Vol 3, Issue 4 - May 2008 (PDF)

By Rebecca O’Brien
There is no avoiding the signs of construction throughout Inglewood, and the fact that over the next decade our community will undergo substantive demographic change. As Inglewood’s population expands, there will also be more people moving within, to, and from, the community. How do Inglewood, and Calgary, plan to accommodate this movement, without putting even more cars on the streets? With safe, convenient and attractive choices aside from the automobile, it may be possible to have one of the most vibrant communities in the city.

A Complete Street is safe, comfortable, and convenient for travel by automobile, foot, bicycle and transit. Complete Streets should be: designed, built, operated, and maintained taking in consideration the needs of all users (pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, car drivers, the disabled, seniors, and children). When designing and planning Complete Streets, the references for standards should be the more vulnerable street users; a ten year old on a bicycle, a person in a wheelchair, a senior citizen. This way, all people are included.

The concept of Complete Streets may sound lofty but it isn’t; after all nearly 40% of our population does not drive, and yet over the past half century streets in North America have been built for to accommodate the other 60%. Calgary and Edmonton are prime examples of this, with the highest per capita vehicle ownership, the highest gas consumption and the most kilometres driven per car in the country (Source, Alberta Transportation). Regardless of the excellent pathway system here, the reality is that the built environment in this city discourages healthy, sustainable transportation. Under both Ralph Klein and David Bronconnier, Calgary has sprawled, with massive amounts of taxes funnelled into roads to accommodate suburban development, and very little to accommodate Complete Street design.

Inglewood, though far more pedestrian and transit friendly than suburban communities (such as Tuscany, Panorama Heights or ‘McMansion- land’ like Elbow Valley) has many examples of incomplete streets, where speeding cars and traffic congestion create unsafe, unpleasant -and just plain ugly- conditions for people on foot, bike, transit and wheelchair. For anyone who walks or cycles 9th Avenue in Inglewood on a regular basis, this is evident.

Next time you walk from Colonel Walker School to a business near the CIBC, put yourself in the shoes of a ten year old on a bicycle, a person in a wheelchair, or a senior citizen. Take a good look at the location of the Riverside Quays development and ask yourself how those residents are expected to access the services in the neighbourhood by foot, bike or transit (a question I have asked the management of Riverside Quays and had no response to). Ponder the characteristics of a Complete Street (wide sidewalks with trees, green space and parking as a buffer between pedestrians and traffic; bikeways that are physically separated from the road system; transit stops that are comfortable, safe, convenient and attractive, intersection design that puts priority on the safety of pedestrians and cyclists instead of the speedy flow of cars and trucks). Assess the current barriers (narrow streets, emphasis on traffic flow) and potential for improvement. Take a moment to consider the loss of dignity a wheelchair user must suffer just to find a safe place to access the sidewalk or cross the road.

There are some good examples that are local (the new pedestrian crossing at Ramsay Elementary School; the pedestrian, cyclist and transit friendly design around the new Children’s hospital; the C train station in Kensington...) as well as national and international examples (Vancouver, Portland and Montreal are leaders in Complete Street design on this continent). Consider how much more attractive the city could be if were designed for all users, and not just for the private automobile.

With a few exceptions, engineers have been making incomplete streets for far too long, and they have done this because North Americans see it as a fundamental right to drive anywhere, anytime. The tide is changing, as many now recognise the negative impacts of this poorly built environment, from obesity, to pollution, to the costs of the car-both personal and social. In several US States and municipalities, Complete Streets are now policy (Portland, Oregon and California for example). Complete Streets require planners and engineers to design and implement policies with all users in mind. These streets are continuous and need to be part of all planning policy. In other words, one isolated block of Complete Street doesn’t help much when it is surrounded by an ocean of incomplete design with no connectivity. For more information on Complete Streets, go to www.completestreets.org. There are also some great examples on the Street Films website at www.streetfilms.org/archives/physically-separated-bike-lanes. Remember that you have to be part of the movement if you want to make Calgary a city that values all citizens, Inglewood a great place to live and move around in, and a model community for this expanding city.

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