there are significant amounts of undeveloped land near the centre of the city’s geographic footprint. Critically, these lands are not brownfield or greyfield industrial plots in need of expensive remediation. In addition, the University of Saskatchewan has decided to relocate its research fields and endowment lands outside of the City. The lack of any serious manufacturing history in the city, combined with the University’s massive land holdings have given the City the chance to develop new, truly walkable neighbourhoods close to existing services.
City of Saskatoon University Sector Plan
To increase walkability in Saskatoon, developing the University Sector Plan (USP) neighbourhoods need to be the absolute first priority for the city. They are substantially served by existing road, pathway, sewer and water infrastructure, making them a lot cheaper for the city to develop than greenfield neighbourhoods. Not only is it cheaper for taxpayers, but the sector’s proximity to the University, the Meewasin Valley, North End Industrial and Downtown makes these neighbourhoods ideal for walking and biking. More active transportation means further savings for the City on transportation maintenance cost, while improving the quality of life and health of neighbourhood residents. The University explicitly mentions active transportation as a primary design goal of the University sector neighbourhoods, ensuring that their central location won’t be wasted with car-centric design.
Another infill neighbourhood the city should prioritise for development is the North Downtown/Idylwyld corridor. The area’s location, bridging North Downtown with the Saskatchewan Polytech campus, makes it a prime candidate for student residences and other Sask Poly expansion. The North Downtown area master plan was developed by the city ten years ago, but it clearly has no momentum. This is an opportunity to replace the current plan with a more student-focused one. Replacing the thousands of daily car trips made by commuting students with a walkable route to campus would be a major benefit for both the students and the city.
North Downtown Industrial
While new infill neighbourhoods and infill in existing neighbourhoods should clearly be preferred for priority development, it still may not be enough to house a population of 1 million by 2050, if those projections come to pass. This means we will have to build greenfield neighbourhoods, but we must choose ones that integrate well with the city’s active transportation plan and are environmentally sustainable.
One planned neighbourhood that clearly fails that test is the upcoming University Heights #3 neighbourhood. This neighbourhood is part of the University Heights sector development, which is in the process of building out several neighbourhoods in an environmentally sensitive prairie wetland area. In addition,the Province is planning to build out a major highway through the area, further compounding environmental and financial damage. The last area to be developed(UH#3), is the worst environmental offender of all, planned right on top of the Northeast and Small Swales, two locally and regionally important environmental areas. This is the kind of damaging greenfield development that can be easily cancelled in place of further emphasising the fantastic infill opportunity Saskatoon possesses.
North East Swale in the University Heights Development Sector
Thanks to Councillor Gough for alerting us to the proposed new rules for walking/biking detours during road construction. Everyone who walks in Saskatoon knows that this has been a huge issue for a long time and we are ecstatic that formal rules are being established.
Had a great discussion with Friend of Walking Saskatoon (it’s a title!) Ward 2 Councillor Hilary Gough about pedestrian issues in her ward, especially focusing on missing sidewalks, beg buttons and the contintued development of the West-Central Multi-Use Corridor rail trail throughout her ward. Check out our presentation below and also see walkability reports for each neighbourhood in Ward 2.
Had a great discussion with freind of Walking Saskatoon Mayor Clark about pedestrian issues in Saskatoon a couple of weeks ago. We heard two great pieces of news: first, that curb ramps on sidewalks will now be automatially installed when regular road maintenance is happening, second, that the Traffic Safety Reserve is still active and available for funding projects.
The latter is quite important, as it is one of the few dedicated sources of funding for sidewalk construction and pedestrian safety projects in the city. We thought it had been taken fully away from the city by the province a few years ago, but Mayor Clark gave us a great clarification that is was just speeding ticket revenue, not red light camera revenue, that was re-directed. That means there’s still (a small) pot of money available for consistent funding of pedestrian-focused capital projects in the city.
We also asked Mayor Clark to keep the bug buttons off city streets. They are explicitly anti-pedestrian and don’t even work correctly.
Had a great discussion with Ward 6 councillor and good friend of Walking Saskatoon Cynthia Block about pedestrian issues in the ward. She was a great help last term in taking the lead on directing federal funding towards pedestrian infrastructure and advocating for the new 20-year sidewalk replacement cycle, two of the biggest funding wins in years at the city.
Our discussion, as always in Ward 6, focused on the still large number of missing sidewalks (despite several blocks slated for construction this summer) and how and if fees from new infill developments can be directed to neighbourhood improvements where the developments are happening. With five new projects in the Ward this year this issue is top-of-mind.
Check out our presentation below and walkability evaluations for each neighbourhood in the ward.
Had a good chat with new Ward Councillor David Kirton about pedestrian issues in Ward 3. He told us a great story via Moe Neault about Fairhaven residents half-jokingly wanting to keep potholes unfixed to slow cars down on Fairhaven Drive. Ward 3 is full of long, straight, dangerous four-lane roads that encourage speeding and few places to safely cross for pedestrians (“airport runways” quipped Councillor Kirton). The lack of safe crossing and excessive speed on these streets have been brought repeatedly up in area traffic reviews and we discussed this with the Councillor.
While we are talking about Ward 3, check out the walkability evaluations for the neighbourhoods in the ward:
