Wanted: Traffic passing through the downtown core

The amount of traffic, or lack thereof, flowing through downtown Guelph will be the topic of discussion during a public meeting tomorrow night.

Lorenz Calcagno, a board member of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, will present the results of many interviews he has had with various stakeholders aimed at figuring out how to help the core live up to its potential.

One of the key problems, Calcagno told me, is simply the diminishing amount of traffic passing through the downtown.

The discussion will include how to remove barriers which dissuade people from taking Wyndham Street. (Think those all-way crosswalks at St. George's Square, for example)

There's not much space left for the meeting itself, but expect the issue to land before a city committee later this month or in December.

We'll have a story in tomorrow's paper.

Comments

[Kevin]

IMHO the City has done everything possible to deter car traffic from reaching downtown. Its not just the construction, it is the reduction of lanes as well.

[Charles Smith]

The problem with no traffic travelling through the downtown has nothing to do with lights at St. Georges Square. It has everything to do with all the construction on Norfolk St and Wyndham St.

Why would anyone consider trying to navigate through downtown with all of the construction and road closing.

Does the Downtown Board want traffic to travel quickly through downtown or have drivers stopped at St. Georges Square so that they can admire what goes on in our beautiful downtown.

[Scott]

Charles,
Certainly these construction projects have not helped, but are irrelevant for the purposes of this story. As you can read in the story today, the numbers used to determine the sharp drop in traffic measured volumes in 1990 and again in 2007, well before this current round of construction.

[Bruce Shapka]

Has anyone compared the drop in these numbers to the rise of additional shopping areas around Guelph?

[Dave Sills]

I think this whole initiative really misses the mark. I'd like to see LESS cars downtown, not more!

Downtown could be a unique regional draw if a significant portion of it was made pedestrian-only.

It's a paradigm shift, for sure, but one that would be bold and result in long-term improvement, IMHO.

Comparing the situation to Erin is a bit silly. I have to commute through Erin quite often, and I have NEVER stopped there during the commute. Downtown Erin succeeds because it is unique and walkable, NOT because cars pass through it.

[KWM]

Many of the DT stores are great, however, parking can be a pain. I was DT the other week with plans to go to a specific restaurant, I was even willing to park far away and walk. However there was a Storm game on, I gave up after searching for parking for 20 minutes and went else where.

I understand the economics of closing stores when most people are not DT, but people work and attend school. Once the stores close at six, people who don’t work DT, will not go shop DT, because the stores are closed.

Many people want to be in an air conditioned or heated building for shopping. There are 3 times more stores in Stone Road, then in all of DT. At -20 or at +35, where are you going to walk and browse?

Making DT pedestrian only will kill off 90% of the businesses DT, but I guess if you don't own a business there who cares?

[Donna]

Getting traffic back through the core is easy: re-route #24 through Wyndham, get rid of the ridiculous all-way light at the four corners and next time there are road repairs in the core, maybe do a more considerate job of planning.

What's not so easy though, is transforming the culture downtown so that people will actually want to shop and live there. Downtown Guelph has sadly gone to the dogs in the past few years with all the vandalism, fights and street people and layabouts. I have yet to drive down baker street and not see those hoody wanker street kids fighting in the street, or blocking the road, intimidating motorists etc.. The growing amount of graffiti is another thing that is a symptom of what I am talking about. It is a real eyesore.

Time to chase the riff-raff, mendicants and rabble out of the core and bring investment and people back in. The work Toronto is doing to transform the Yonge Street core is a good example.