IDEA series - First Ave Rain Park

First Ave from Seymour up to Columbia is 416m long at a fairly formidable grade. That is why what was once a two lane street with street parking is now only a one way with no parking - cars careening down the steep hill seemed dangerous I guess, especially in inclement weather. Strangely, at least to me, when we removed the parking and the second direction of traffic - we left the little sidewalks and turned this into 3 wide lanes of uphill traffic.

I have an idea in two parts. The "Park" part of Rain Park is pretty self explanatory - the Rain part - yet to come.

First of all - consider that the traffic counts on First could never justify two lanes of traffic, let alone three, lets assume there is way more space allotted to cars here than is necessary to maintain the exact same level of auto-mobility that is experienced now. Reducing the amount of lanes would be unlikely to greatly reduce the flow and convenience of traffic (same too for the 4 lanes approaching on Seymour W). 

as can be seen in the Google Maps 2022 (Top) and CoK (2020) images, which are anecdotal random samples, traffic is light if not non-existent in these places nearly all of the time.

Some creativity in the road alignments, parcels, etc. could create some space for some truly great architecture through here that really takes advantage of the heritage trees, buildings and helps to really slow the traffic and make a great pedestrian realm. The amount of area taken up right now by unnecessary car lanes, asphalt and its heat island and storm run off is 42,000 Sq. Ft. With a little creativity that could be increased further down 1st and Seymour for even more park areas, or even new infill lots.

As we extend up the steep grade of 1st I can't help but think of Lombard Street in San Francisco, or Beuren Stairs in Belgium, The Sacre Couer in Paris, The Spanish Steps in Rome or even the 100 Street Funicular in Edmonton which use their pitch and angle to make their steepness into a reason to want to walk there, rather than a deterrent to doing so. A combination of great streetscaping, benches, micro terrain and park features make what might have been a formidable street into an attractive one to choose to walk, to bring friends from out of town to experience. If we are looking to make pedestrianization more fun and enjoyable, for both daily needs, tourism, City identity and more - this would be some really low hanging fruit - and one that emulated consistent success across communities of many sizes across the world.

Edmontons 100 Street Funicular Park - CBC Image

Bueren Stairs, Leige, Belgium - Wikipedia Commons Image

And this is where the rain comes in. 

We live in a desert and don't experience much as far as inclement weather goes. But on the rare occasion it does happen, a common reason to avoid walking is the weather. But what if the very merry occasion of inclement weather became the very reason to walk?!

I remember as a child making small boats to run the current in the flash floods that Alberta would experience sometimes in summer. Similar to how small children in Paris' Luxembourg Gardens float homemade model boats across the Jardins pond. 

boats a-sail in Jardin du Luxembourg - Wikipedia Commons image

So too could 1st Ave enliven the entire the entire street scape with features meant to harness the power of adverse weather events, sheet flow and storm water - to not only mitigate their effects environmentally, but also to draw people out of their homes for novel experiences that only happen during rain events. Combined with retention zones and plantings, that sheet flow could be contained on the hill, helping in flood abatement like the projects in Valleyview Nature Park.

This is not new, fountains new and old have been powered by elevation and gravity for centuries - from Asia to Europe. By Lakes, Rivers, Aqueducts, and sometimes rainfall.

Udaipur, India

St. Petersburg, Russia

Over time - with retention ponds and filtration, its possible that storm water from uphill all over the City could create more flood mitigation turned public art. 

While the low hanging fruit of converting this surplus road space into a convivial and interesting pedestrian area is a start - it need by no means need to be the end. Thoughtful redevelopment of the Old Courthouse, with a modern addition to overcome heritage conservation, plumbing and accessibility issues could help the Courthouse become much better utilized for public events, perhaps even the Kamloops Museum or a permanent year round home for the Farmers Market. The park area itself could include a spot or two for a food truck or other micro vendor. Filling in holes and building renovations could even yield new and unique housing. Redevelopment of spaces like this are common in other cities and produce incredible results. 

heritage redevelopment project at Coal Drops Yard in London

As a final note, many of the homes in this part of Kamloops are walking distance to many of downtowns amenities, but lack of convenient and safe access due to narrow, steep sidewalks can easily be a deterrent. Providing stairs, railings, resting places will be a great help in improving the walkability of this part of Downtown.