Avalon Place Highway 7/8 Multi-Use Trail Crossing

[danbrotherston]

I don't see how the bridge bypasses the roundabout at all?

Basically, anyone using the bike infra west and southwest of the roundabout will continue to have access regardless of whether the underpass is at Homer Watson or Avalon Pl. (if you come down Homer Watson from the north and go west on the MUT to Strasburg you end up in the same place as if you came over the Avalon Pl. bridge.).

I'm not sure I follow here. Turning right from the Northwest stretch of Homer Watson towards Strasburg only lets you skip one of the roundabouts. There is still a second (albeit not quite as bad but still bad) roundabout for Alpine/the highway that you have to cross.

And it doesn't matter if you come across the Avalon Pl. bridge you'd still be unable to access the Homer Watson MUT or Ottawa St. east of Homer Watson.

Agreed, but if you refuse to use the roundabouts like I do then this bridge at least provides access to Ottawa St, Strasburg, and McLennan Park. And if you are okay with navigating the roundabout, then this bridge still lets you access the roads you've mentioned.

But fixing the roundabout doesn't have to cost 10 million. Underpasses are the best answer, but we could do a lot to fix the bad design without going with underpasses, beacon lights, traffic signals, raised crossings, more pedestrian island and re-configuring the geometry all combined would still cost less than the bridge (which remember is massively expensive).

Fair point, but I think that's a politically insurmountable solution regardless of engineers or cost. It's a bad situation all around though as I don't expect our engineers and designers to build a bridge, tunnel, or roundabout that I would be very happy using.

You're right, I wasn't counting the Alpine & 7/8 roundabout which I find to be, while still ridiculously overbuilt, much MUCH more accessible to pedestrians.

I think if you're willing to cross the Alpine roundabout then there is no difference between the Avalon Pl. bridge and the Homer Watson crossing, would you agree?

As for the political feasibility...I don't actually agree, our councils are weak and they absolutely prioritize cars over cycling, but they do seem to care about peds and cycling, and especially pedestrians. I do think council would support fixing these things and improving Homer Watson north...I think for things like that, the real obstacle is our engineering departments incompetence and car blindness.