Banff will close its main street to cars this summer, opening space for pedestrians

The Town of Banff will close its main street to cars this summer to make more space for visitors on foot.

Banff Avenue the town's main drag will be closed between the100 and 200 blocks from June 5 to Sept. 11.

A portion ofCaribou Street between Banff Avenue and the Bear Street laneway and between Banff Avenue and the Beaver Street lanewaywill be closed as well.

The closures are intended to limit the spread of COVID-19 by allowing for two metres of space between pedestrians and cyclists, and to attract more foot traffic to local businesses.

"If the goal here is to drive maximum safety and maximum distancing, that should drive your thinking on how this space should be configured,"said DarrenEnns, development services manager for the Town ofBanff.

Between 20,000 and30,000 vehicles travel through Banff on a typical summer day.

But Mayor Karen Sorensen said this year will be quite different due to the coronavirus pandemic once the town reopens.

"It will be a different experience for people for sure," she said.

The town and the majority of its businessesarepreparing to reopen June 1, when national parks are expected to gradually begin resuming operations.

During the May 2020 long weekend, traffic in Banff was down 70 per cent but pedestrian traffic was down 88 per cent, which suggests people currently prefer to drive or avoid congested pedestrian spaces, town administration said.

The town will spend $175,000 on landscapingand traffic control to make the closed roadspace more pedestrian-friendly.

The mountain town's economy, which is centred on tourism, was devastatedas COVID-19 brought international and domestic travel to a halt. The community is facing an unemployment rate as high as 85 per cent.

Banff remains under a state of local emergency.

There have been four cases of COVID-19 in the community, which has a population of around 7,800. The national park attracts more than four million visitors each year.

Torsten Merker, who owns the King Edward Hotel, said he's concerned about how the logistics of the street closure will work, but hopes it could bring in some much-needed foot traffic once the town begins to reopen.

"We don't know how the behaviour of people will change. And once we have a little bit more information on that I think that's when we will see if it helped or hindered the business," he said.

One of the town's biggest tourism draws, the Banff World Media Festival, kicks off Tuesday virtually. The in-person festival was originally slated to take place in mid-June.