We were so happy to sit down with Elise Stolte from Edmonton Journal to share our vision of High Level Line with her. Six of us met with her at District and she feverishly wrote notes while we explained what we have in mind. When it came time to see the printed article, we were so thrilled to see that we were featured on the front page! Thanks, Elise, for helping us raise awareness of our proposal.

High Level Line visionaries look for momentum and buy-in on new urban park

A dream to transform the High Level Bridge into an urban park and streetcar corridor that reaches from MacEwan University to Whyte Avenue is about to get its next big push. 

The young professionals behind the High Level Line concept are incorporating as a non-profit this spring, recruiting a larger board, launching a series of public events and meeting with landowners along the line as they work to build momentum.

Between pilot projects, promotional T-shirts and plenty of talk this summer they hope to take their vision of a linear park to the next level. The backbone — the old rail line and multi-use trail that connects to the High Level Bridge — is already there, they argue. Someone just needs to fill in the missing links and improve the space to really connect the two cultural hearts of the city

There are obvious challenges to selling the idea. But with consulting engineers now saying that the top of the High Level Bridge cannot be used for a future LRT line, the concept doesn’t have to compete with other transportation initiatives for the turf.

Postmedia sat down with six core members of the team to learn more about what they’re pitching for the High Level Line.

Their unsolicited work is meant to start people dreaming about the possibility, said intern architect Michael Zabinski, imagining how this kind of green connection could support new development of underused pieces of land nearby. “There’s opportunity for every piece of land.”

There's more! Read the full article here: http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/high-level-line-visionaries-look-for-momentum-and-buy-in-on-new-urban-park

Kent Morrison from GlobalTV joined us in Old Strathcona to talk about High Level Line. 

More than four kilometres of walking and cycling trails, including a streetcar track, through six neighbourhoods connecting downtown Edmonton to Old Strathcona. That’s the vision of a new idea called the High Level Line.

“Right now it’s technically possible. You can get across in whatever modes we’re talking about but it’s not really a great experience,” said Kevin Dieterman, a landscape architect involved in the project.

Watch the full news clip and read more here: https://globalnews.ca/news/3800662/high-level-line-would-create-park-linking-downtown-edmonton-with-old-strathcona/

Dez Melenka from CTV News Edmonton met us along the line to hear more about our proposal. 

Watch the full On Your Street story here. 

Kashmala Fida from Metro News Edmonton covered the story of High Level Line!

A group of Edmontonians have pitched an ambitious idea to use green space to link downtown with Old Strathcona.

The High Level Line project, which would see a 4.3-kilometre strip of parkland run from north of Jasper Ave to Whyte Avenue, is the brainchild of a group of architects, landscape architects, engineers and urban planners.

“The river valley, as amazing and beautiful as it is, has long acted as a barrier between those two areas,” said landscape architect Kevin Dieterman.

“So we studied achieving that connectivity.”

Read the full article here: http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmonton/2017/10/12/it-s-very-edmontonian-idea-aims-to-connect-downtown-edmonton-with-south-through-a-leisure-pathway.html

We joined Mark Connolly on CBC Radio Edmonton AM to talk about High Level Line!

Listen in on the interview here: 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/programs/edmontonam/the-high-level-line-1.4351831

Elise Stolte from Edmonton Journal shared our proposal with the city!

A group of young Edmonton professionals is pitching a new vision for the High Level Bridge that would stretch the park experience from Whyte Avenue right to MacEwan University.

“The bridge is only a quarter of the length of this opportunity,” said landscape architect Kevin Dieterman, who spent a year designing a new urban park for the area with a half-dozen other individuals.

The group wants the streetcar — a much slower form of public transit — to run through a four-kilometre park and cycling space, creating a mixed-use and pedestrian park similar to what’s found in some areas of Europe. 

“It’s really about connecting the downtown and south side, the two cultural hearts of our city. It’s really, really rich,” Dieterman said Wednesday after the group released an initial plan at highlevelline.com this week.

Read the full article here: http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/taking-the-high-line-local-designers-pitch-a-new-park-plan-for-the-bridg

CBC News helped spread the word about High Level Line on the first day it was released!

Note about the article title: We're not all architects, but there's some on the team!

A local collective has a bold new vision for central Edmonton that includes a park that would connect downtown with Whyte Avenue.

[Intern] Architect Michael Zabinski, along with a group of young creative and design professionals, has been working on the High Level Line project for a year.

Their proposal includes a four-kilometre park made up of pedestrian paths, a cycling network, and a streetcar to connect downtown to Whyte Avenue, putting a fresh, user-friendly spin on the neighbourhoods between them.

"We are a city with two really awesome cultural centres, downtown and Whyte Avenue," said Zabinski.

"And for the longest time, people have gone to Whyte or they go downtown. What's missing is the link between the two — the urban thread that makes central Edmonton one place and one destination, that connects the city's two centres and creates a dynamic experience between the two."

Read the full article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-design-high-level-line-bike-paths-streetcar-river-valley-1.4350604