Mayoral candidate proposes shutting down Whyte Ave traffic on summer weekends

Former two-time city councillor and mayoral candidate Michael Walters has floated the idea of shutting down traffic in a section of Whyte Ave. to increase vibrancy.

Walters promised a pilot project to pedestrianize two blocks between Gateway Blvd (103 St.) and 105 St. next summer.

In a press release on Monday, Walter promised to “Make Whyte Ave feel like Fringe every summer weekend in a 2026 pilot,” referring to the annual festival with theatre performances.

Edmontonians seemed to welcome the idea of pedestrian-friendly options on the avenue.

“It gets quite busy and there’s a lot of foot traffic — so yeah some more places where people can be free to walk without worrying about traffic would be nice,” a woman said.

Another Edmontonian said “I’ve been saying that for years. Make it look like Granville in Vancouver… build a place where people can park their car and have people walking back-and-forth.”

Mark Wilson, owner of Vivid Print which is located on Whyte Ave. said while he supported vibrancy efforts, he would like to see investments to infrastructure.

“What we want to see is a commitment to funding our public realm strategy, which we’ll have in place during the next four-year budget cycle,” Wilson said.

“Our infrastructure is falling apart — it’s long overdue for repair, it’ll widen the sidewalks and make it more pedestrian focused which will calm some of the traffic down,” he added.

Another Edmontonian said improving public safety will bring people to the streets and increase vibrancy. “[Focusing on public safety] going to increase vibrancy is making people feel safe, cleaning up the streets… we need beat police and police need to be allowed to do their job.”

Edmontonians head to the polls on Oct. 20.