Jasper Avenue on road to becoming pedestrian destination

A plan to return Jasper Avenue to more ofa pedestrian destination took another stepat apublic meeting aimed atdevelopingpreliminary designsfor a newstreetscape.

Dozens of people came out to offerideas at the meeting Monday night, includingbike lanes, reduced traffic flow, better use of traffic lights, widersidewalksand acknowledgementof the avenue's longhistory.

• Jasper Avenue: A 2nd chance to get Edmonton's main street right

Imagine Jasper project coordinatorSatya Gadidasusaidthe workshops are important in order to get it right.

"Today we are ... making sure the vision is in line with what the public is trying to communicate with us," he said."Understand from them and listen fromthem about the issues and opportunities and concerns they have on existing Jasper Avenue."

The project will set a vision forhow Jasper Avenue couldlook decades into the future, he said.

"This is not just for the Oliver community," Gadidasu said, adding all of Edmonton has a stake."It is for the people who live in the westend and the south end, so they can come and enjoy the businesses and opportunities."

Matt Bigg, who lives just off Jasper, is watching the process closely.He said he wants to see more greenery along the avenue.

"I want to see more trees," Biggsaid."On 105thAvenuejust behind Molson(Brewery), they have this really cool areawhere they are growing huge trees, in these big tree pits.

"And all the storm water from the street is running through a catch basin and into those tree pits. So they are growing those trees naturally. "

But in many areas of the city, "we don't use our storm water very well," he added.

The section of Jasper Avenue from 109th Street to 124th Street is slated for full reconstruction beginning in 2018.

The conceptual design for Jasper Avenueis expected to be completed in the fall of 2016, with construction anticipated tostartin 2018.