Downtown Edmonton was full of families enjoying a harvest festival Saturday afternoon as part of Experience Jasper Avenue’s last design demonstration.
Activities included horse drawn hay-rides, a chili cook-off and trick-or-treating.
Residents were invited to come down dressed up for Halloween and head to the main hub, the parking lot of the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre at 11111 St. and Jasper Ave.
READ MORE: Pedestrian-friendly transformation being tested along Edmonton’s Jasper Ave
There’s also roving entertainers, a photo booth, choir music and a mural wall photo contest.
“We had 2,500 people attend the last three events and we’re anticipating a big number today too,” said project manager Satya Gadidasu.
He said the point of the demonstration days were to help people imagine what Jasper Avenue could look like in a few years, and collect their feedback.
“We have good statistics on how much they’re used by pedestrians and how pedestrians are using the avenue, along with traffic use,” Gadidasu said.
The city is also unveiling the demonstration video for the contentious Experience Jasper Avenue project.
It will be posted online in about a week’s time.
Drivers have expressed frustration with the changes over the summer, which removed some parking and driving lanes and replaced them with picnic tables, benches, stages, artwork and trees for outdoor patio spaces.
Councillor Scott McKeen was also unimpressed by the design demonstration.
“From a public relations standpoint I think it was a fail,” he said.
“No matter how much you squint your eyes, you don’t really see what a well designed urban street would look like with what they did.”
Experience Jasper Avenue was designed to make the city’s official main street more welcoming and pedestrian friendly, something similar to Whyte Avenue.
“This is Edmonton’s most population dense neighbourhood. Pedestrian safety and comfort has to be one of the highest priorities,” he said.
He said he received a number of emails from residents opposed to the changes as they were demonstrated.
“Out of all of it I had two people from a seniors home say they loved the picnic tables. That was it! Everybody else- it seemed was negative about it. And then I think a lot of the people that liked it, we didn’t hear from them.”
To the negative responses, Gadidasu urged patience.
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“I think we have to understand this is the pilot. There will be lessons learned from it.”
McKeen feels the pilot would have benefited from better renderings to show what the final product might look like.
“I think there was some real shortcomings to the demonstration because people didn’t get that ultimately, what we wanted to do, is collect data on what a narrower road would do to travel times and traffic congestion,” he said.
Father of two Aaron Lawes lives in St. Albert but works in downtown Edmonton and thinks the project is a good idea.
“I bring my family down on the weekends. We like to stroll and see the different businesses. If it’s going to be more pedestrian friendly, that’s obviously beneficial for us and we’ll visit more,” he said.
He drives into work each day, but said the lane closures don’t outweigh the potential safety benefits for pedestrians.
“Obviously that’s going to be a little bit of a hassle but I think with the bike lanes that have opened up as well, I think we’re becoming used to the idea that it’s going to take us a little longer to drive downtown,” Lawes said.
READ MORE: Experience Jasper Avenue showcases coming changes
The pilot project will start to be torn down Sunday, with traffic lanes expected to open fully on Wednesday.
After reviewing public feedback, the city will officially begin construction in 2019.
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