A Village Connected
to a City

East Village has been cut off from other city neighbourhoods for years. The 4th Street Underpass between Downtown and Stampede will change all that.

Neighbourhoods can’t thrive when they’re in isolation from the communities around them, so when you connect one neighbourhood to the other – by creating a road or a path, for instance – the city actually feels different. So imagine what changes for you when you can drive south on 4th Street SE directly into Stampede Park. Stampede feels suddenly like it’s next door to East Village. Macleod Trail feels close to Fort Calgary. St. Patrick’s Island is right there. Victoria Park, Stampede Park, Inglewood, downtown and the Beltline – close. Or at the very least, not so far. Connections create a kind of urban intimacy.

Now a key link from EV to the rest of the city has been approved, consulted upon and green-lighted – the 4th Street Underpass, a pedestrian and vehicle connection bringing EV closer to Stampede, downtown, the Beltline and beyond. In terms of impact, it’s the biggest infrastructure investment of all in 2010. The underpass is designed for both cars and pedestrians and will tie to an eventual transport superhub – a confluence of vehicles, bikes, pedestrians, public transit and future light rail and high-speed rail facilities.