Close X
Thursday, September 19, 2024
ADVT 
National

Bye-bye to Banff pedestrian zone after Labour Day long weekend

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 27 Aug, 2024 11:15 AM
  • Bye-bye to Banff pedestrian zone after Labour Day long weekend

It'll be one last hurrah for a pedestrian zone along the main downtown drag of Banff, Alta., this long weekend. 

The Rocky Mountain tourist town is telling businesses to take down outdoor patios or retail displays on the Banff Avenue roadway after Labour Day. 

It says that would allow the road to reopen to vehicles once traffic signals are reset. 

The town made part of its main thoroughfare car-free in 2020 to reduce the risk for visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and every year since the zone has been going from the May long weekend until Thanksgiving. 

But earlier this month, residents voted in a plebiscite to end the project, with some saying it had funnelled vehicle traffic into residential communities and caused traffic problems. 

Town council made the change official with a bylaw vote on Monday. 

The town says some businesses may be able to keep seating on the sidewalk after the pedestrian zone is gone.

MORE National ARTICLES

Seizure of illicit drugs on Vancouver Island

Seizure of illicit drugs on Vancouver Island
Police on Vancouver Island say they have seized illicit drugs and guns as part of an investigation targeting mid-level drug trafficking in the Cowichan Valley. R-C-M-P say searches at three homes in the Duncan area and one in Sooke turned up three kilograms of suspected fentanyl, 3.5 kilograms of methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as six handguns, including two that were made using a 3-D printer.

Seizure of illicit drugs on Vancouver Island

More shelter beds for people in Victoria street camp cited by police for 'hostility'

More shelter beds for people in Victoria street camp cited by police for 'hostility'
Dozens of new shelter beds are opening for people living on the streets in Victoria, including at an encampment where police escorts have been required for emergency responders. A statement from the Housing Ministry says that up to 72 new beds will be made available for people living on Pandora Avenue and elsewhere.

More shelter beds for people in Victoria street camp cited by police for 'hostility'

Japanese Canadian paper, pillar for community during war, saved from digital oblivion

Japanese Canadian paper, pillar for community during war, saved from digital oblivion
More than eighty years ago, Japanese Canadians came together to sustain The New Canadian, the only newspaper specifically for the community that was allowed to be published through the Second World War. Now the community has come together again — and may have saved the newspaper's archives from the digital scrap heap.

Japanese Canadian paper, pillar for community during war, saved from digital oblivion

SUV allegedly rams into police car

SUV allegedly rams into police car
Surrey Mounties say they got a call about a suspicious vehicle around 146 Street and 108 Avenue, and the driver of a Ford S-U-V allegedly hit a police vehicle as it fled from officers.  Surrey R-C-M-P says the S-U-V also hit another vehicle that was stopped and later drove into oncoming traffic as police were in pursuit. 

SUV allegedly rams into police car

One-third of Canadians report being personally impacted by severe weather: poll

One-third of Canadians report being personally impacted by severe weather: poll
A new poll suggests more Canadians are feeling the direct impacts of extreme weather, but that has not changed overall opinions about climate change. The results from a recent Leger poll suggest more than one in three Canadians have been touched directly by extreme weather such as forest fires, heat waves, floods or tornadoes. 

One-third of Canadians report being personally impacted by severe weather: poll

Former U.S. ambassador to Canada gives 'tsunami warning' about Trump

Former U.S. ambassador to Canada gives 'tsunami warning' about Trump
A former United States ambassador to Canada is sounding the alarm that a second Donald Trump presidency would cause chaos for Canadians as he urged Americans abroad that their votes could prove crucial in the presidential election. Bruce Heyman, who served as ambassador from 2014 to 2017, gave Canada a “tsunami warning,” saying if Trump takes the White House, Canada is at great risk.  

Former U.S. ambassador to Canada gives 'tsunami warning' about Trump