Star: Would a bridge at Dundas and Spadina save lives?

[adma]

In China and Hong Kong, not only are there pedestrian overpasses and tunnels everywhere, but most major streets have fences, even at major intersections, to prevent jaywalking and to stop pedestrians from even touching the street.

Sounds like parts of suburban Calgary (hint hint)

 

[ShonTron]

The megacities of China are full of these overpasses, but not the older sections. Beijing is riddled with them, but to cross the newer quasi-expressways. Shenzhen has them everywhere, but it is a city that was largely built since 1980 from a small fishing centre to a hypercity built with the car in mind. Hong Kong has these, but not on say Nathan Road or outside the financial district on the Island. There's no overpass at Argyle and Nathan, and that's twice as busy as Spadina and Dundas.

Other cities do have underground complexes near the railway stations (Dalian, Changchun), but that's pretty much the only time pedestrians are forced off the surface in second and third tier Chinese cities.

The busiest intersection in the city for pedestrians is Yonge and Dundas, followed closely by intersections in the financial district, particularly towards Union Station. And that's despite the PATH. Spadina and Dundas does come in the top 20, but if you do a rate of injury per pedestrians crossing, it ranks pretty low in risk.

 

[adma]

All things considered, one's better off proposing an underground pedestrian concourse with shops (which has European, never mind Asian, precedents). Well, "if at all".

 

[golodhendil]

Hong Kong has these, but not on say Nathan Road or outside the financial district on the Island. There's no overpass at Argyle and Nathan, and that's twice as busy as Spadina and Dundas.

Actually, HK has pedestrian overpasses everywhere. On the Island, they have them along the entire north shore from Sai Wan in the west all to the way to the eastern tip at Siu Sai Wan, and on the south shore as well. They are also all over Kowloon and all the new towns in New Territories, if not on Nathan Road itself - right now, because there are actually plans to do exactly just that, to extend the existing overpass network in Mongkok across Nathan Road, and just yesterday the government responded in the Legislature that preliminary engineering and legal work is completed and construction will start in the fourth quarter of this year. For that particular intersection of Argyle and Nathan, there is an MTR underground complex right underneath, so a footbridge is understandably not needed as urgently, although plans are also being worked out right now to extend the footbridge network across this intersection too.

Footbridges and overpasses in HK usually form huge networks that span multiple blocks and often with direction connection to multiple buildings, not unlike Calgary - not suburban Calgary though, but the +15 network in downtown.

 

[saiho]

The megacities of China are full of these overpasses, but not the older sections. Beijing is riddled with them, but to cross the newer quasi-expressways. Shenzhen has them everywhere, but it is a city that was largely built since 1980 from a small fishing centre to a hypercity built with the car in mind. Hong Kong has these, but not on say Nathan Road or outside the financial district on the Island. There's no overpass at Argyle and Nathan, and that's twice as busy as Spadina and Dundas.

Other cities do have underground complexes near the railway stations (Dalian, Changchun), but that's pretty much the only time pedestrians are forced off the surface in second and third tier Chinese cities.

The busiest intersection in the city for pedestrians is Yonge and Dundas, followed closely by intersections in the financial district, particularly towards Union Station. And that's despite the PATH. Spadina and Dundas does come in the top 20, but if you do a rate of injury per pedestrians crossing, it ranks pretty low in risk.

actually even in suburban areas of Hong Kong such as tin shui wai has large amounts of pedestrian overpasses and Nathan Road has a lot too just that they all take the form of underpasses.