It's still very early in the planning stages, but an idea to put traffic roundabout on each end of the Lac La Biche downtown core won't be circling back.
"We looked at the option of roundabouts, and it was a real problem due to the angles of the roads coming in at the west intersection," said Nick Price, a planner with Edmonton-based V3 Companies, a North American firm specializing in urban planning, design and consultation. "It would require a lot of land, and it would cost a lot of money."
Price and V3 representatives have been hired to look at a new 'streetscape' idea for the downtown areas of Lac La Biche and Plamondon to run parrallel with the replacement of old water and sewer lines under the Lac La Biche downtown core.
The traffic circle idea was brought up by residents several of the recent public engagement meetings hosted by Lac La Biche County officials and V3 to discuss options for a re-vamped downtown.
The cost of each traffic circle, said Price, begins at around $300,000 — abut the same as a standard set of traffic lights at a four-way intersection. Additional costs for a roundabout at the 103 Street intersection at TAGS in Lac La Biche, however, would be needed for straightening of the incoming roads, land aquisitions for the roundabout lanes.
"It would be timely and tricky," said Price, adding that a similar circle on the east side of the Lac La Biche downtown near Lac La Biche Sporting Goods could be done for less money because municipal land could be used, "but you wouldn't want to have one roundabout at one end and nothing at the other."
Downtown Entrance
The idea behind the roundabouts was to isolate and showcase the downtown area between the structures. And that can still be done, says Price, by using clever designs including wider sidewalks, decorative lighting, painted roadways and large works or art.
"Vertical infrastructure and ground features help to recognize that you are coming into a certain space," he said, explaining that colourful intersection art would be in-layed into the concrete construction of the roadways to be far more long-lasting that simple paint.
Although the price tag for the streetscape plan has been put upwards of $12 million, Price said he didn't have an accurate price scale for the decorative intersections, new lighting, artwork or new sidewalks at this point. The initial work has also tried to include design links to the area's recreation, lakes and multiculturism
"We are focusing right now on the design," he said, expecting to come to back to Lac La Biche County councillors with a finished design concept in the coming months.
When he returns, council is expecting to see several additions to the streetscape idea that have been approved.
Sidewalks to encourage walking traffic
Plans are to keep the Lac La Biche Main Street as a two-way road, with angle parking on both sides. The overall width of the road may change to make sidewalks a little more pedestrian friendly, including the possibility of spaces with benches and outdoor fireplace features, tables and even wifi hotspots. Sidewalk 'bulb-outs' at intersections are also expected to be part of the design. The designs are hoped to slow down speeds and create a more pedestrian-friendly area. An idea to create a meridan down the middle of the road was bypassed as it could make future infrastructure repairs difficult for pipelines that currently run under the centre of the road. Moving the infrastructure was said to be too expensive.
Other plans expected to come back with design concept will see changes on 101 Street from the CN railyard down to the property that used to house the Aurora Theatre. Ideas ranging from a one-way traffic flow towards the lake to parallel parking on both sides of the roadway have been discussed, but council has opted to keep the roadway for two-way traffic — but have expressed an interest in having parallel parking on one side of the roadway.
Can you parallel park?
Price said from a design standpoint and highlighting the unique beauty of the nearby lake, some parking changes would make the street look better.
"It's something special. For a downtown to have that kind of a vista — but that view is somewhat limited with angle parking on both sides," he said, adding that he understands that changes to parking in a small community can result in negative "kick back."
The angle parking would remain immediately in front of the IGA grocery store and down past the POST office, but the other side could see a plan for parallel parking only.
"What we are doing is changing people's behaviour — and that is tough," he said.
Lac La Biche County Mayor Omer Moghrabi realizes that change can be difficult for many. He is also aware that with new parking ideas, contemporary architecture, colourful road inlays, sidewalk attractions and new themes, the community plans are moving away from historic themes of the past. He welcomes the fresh ideas.
"Hey, we're one of the oldest communities in the province, but that doesn't mean we have to show that we're that old," he said.
Other options that may be included in the design plan could be a speed reduction along Main Street from 50 kilometres per hour to 30.
Practice for downtown traffic in July
While the design phase won't roll into a planning or implementation stage for some time, a sample of things to come could roll out as early as July. Plans are underway to create a 'tactical urbanism' of the downtown with chalked-outlines of new street designs, pylons to indicate where sidewalks will 'bulb-out' and other props to highlight areas that could be used for seating, artwork installations or patios.
"It's cheap way to see how people will respond," said Price, explaining that posters and displays of proposed new designs would be placed along downtown streets to show the public.
The 'tactical urbanism' is expected to bring paint, pylons, props and posters to the downtown over the Pow Wow Days weekend from July 11-14.
