Regarding traffic and parking concerns for the preferred new arena site: I hope city council will explain how to solve traffic jams, which will occur before and after events at the proposed site. Traffic will be tied up in all four directions, including in front of the fire station on Idylwyld Drive.
Many traffic lights are spaced half a block apart. Parking won’t be exclusive to the planned events. How will the many other downtown patrons be accommodated — shoppers, workers, movie/theatre patrons, etc.?
Reconsider! I’m not opposed to a new facility.
North of 24th Street makes much more sense. It expands the commercial footprint and rejuvenation, for one thing. Departure from events will be expanded as patrons would be able to access Idylwyld north or south and allow for more blocks of traffic to the fire station.
Also, 25th Street, Second Avenue and Third Avenue provide access to, respectively, the University Bridge, the Broadway Bridge and the Traffic Bridge. The rejected city yards site would provide better access to all of these entry and exit routes to and from downtown.
I have no background in urban planning. I’m a retired educator who tries to look critically at these issues. I wonder if city traffic engineers have considered the above ramblings from an ‘uneducated’ mind.
Don Vogt, Saskatoon
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