You'd think that inner city neighborhoods, some built around 75 years ago would be largely complete. In the case of Calgary youd be mistaken. Calgary loves to tear out the old stuff and replace it. Most of the lanes in these older areas were never even paved. Decades later this lack of asphalt has become a real pain. Now we have multiple trash bins and more density every year. Along with the new houses comes higher expectations. Those individuals paying an average of $6k per year in property tax tend to want the city to provide services.
Paved lanes isn't a service the city offers unless the residents offer to pay for it via a vote. The lane between 34 and 33 st which happens to be my block is currently being paved. After the snow and hideous cold winter we suffered through where our lane became impassible for weeks at a time, paving will be a welcome relief.
Unfortunately some of the newer houses (and older ones too) were poorly designed and the grades don't work with the new lane. This could be a major garage access problem. Grades are a tricky issue and often I struggle with blending in the old and new grades. I didn't dig my own garage as low as it optimally could be and this is truly aggravating. But compared to my northern neighbour mine is at least serviceable.
This is what happens when the grades aren't considered at the time of construction.