The canal usually followed the contours of the land unlike the rail,
so it deviated up Davids Rd to skirt round the natural depression where the SCirc underpass now follows.

Maybe without this pavement narrowing, visitors might more likely be drawn up Dartmouth Road to shop - it would be more welcoming perhaps.
Then again it is hardly that inconvenient to negotiate compared with crossing the main roads or walking up the pedestrian underpass steps with a pram/shopping.
And the psychology of shoppers is not straight forward - they love the narrow twisty passages of the Lanes at Brighton, for instants.

Anyway, as I remember, WHills site will get redeveloped when they get round to developing the whole of that station area. So don't hold your breath.