Category: Bluesfest

bike path, Bluesfest, Booth St, complete streets, design, Fleet Street, LeBreton Flats, Pimisi station3 Comments

Booth Freeway Fix continues

Westsideaction

Long-sufferings readers here may recall the unfortunate initial design and build of the portion of Booth going from Albert Street, over the new OTrain Confederation Line, to the Macdonald Parkway. It was justifiable to call this a freeway design. It was as inhospitable as possible for pedestrians and cyclists, despite the location of Pimisi Station at the midpoint. A “fix” has been in the works for a long time, and the most urgently needed portion is now in place. And more improvements are in the works (read on !) Lets review the new design, which is substantially complete. Here is … Continue reading Booth Freeway Fix continues

bike path, Bluesfest, Booth St, Confederation Line, cycling in Ottawa, design, LeBreton Flats, LRT, oc Transpo, Ottawa, sidewalks, surface water, walkways9 Comments

Ottawa’s LRT: Sifting Commercials for Info

Westsideaction

  The City has decided some time ago not to engage transit users for feedback on the design and use of its new LRT vehicles and stations.   Instead, users are stuck until they can “try out” a PR model of the new trains, or watch PR Videos cheerleading the project. At Lansdowne Park, a mock-up LRT vehicle reveals numerous shortcomings, from entanglement points, very hard seats, to the lack of footroom at some seats that will make winter riding uncomfortable  and exiting the window seats acrobatic enough to challenge cirque de soleil performers. It’s a shame these details are coming … Continue reading Ottawa’s LRT: Sifting Commercials for Info

Bluesfest, Booth St, Cdn War Museum, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, LeBreton Flats, NCC2 Comments

Three temporary landscapes on the Flats

Westsideaction

Last night the NCC held an open house to unveil 3 concepts for landscaping the Beirut  Bagdad  Syrian war zone post-apocalyptic landscape in downtown Ottawa on the south side of the Parkway between Vimy Private (the War Museum entrance road) and Claridge’s condos on LeBreton Flats. It has long been a puzzle to WSA regulars as to why bureaucrats think people would rush to buy homes with such dismal surroundings. So the new NCC, with new Leadership, responding to criticism (not least of which came from their bosses up on the Hill) of the desolate lands, announced a few weeks ago … Continue reading Three temporary landscapes on the Flats

Albert St, Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Bayview-Carling CDP, bikewest, Bluesfest, Booth St, Cdn War Museum, cycling in Ottawa10 Comments

Albert Street reconstruction – Back to the Future?

Westsideaction

  above: elderly gent attempts to give directions to city engineers who will shortly zoom off – but in what direction?   The section of Albert Street that runs through LeBreton Flats is up for reconstruction starting this year. Total reconstruction, as in deep sewers, new watermains, new pavement and curbs. But the wiring won’t be buried  that is a cost imposed on suburban areas not in central Ottawa. What will be the changes? Well, we don’t know for sure. The contract is being given to the Rideau Transit Group while the project is in the design stage, with more unknowns … Continue reading Albert Street reconstruction – Back to the Future?

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Bluesfest, Booth St, NCC, O-Train8 Comments

Preston Extension open (for how long…)

Westsideaction

Recall that last week the Preston extension (running north from Albert to a legal crosswalk over the transitway to NCC paths along the River) was suddenly gated and locked. We still don’t know for sure who did it, but the NCC seems willing to take the hit. Then, the next day the gate was open. I am told that the chain/lock were cut rather than unlocked. On Tuesday evening, the path received heavy use for patrons heading out to Bluesfest, where they could catch The Long Waits and The NeverEnding Lineups. About dusk I headed out to check out the route. Upon first seeing … Continue reading Preston Extension open (for how long…)

Bayview Otrain, bike path, Bluesfest, Booth St, cycling in Ottawa, pedestrians, Preston street16 Comments

Popular bike and ped route “locked shut”

Westsideaction

Several years ago a gate was installed at the north end of Preston, where it crosses NCC land. There is a paved path (actually a derelict bit of the transitway from pre-1980’s) that leads to a legal marked crossing of the current transitway and then out the Ottawa River bike paths. The gate was installed by contractors during water main construction a few years ago. On Monday, it was locked shut. I went out Monday evening to view the scene. I met cyclists coming up from the River, having crossed the transitway, and were then forced to return and recross the transitway to search … Continue reading Popular bike and ped route “locked shut”

Bluesfest2 Comments

Water trailer — first sip, second sip

Westsideaction

The city of Ottawa is considering buying two water trailers for special events similar to the Toronto one pictured above. The City of Toronto  created HTO to Go, a mobile water trailer that serves as a big drinking fountain.City crews deliver HTO to Go to local events and connect it to a safe supply of potable water (usually a connection to a water main).They have two mobile water trailers available for free to provide water at special events throughout Toronto.   There is a stainless steel trough on each side of the trailer; 10 drinking taps (five on each side); 10 spigot taps (five on each side) … Continue reading Water trailer — first sip, second sip

Bluesfest

Water trailer — first sip, second sip

Westsideaction

The city of Ottawa is considering buying two water trailers for special events similar to the Toronto one pictured above. The City of Toronto  created HTO to Go, a mobile water trailer that serves as a big drinking fountain.City crews deliver HTO to Go to local events and connect it to a safe supply of potable water (usually a connection to a water main).They have two mobile water trailers available for free to provide water at special events throughout Toronto.   There is a stainless steel trough on each side of the trailer; 10 drinking taps (five on each side); 10 spigot taps (five on each side) … Continue reading Water trailer — first sip, second sip

Bayview, Bluesfest, LeBreton Flats, Library, NCC, O-Train

Lansdowne Live

Westsideaction

Some misc observations on Lansdowne Live, and in particular the meeting last night at arena Tom Brown arena. 1. Opponents are well organized, sporting custom printed apparel and carry bags (made of recycled hemp, I hope) and handing out reams of photocopied green paper that may have required the souls of every tree in the Glebe. Of course, the Glebe trees are still there (at least along Ralph and Percy when I walked up those streets yesterday) so trees from some other place were sacrificed. Sacrificing somewhere else seems a common theme. 2. The green shirters took off their shirts … Continue reading Lansdowne Live

bike path, Bluesfest, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, LeBreton Flats, NCC, pedestrians2 Comments

Pooley’s Bridge Re-opens

Westsideaction

view from temporary path towards north end of Pooley’s Bridgeview north along the temp path towards Wellington –Pooley’s bridge is an historic stone arch bridge over the aquaduct/tailrace at the foot of Bronson hill. It permits pedestrians and cyclists direct access from the downtown via Commissioner St (that part of “Bronson” that extends downhill north of Albert) to LeBreton Flats. It was renovated and restored a few years ago, for pedestrian and cyclist traffic only, but then was promptly closed when Fleet Street was closed to public access during construction of residences on LeBreton Flats.–I have been part of the … Continue reading Pooley’s Bridge Re-opens

Albert St, Bayview, Bluesfest, Booth St, City Hall, Dalhousie, Dows Lake, LeBreton Flats, little Italy, Preston street5 Comments

Festival Externalities

Westsideaction

Every festival has impacts external to the site it operates on. These get managed in different ways. Winterlude and the Tulip Festival have numerous events along the canal, abutting neighborhoods like the Golden Triangle and The Glebe. For both these festivals, shuttle buses run along the canal to get crowds to and from the event sites. This distributes parking impacts over a larger area. It also means the City Hall garage and Lansdowne Park parking lots get used. For Bluesfest, there are no shuttle services, leaving adjacent neighborhoods to suffer from a huge influx of parkers. This is most noticeable … Continue reading Festival Externalities

Bluesfest, LeBreton Flats, Preston street

Creative Parking

Westsideaction

Major events such as Bluesfest attracts plenty of patrons who want to park in the adjacent neighborhoods. Parking control is much better this year; Kudos to the City for keeping the parkers off the pedestrian-cycling path along Albert, and off the NCC bike path along the aquaduct. All the construction along Preston has confused parkers. Some people are quite resourceful. In the photo, someone parked on top of the steel plates stacked up on Primrose near Preston. I half expected to find a mini or smart car inside the trenching box itself. Continue reading Creative Parking