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Car free Niagara Falls

The Niagara Parkway was recently reduced from 4 lanes to 3 to widen the sidewalk between the two waterfalls. It's crazy how congested it still is even with that extra space at peak tourist season. I'd support them taking another lane out so it could be 2 lanes each way.

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Making Clifton Hill 2 narrow lanes would also be huge- you still need vehicle access here for hotel access and stuff.
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I'd also love to see some soft of tram/LRT running from the Whrilpool to the Horseshoe falls- potentially as far as the greenhouse, power station or even the large parking lot at Rapidsview Park.
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Haljackey said:
The Niagara Parkway was recently reduced from 4 lanes to 3 to widen the sidewalk between the two waterfalls. It's crazy how congested it still is even with that extra space at peak tourist season. I'd support them taking another lane out so it could be 2 lanes each way.

Making Clifton Hill 2 narrow lanes would also be huge- you still need vehicle access here for hotel access and stuff.
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Agree with the above entirely.

Haljackey said:
I'd also love to see some soft of tram/LRT running from the Whrilpool to the Horseshoe falls- potentially as far as the greenhouse, power station or even the large parking lot at Rapidsview Park.
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I would support LRT in the Falls, but I think the priority is connecting the GO/VIA Station to Clifton Hill and points beyond. I think bus service along the Parkway is adequate to purpose.
 
Northern Light said:
Agree with the above entirely.



I would support LRT in the Falls, but I think the priority is connecting the GO/VIA Station to Clifton Hill and points beyond. I think bus service along the Parkway is adequate to purpose.
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Thanks!

I had some interactions with the Parks Commission around 2010 and a LRT line along the Niagara Parkway was a serious proposal back then until the 'great recession' killed any potential plans / funding for it. I'd love to see it revived.

If it ever gets built, tourist dollars could hopefully fund an expansion to the GO/VIA station... you could take a lot of cars off the QEW/420 if you had a decent alternative.
 
Haljackey said:
Thanks!

I had some interactions with the Parks Commission around 2010 and a LRT line along the Niagara Parkway was a serious proposal back then until the 'great recession' killed any potential plans / funding for it. I'd love to see it revived.

If it ever gets built, tourist dollars could hopefully fund an expansion to the GO/VIA station... you could take a lot of cars off the QEW/420 if you had a decent alternative.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is crazy that if you take GO or VIA to NF you then need to try to get a local bus to the 'downtown' area and they run very infrequently. Though I did not go there in 2023, in 2022 if you bought a City Pass you got local transit included but not everyone wants the attraction pass - GO (& VIA) should offer a combined ticket to cover transportation to/from Clifden Hill area but there is still problem the schedules are poor.
 
It's a cool idea, that probably has merit given how busy and difficult it is to drive, anyway, during peak seasons. Why not give some more space back to the public realm to benefit greater numbers of people? You could even design some flexibility so that more space is given to pedestrians in peak seasons, and then in off-peak, maybe give some space back to transit and some vehicles.

I haven't seen any studies, but I'd imagine a major inhibitor to such a strategy would be sufficient GO Train frequencies, and sufficient parking on the periphery of a theoretical pedestrianized zone (for people who aren't casino or hotel patrons).

I'd love to see Niagara Falls transition to a more pedestrian-oriented community in the downtown. It's got good bones.
 
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What about a U shaped LRT line that connects the Via station to the Falls area via the old train line that went along the top of the escarpment. Basically following the streets of: Erie Ave, Palmer Ave, Victoria Ave, Ferry St, Stanley Ave, Marineland Pkwy, Portage Rd, Upper Rapids Rd and Niagara River Pkwy. Have a spur down Lundy's Lane and you hit all the major places.
 
Screenshot (2).png


I think that the busiest pedestrian area by the falls should be completely closed to vehicle traffic. The are highlighted in yellow should be rebuilt as a pedestrian pathway with better amenities and lookouts onto the falls. Vehicles have no reason to drive through the area in yellow as they can travel up Murray St. to Stanley St. Then across to Marineland parkway. The parking lots can be accessed, the bus drop off is still open and the most important space in Niagara is rebuilt to make a better experience.

An idea of how I envision such a promenade, minus the palm trees of course, and much wider to handle the large volume of pedestrians.

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A visualization of the detour for vehicles.

Screenshot (3).png
 
DSC said:
Yes, it is crazy that if you take GO or VIA to NF you then need to try to get a local bus to the 'downtown' area and they run very infrequently. Though I did not go there in 2023, in 2022 if you bought a City Pass you got local transit included but not everyone wants the attraction pass - GO (& VIA) should offer a combined ticket to cover transportation to/from Clifden Hill area but there is still problem the schedules are poor.
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There's the Green WEGO line. In Fall 2023, they had 12 min frequencies during the summer. And there are some some bundle for WEGO with go train passes.

This summer I walked over the rainbow bridge and I needed to get to the Go train station. WEGO is quite ridiculous as you need to buy a $12 day pass from a convenience store. They don't take cash or contactless, or single tickets. Some other tourists were rejected but I was luckily able to get on for free with my suitcase to the Go train. (I was expecting to pay a local transit cash fare $3, and I might've paid $5 as I didn't have coins).
 
Bringing this thread back over a year later because I'm planning a bike ride from Niagara Falls station to Fort Erie, a route that will take me right through the heart of the tourist area by the falls. All the maps show a bike/multi use trail basically from the Rainbow Bridge all the way south. I haven't been in the area of the falls in years but now that I'm looking at it on Street View it's pretty clear that the trail is more of a narrow, crowded brick sidewalk. It doesn't look like anything I'd actually want to ride a bike on until the big dam upstream from the Horseshoe Falls. And while the other side of the Niagara Parkway has a path system, it's discontinuous and doesn't look like it's designed for cycling. So I'll be riding on the Parkway until I'm out of town.

For a region that advertises itself as a cycling tourism destination the lack of even basic cycling infrastructure along the river is kind of shocking. Trails exist along the rest of the route but in NF itself it's almost entirely on streets in mixed traffic. I've got to say I like dullturtle06's idea of pedestrianizing the whole core section. I'd do Clifton Hill too. The state of the public realm in that area is actually pretty bad. So much unrealized potential.
 
MisterF said:
Bringing this thread back over a year later because I'm planning a bike ride from Niagara Falls station to Fort Erie, a route that will take me right through the heart of the tourist area by the falls. All the maps show a bike/multi use trail basically from the Rainbow Bridge all the way south. I haven't been in the area of the falls in years but now that I'm looking at it on Street View it's pretty clear that the trail is more of a narrow, crowded brick sidewalk. It doesn't look like anything I'd actually want to ride a bike on until the big dam upstream from the Horseshoe Falls. And while the other side of the Niagara Parkway has a path system, it's discontinuous and doesn't look like it's designed for cycling. So I'll be riding on the Parkway until I'm out of town.

For a region that advertises itself as a cycling tourism destination the lack of even basic cycling infrastructure along the river is kind of shocking. Trails exist along the rest of the route but in NF itself it's almost entirely on streets in mixed traffic. I've got to say I like dullturtle06's idea of pedestrianizing the whole core section. I'd do Clifton Hill too. The state of the public realm in that area is actually pretty bad. So much unrealized potential.
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My thoughts exactly, we did a wine tour in the Niagara region and the lack of bike lanes and space for people was shockingly bad for how much interest there is in bike wine tours. Huge potential for bike tourism and most will avoid it with how dangerous the roads are there.
 
Reidfenwick said:
My thoughts exactly, we did a wine tour in the Niagara region and the lack of bike lanes and space for people was shockingly bad for how much interest there is in bike wine tours. Huge potential for bike tourism and most will avoid it with how dangerous the roads are there.
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A problem that we face now is we have a premier who is anti bike lanes. That means that it may be hard for the region tog et provincial funding when it would benefit the region.
 
micheal_can said:
A problem that we face now is we have a premier who is anti bike lanes. That means that it may be hard for the region tog et provincial funding when it would benefit the region.
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Any biking infrastructure built on those rural roads should resemble the multiuse path you see along Eglinton Av West in Etobicoke.
 
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