The city’s 76 avenue renewal team recently released its design options for the avenue, and tonight is the one and only live engagement session.

At least one of the options that the city has released is a strong one, and even it can be strengthened, but this won’t happen without our encouragement.

Please take one (or both!) of the following actions to make 76 Avenue more walkable and bikeable:

• attend the engagement session tonight

• fill out the online survey

We thank you for your support of our little group thus far. Just a little more effort until we have this project over the finish line!

Conrad Nobert, Connect76

P.S. Check out our vision for 76 Avenue, and feel free to tell the city that you agree with it!

Please fill out the survey and share your thoughts!

As I’m sure you noticed, Vision Zero Street Labs has made installations on Whyte, 76 Avenue, and throughout the neighbourhood to make the street design safer and more comfortable to navigate outside of a car.

Please give your feedback to the city via this link.

The survey is only two questions! And although they won’t say so officially, the response to this survey will surely influence the city’s appetite for making walk/bike improvements during the 76 Avenue redevelopment and into the future.

So please take the survey before February 18, and pass the link on to anyone who might be interested!

Conrad Nobert, Connect 76

Jane's Walk

Our May 4 Jane's Walk event was attended by more than 40 people. There was lots of conversation about how to make 76 Avenue better for walking, biking and rolling, even as the conversation was interrupted by the large volume of vehicles using the avenue at various speeds.

Connect 76 on the Radio

Connect 76 member Cheryl Villetard was featured on the radio with Mark Connolly talking about our Big Bold Ideas for 76 Avenue. Thanks Cheryl!

$100 Million Bike Lane Expansion Supports Protected, Separated Infrastructure on 76 Ave

Connect 76 attended this week's Active Transportation Network Expansion Project Information Session, and we were encouraged to learn that the bike routes connecting 76 Avenue northwards will be protected, separated infrastructure. 🥳

It only makes sense that 76 Avenue would include the same high quality of infrastructure, don't you think?

Connect 76's Capacity is Growing

We are now at over 100 email subscribers, and our last newsletter had a 74% open rate, showing a high level of interest and engagement in a walkable, bikeable, rollable 76 Avenue. (Open rates of 25% are considered above average in the marketing industry.) Speaking of, hey, can you forward this to a friend? Would be very cool and good.

That’s it for now, enjoy this beautiful city and watch out for our next event!

Conrad and the Connect 76 Team

Connect 76 is dedicated to a more walkable, bikeable, accessible Edmonton (with a focus on the south side!). Please forward this email to a friend!

Vision Zero Street Labs Coming to Ritchie THIS SUMMER!

Last week the city unveiled its plan to calm traffic and improve safety for people outside of vehicles in the Ritchie Neighbourhood. They did a decent job! The map below gives some of the highlights, with the full report available here.

Jane’s Walk on 76 Avenue - You’re Invited

TL;DR - Come to Aspen Coffee May 4 at 10:30am for an informative group stroll.

Join Connect76 and Paths for People for a Jane's Walk on the morning of Saturday, May 4. We'll walk along 76 Avenue and discuss how we can rebuild this neighbourhood corridor so that it works for everyone, regardless of the mode of transportation they choose! We'll explore Ritchie and King Edward Park, discussing infrastructure choices the City could make to build a safer, more liveable corridor for the entire community. Come prepared with your best ideas, like more trees, added infrastructure to bike along, and better crosswalks.

Meet at Aspen Coffee Roasters (9951 76 Ave NW) at 10:30am sharp to join us on this tour. We will walk along 76 Avenue eastward, with a potential stop for ice cream along the way. The tour will end just east of Mill Creek Ravine near 76 Ave and 89 Street at around 12:30pm.

Thank you for reading! We will be continuing our advocacy around southside bike/walk/roll projects, with a special emphasis on the 76 Avenue Renewal project. Reply to this email with any questions!

Conrad Nobert, Connect 76

Connect 76 is a group of south side residents working towards a more walkable, bikeable, accessible Edmonton. We formed in early 2024 in response to the city’s 76 Avenue Renewal project, and we want to contribute positively to the conversation in the greater south side area.

We were excited with the response to our group’s formation! If you want to join the working group, please respond to this email.

76 Avenue Renewal

The city has been quiet since the public event in February. They did put out this engagement summary, which includes the following highlights:

• They got over 1,200 online survey responses. That is a LOT, a potentially record-breaking response to a project of this size.

• There were 170 participants at the live event.

In other news, there are reports of a group of residents door knocking along 76 Avenue to get signatures on a petition against bike lanes on the avenue. We respectfully disagree with these residents and we will be making sure the city is aware of the robust, widespread support for safe walking and biking facilities in this core area!

Ritchie Street Lab

In related news, preliminary results of the neighbourhood “Street Lab” project for Ritchie will be revealed soon. We are hearing good things about the traffic calming and pedestrian crossing improvements in the proposal. We encourage you to attend the meeting and show your support for the proposed changes.

• What: Drop-In Information Session

  • The Ritchie Vision Zero Street Lab plan will be shared at a drop-in information session on April 11. We invite Ritchie community members to meet the project team, ask questions and learn more about how we are improving street safety in the Ritchie community!

• When: Thursday, April 11, 2024, 5:30pm - 7:30pm

• Where: Ritchie Community League Hall (7727 98 St NW)

Old Strathcona Public Realm Strategy

The city recently unveiled a bold new vision for the parking lot across from the Strathcona Farmers’ Market, including a proposal to close 83rd Avenue to cars! ( 🤯 🎉)

Please read the proposal and support it by filling out the online survey by the deadline of April 7, 2024.

Jane’s Walk - Connect 76 and Paths for People Collab!

Join Connect76 and Paths for People for a Jane's Walk on the morning of Saturday, May 4. We'll walk along 76 Avenue and discuss how we can rebuild this neighbourhood corridor so that it works for everyone, regardless of the mode of transportation they choose! We'll explore Ritchie and King Edward Park, discussing infrastructure choices the City could make to build a safer, more liveable corridor for the entire community. Come prepared with your best ideas, like more trees, added infrastructure to bike along, and better crosswalks.

Thanks for reading,

Your Connect 76 Team

The first community feedback session at the Ritchie Community League Hall saw hundreds of people showing up and making their voices heard. We were pleased to see the breadth and depth of the support for making 76 Avenue better for biking, walking, and accessibility. Here are some observations and comments about the event:

• We observed 75-80% support for making 76 Avenue “better” (that is, better from our point of view), but a notable 20-25% comments about parking.

• The questions from the city weren’t all that clear. We would have liked to see more dream/vision elicitation, and perhaps a listing of the city’s goals (they have some) and then questions about how they align with people’s vision for the avenue.

• Staff at the meeting mentioned that responses to the survey had already reached in excess of 500 responses!

• We introduced ourselves to the project manager Chris and reiterated our vision for the avenue to him. We let him know that we gained over 80 subscribers to our email list (!) in a few days, and that we expect big things from him and his team.

There were some heated conversations at the meeting. As always, the issue of reallocating public space elicits passionate opinions. This is especially true of 76 Avenue, which experienced a “painted bike lane false start” attempt in 2013. Given Edmonton’s long history of car-centric design, there are bound to be people who feel outrage at the thought of losing free parking spots in front of their houses or having to drive a bit more slowly along the avenue.

We will focus on “good vibes” advocacy - going back to our vision of 76 Avenue as inclusive and safe, a community-building asset that connects. And we encourage you to do the same when talking to your friends and neighbours.

What’s Next

• Did you have any thoughts about the engagement process and what you’d like to see from future engagement? Feel free to let us know in a reply and we can share feedback with project managers.

• Connect 76 is just getting started - we’ll be organizing a public event (maybe a bike/walk tour of 76th that ends at Odd Company? - reply to this email with ideas!) and keeping our eye on opportunities to further participate in the city’s process.

• Please fill out the online survey if you haven’t yet and tell your friends about it. It closes on March 3.

• Help us grow! Please forward this email to your friends. Let’s hit 100 subscribers this week!

Thanks for reading,

Connect 76 Team

The City of Edmonton has begun consultation on the 76 Avenue Collector Renewal project.

Connect76 has started as a result - we’re a group of residents, community members and citybuilders who see a collector renewal as an opportunity to build on the incredible positive momentum in Ritchie, Hazeldean, Avonmore, King Edward Park and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Our dream for 76 Avenue is one that will:

1. Create pedestrian gathering spaces and ensure safe, accessible crossings and connections to schools, businesses, and community areas.

2. Provide continuous, protected and separated biking and rolling infrastructure from 100st to 75st.

3. Feature a road design that reflects the community speed

4. Include a pedestrian-first Ritchie Four Corners design that creates a community gathering space for all ages and abilities.

We’ve lived in this city a long time. We’re hoping to live here much longer, and build a 76 Avenue that we can be proud of for decades. If this aligns with your dream for 76 Avenue, please connect with us! We’d love to hear from you and to join your voice with our’s.

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Next steps

A public planning meeting will be taking place Thursday, February 22 at Ritchie Hall. The City’s initial online survey will close March 3rd. We encourage everyone to show up, share you voice, and most importantly let your neighbours and friends know.