Driving down St. Albert Trail this past week perhaps you noticed a sign thanking council for a new sidewalk along the west side.
Ecstatic that four years of advocating for public safety and better access along St. Albert Trail have finally paid off, John Engel decided to share his enthusiasm with other trail users, as construction crews completed the segment of sidewalk in front of his business: Mission: Fun and Games, located between Lennox Drive and Giroux Road.
The sidewalk installation was part of a larger effort to spruce up the city’s main thoroughfare. With new medians, landscaping, block markers, and now a sidewalk that extends along the St. Albert Trail from the power centre to the Blind Pig Pub, the project is nearly complete and the results are a visible improvement.
St. Albert And District Chamber of Commerce CEO Lynda Moffat said she vividly remembered how decrepit the trail looked before work commenced three years ago.
“The difference is night and day,” she said. “There was old broken stuff, old signs that had been left there. It was nasty, considering it was our most-used transportation route. But now it’s just wonderful.”
The result came out of a mayor’s task force created by Mayor Nolan Crouse when he was first elected. The committee – which included the chamber of commerce, citizens and business owners – came up with a list of 16 recommendations, including a long-term sidewalk strategy and median rehabilitation strategy.
Crouse said beautifying the trail was essential to the city’s business attraction and retention efforts.
“It was being forgotten and seen by many as just a thoroughfare through town,” said Crouse. “We had to make it safer and more attractive. It’s the first point of impression of people coming into our community.”
Moffat, who sat on the task force, said the improvements have indeed helped showcase the city as a good place to do business. St. Albert Trail is home to many of the city’s big box stores.
Engel was also part of the task force. His main concern is, and remains, public safety. Without proper sidewalks, pedestrians were walking next to the road or through parking lots, he said, which is fine in the summer, but made travel on foot much more dangerous and inaccessible during the winter months.
He’s even seen some pedestrians with shopping carts take to the roads, walking amidst the traffic. The lack of sidewalk also created difficulties for those pushing strollers or with mobility issues.
There are still two major improvement projects left: completing sidewalk connectivity and ridding the trail of an excess of portable signs with soon-to-be-introduced digital display regulations.
Sidewalks are still needed in ad hoc areas along the trail, such as the east segment between Riverside Honda to Boston Pizza, the east segment between the Sturgeon Community Hospital and the King of Kings Lutheran Church and pieces across the United Church.
“The vision is to have sidewalks from one end (of the city) to the other,” said Crouse.
Engel looks forward to this day and said he will keep pushing the city to see it through.
“I’m not done just because there’s a sidewalk in front of my business now, I’ll keep bugging them,” he said.
He is puzzled about how the city will tackle the issue of the bridge over Sir Winston Churchill Avenue, which is too narrow to accommodate pedestrians. Currently, pedestrians have to detour down Green Grove Drive and through downtown.
