Bear Street Reconstruction Project Update
December 19

This e-newsletter is for residents, businesses and organizations who have registered for project updates.

If you know others who should receive this regular email update, please direct them to sign up at brandnewbear.ca

For any questions or comments, please email the project team at BearStreet.Talk@banff.ca.

Banff & Lake Louise Tourism created a replica entrance sign to welcome residents and visitors to Bear Street. The sign will be moved to the central area after the construction crews leave the site for the winter season.

Demobilize reconstruction activity: Dec. 20-23

Demobilization of construction equipment, material and crews has started and will be complete by Wednesday, December 23.

Work this week will focus on:

soil cells in the central area
street lights in the remainder of the site
trench drains in the central area
placement of boulders to protect soil cells
road base construction to raise walking surface to doors

The mid-block crosswalks will remain closed until Wednesday, December 23, in order to allow cement trucks and boulder placement to occur safely.

Rebuilding of the road base will be completed in Zone 3 and the sidewalk in front of FYI Doctors will reopen by Monday, December 21.

Parkade access to the Brewster Mountain Lodge will remains open through the winter season. Bear Street Mall and Townhouse Building parkades will continue to be closed for the winter, and tenants will be provided an opportunity to access the parkade in the Cascade Shops.

Vehicle traffic will not be opened to the central area of the site to enable a pedestrian-only zone that better allows physical distancing. Preventing vehicle traffic also reduces the amount of frost driven deeper into the ground, which affects the start time of construction in the spring.

The Caribou Street intersection is open to east-west traffic, but the access from the south on Bear Street will remain closed while the Banff sign is in place. The Banff sign will be relocated to the central area after construction crews are fully demobilized. The sign must be disassembled for the move, which will be scheduled after Christmas due to the specialized work involved.

The Wolf Street intersection will be opened by Wednesday, December 23.

Sidewalks within the Bear Street zone will be made up of compacted gravel. Snow and ice control on all gravel sidewalks will be managed by the Town. On Caribou and Wolf streets where there are concrete sidewalks, snow & ice removal is the responsibility of the adjacent property owners. Snow is not permitted to be placed in the landscape planters to prevent impact on planter growth in 2021.

Trench Drain Work

The trench drain that runs north-south on Bear Street will be complete this week. The trench drain is an essential component of the storm drain system. The top of the trench drain will be the level of the completed street next year, with pavers sloping from buildings to on either side to the drain. Through the winter, the road bed will be lower than the top of the trench drain (about 8 inches - the depth of the pavers) to reduce excavation work that would be needed in 2021 if gravel was added to the final level. At key locations, ramps will be created to allow pedestrian travel over the trench drain. In other locations, the trench drain will be barricaded to prevent damage and trip hazards through the winter.

photo - soil cell in surface parking lot

The final soil cells on Bear Street - in the surface parking lot beside Bear Street Mall - is larger than most other locations to accommodate more trees. The final installation of boulders will occur in 2021. The excavation will be protected with fencing over the winter period.

Complete Project Schedule

Click table to download PDF of the revised full project schedule.

Project to be complete in 2021

The Bear Street Reconstruction is scheduled to be fully complete by the week of July 19, 2021.

The following will be completed in 2021, with work resuming as soon as the ground thaws:

installing block pavers as final road surface
finishing work on planter boulders
installing public street furniture
planting trees and shrubs in 36 planters
finishing bases on all street lights
fire place in centre of street
completing soil cell system in surface parking lot

Work on the Bear Street Rink on the east portion of the surface parking lot will start after construction crews demobilize the area. After establishing barricades and the central rail and light posts, flooding is scheduled to start on December 29 (weather dependent). A rink can take up to two weeks to establish enough ice for safe use.

Bear Street Winter Pedestrian Zone

After construction crews, equipment and materials are removed from the street and surface parking on December 23, work will commence on creating the pedestrian zone.

The goal is to make Bear Street a safe place for people to visit and maintain physical distancing requirements, while providing attraction for businesses.

A skating rink will provide safe activities and disperse people from the other main skating rink, on Banff Avenue. A registration system for skating in time slots is being developed to manage skating rink capacity, which is set by the province.

Amenities such as fire pits and seating areas will not be permitted while the provincial restrictions are in place banning social gatherings.

The Town is working with food and beverage operations on Bear Street to facilitate take-away services and some opportunities for people in the same household to linger on the street, while maintaining physical distancing from others.

Designated parking spaces on Caribou Street and Wolf Street will be dedicated to Accessible stalls and Medical Offices. The Town is looking to secure pull-in loading stalls in the alley west of Bear Street for customers and renters for stores on Bear Street.

Parking stalls dedicated to accessible parking and medical offices will be added on Wolf Street.

Dedicated parking stalls for medical offices and accessible parking will be added on Caribou Street.

Gates will be installed at Wolf Street and north of the Brewster Mountain Lodge parkade to enable easy access for emergency vehicles.

The number of active positive cases of COVID-19 have been decreasing in recent weeks.

Measures to stop the spread of COVID-19

The current number of COVID cases are listed at banff.ca/covid

On Dec. 8 the Government of Alberta announced restrictions that apply to all communities in Alberta. These will remain in place until at least January 12, 2021. Details: https://www.alberta.ca/enhanced-public-health-measures.aspx

Community restrictions:

No social gatherings are allowed - indoors and outdoors. The Chief Medical Officer explains that this applies to people standing or sitting together for socializing.
Outdoor recreation is allowed, with physical distancing enforced and group activities limited to 10 people or fewer.
Masks mandatory in all indoor public spaces and workplaces province-wide
A Town of Banff bylaw also requires masks be worn outside on Bear Street, all of Banff Avenue and most of the downtown core.
RCMP, Municipal Enforcement and Safety Ambassadors continue to patrol downtown Banff to help people understand and comply with the restrictions.

Business restrictions:

Restaurants, pubs, bars, lounges and cafes are closed to in-person service, but take-out and delivery services are encouraged
- In Banff, restaurants and bars cannot sell liquor for delivery or pick-up after 10 p.m.
Retail services, including malls, must reduce customer capacity to 15%
- In Banff liquor and cannabis stores must stop sales by 10 p.m., including delivery and pick-up
Entertainment and indoor recreation facilities must be closed, including galleries, museums and theatres
Indoor fitness facilities must be closed to group activity,
Personal and wellness services, like hair and nail salons, must be closed
Health services, like physio and acupuncture, remain open by appointment only.
Hotels remain open but no spas, pools or in-person dining. Room services only.

Details on provincial and Town of Banff restrictions, and the updated COVID case count are available at https://banff.ca/covid#Critical

Support services
The Town's Emergency Social Services team continues to provide services through the Help Desk to support residents in need. For residents in isolation or quarantine, or struggling with challenges of being out of work, the Help Desk can help coordinate delivery of food or supplies, mental health referral, translation services and assistance accessing the Canada Sickness Recovery Benefit or other supports. Residents are asked to visit https://banff.ca/covidhelp or email Help@Banff.ca.

The Town of Banff isolation space for Banff residents remains operating for people in shared accommodation who need to isolate due to testing positive or being notified they have been in close contact with a person who tested positive. The Town is operating 23 isolation units at the Banff Centre. Learn more.

Business support
Information about support to businesses is listed at banff.ca/COVIDbusiness including:

the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy program has been revised to provide rent relief directly to tenants
changes to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy were announced Nov. 19

Final Newsletter for 2020

This e-newsletter is the final edition for 2020. We may provide updates through the winter season as new elements of the Winter Pedestrian Zone are implemented, but a weekly newsletter will not be scheduled.

The Bear Street Team and everyone at the Town of Banff sends everyone in our community warm wishes for the Christmas season.

Bear Street Reconstruction Project Team:

Pierre-Hugues (PH) Gagnon, Bear Street Project Manager
Marie-Eve Jackson, Community Liaison Officer (for businesses and residents)
Rick Williams, Business Liaison Officer (for property owners)
Janice Carson, Senior Communications Specialist
Darren Enns, Director of Planning and Development
Adrian Field, Director of Engineering
Jason Darrah, Director of Communications

For questions and comments about the Bear Street Reconstruction project, please email bearstreettalk@banff.ca.

Bear Street Reconstruction Project Update December 19