Editor:
I attended the Town of Banff meeting on Nov. 21 to discuss the future of the pedestrian zone on Banff Avenue. The meeting talked about the pros and cons of closing the street, but was less about whether the street should be closed than how it will be developed when it is closed. The Town has already spent all kinds of money on plans.
Anyone who tried to get around last summer knows what a disaster it was. With the closure of Banff Avenue, there was huge traffic problems on all the surrounding streets making getting around a nightmare for residents and tourists.
Buffalo, Beaver, Muskrat and Lynx streets were all backed up. The intersection of Wolf and Lynx streets was often completely blocked. Banff Avenue was not much better. People browsing or talking on blocked sidewalks and if you tried to get around them, your way was blocked by the restaurant patios. If you went around them, you were trying to dodge bikes and buses.
Overall, not a very comfortable experience.
One of the pros showing how great a pedestrian zone is was examples in Europe, but they are in cities where there are a lot of other streets available for vehicles to use. We don't have that luxury in a small town like Banff. Closing the main street has a far greater impact here than in these larger cities.
There is no mention of how much this is going to cost or how it will be paid for. We saw from what happened on Bear Street that things cost a lot more than what was projected. Money was borrowed for Bear Street when interest rates were much lower. The cost now will be much higher.
Generally, this is another project which hasn't been thought through.
Gord Duncan,
Banff
