Great cities aren't born. They're built. Slowly.
So Calgary might be forgiven for not being the most pedestrian-friendly place in the world. Sure, navigating the downtown with the aid of the LRT and Plus-15 Walkway is a relative breeze, but after you leave the core, the rest of the city is nothing but roadways and open space.
Indeed, Calgary covers 745 square kilometers, which is roughly the same amount of turf that eight million New Yorkers live on. And while facts like this often cause Cowtown to be chastised as being the poster child for poor city planning and urban sprawl, there are signs that things are slowly beginning to change.
A few weeks ago work on the 16th Avenue North Corridor wrapped up. The redevelopment, which stretches from 14 Street N.W. and 6 Street N.E., includes the widening of the road from four to six lanes, installation of a new tree-lined median and the creation of a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere, which includes widening the sidewalks, and adding more trees and shrubs to bring in walkers and window shoppers.
And the 16th Avenue Corridor is only one of several projects now in the works aimed, in some way, at turning Calgary into a walkable city. A few examples that come to mind include the westward LRT expansion and improvements to the Riverfront Avenue pathway, which is now in the midst of a redesign that involves planting 100 new trees and splitting the pathway into a pedestrian promenade and a bicycle path.
Calgary will probably never be a pedestrian paradise - that much seems obvious. But at least it's trying.
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