Category: roads

Claridge, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, NCC, Ottawa, parks, pedestrians, roads, sewage and drains, surface water, The Isles1 Comment

Walking Portland’s SouthWaterfront streets

Westsideaction

Here’s part 2 of the Portland series, from 2015. They did an excellent job of creating lively streets. We haven’t done nearly as well here in Ottawa. Yet the formulas for success are out there. Do note that since this story was first written, Claridge’s Flats project has greatly improved, with benches and gardens and resident participation and involvement growing. (We might look at that in a future story). Alas, the city continues to shun the area, except to collect fees and taxes, but not providing so much as a tot lot for the scads of kids that live there. … Continue reading Walking Portland’s SouthWaterfront streets

Albert St, Bronson, Confederation Line, downtown, Laurier Ave, Lyon Street, oc Transpo, pedestrians, roads, traffic volume10 Comments

OC Transpo bus routes in the downtown, 2018 version

Westsideaction

This is part iii   of a series on downtown bus routes once the Confederation Line opens in 2018. Part i was on STO routes. Part ii was aimed at understanding what OC Transpo is trying to achieve with the new bus … Continue reading OC Transpo bus routes in the downtown, 2018 version

bike path, bikewest, Bronson, complete streets, Confederation Line, cycling in Ottawa, design, downtown, Empress St, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, Library, Nature, oc Transpo, parking, parks, pedestrians, planning, road diet, roads, sidewalks, streetscaping, woonerf10 Comments

West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part viii – Albert-Slater alert

Westsideaction

The City is hosting an “open house” on Tuesday (Nov 28, 5.30pm  onwards  ) to show their plans for the future Albert and Slater Streets between Empress (the Good Companions) and Waller (Rideau Centre, UOttawa U). Here are some things … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part viii – Albert-Slater alert

bike path, Carling Ave, complete streets, cycling in Ottawa, Dows Lake, Experimental Farm, new civic hospital, OTrain bike path, pedestrians, roads, sidewalks, surface water, Trillium Line4 Comments

When Opportunity knocks …

Westsideaction

Am I paranormal? Do I see opportunities where others (for eg, the City) see nothing? Are the skeptics about government right when they charge it cannot miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity? In the three short weeks since I … Continue reading When Opportunity knocks …

Bronson, Carling Ave, Confederation Line, cycling in Ottawa, design, Ottawa, pedestrians, road diet, roads, Scott street, sidewalks, streetscaping, Transit, Trees8 Comments

Yes you can, Mr Mayor

Westsideaction

John Turner and Jim Watson have lots in common. In a crisis, both  claim they can’t do something. It didn’t work out well for Mr Turner. So people get killed moving about in Ottawa. Anyone looking at the traffic fatalities knows … Continue reading Yes you can, Mr Mayor

Albert St, bike path, Booth St, Cdn War Museum, Confederation Line, cycling in Ottawa, DCA, LeBreton Flats, Ottawa, pedestrians, roads, Transit12 Comments

About those not-quite-bike-lanes on Booth Freeway

Westsideaction

There are certain facts of life we have to deal with today, even if we regret how things came to be that way. I wont rehash how Booth Street north of Albert, going through LeBreton Flats, came to be designed … Continue reading About those not-quite-bike-lanes on Booth Freeway

bike path, bixi bike, Chinatown, cycling in Ottawa, design, Ottawa, pedestrians, roads1 Comment

Building a Better Street, an example from Milan

Westsideaction

Let’s go back to Milan. As part of their transformation project towards a Green City, they have recently reconstructed a multi-block street to make it more urban, less car-dominated. They got mostly good results, but with a number of caveats. … Continue reading Building a Better Street, an example from Milan

Confederation Line, LeBreton Flats, pedestrians, Preston street, roads, sidewalks, Transit, walkways7 Comments

Contempt for Pedestrians at Transit Station and some Unworthy thoughts as to how it came to be that way

Westsideaction

The temporary LeBreton transit station requires many transferring people and station walk-ins to cross one or more intersections. Some of the crossings, or repeated crossings, are because the city was too cheap to provide sidewalks  even paved shoulders on both … Continue reading Contempt for Pedestrians at Transit Station and some Unworthy thoughts as to how it came to be that way

Albert St, Bayview Station, bike path, LeBreton Flats, oc Transpo, pedestrians, Preston street, roads, Scott street, sewage and drains, sidewalks, streetscaping, surface water5 Comments

Fences Fences Everywhere a Fence

Westsideaction

Fences, fences, everywhere a fence ! IF it’s not a song yet, it should be ! But I’m not sitting on one, there is no doubt in my mind that these fences are trouble. It is truly amazing the City (or is it RTG) spending so heavily on fences along Albert and Scott. These ones, along Scott, are wooden … … to keep the salt and slush from splashing on the houses when the 2500 buses a day go crusin’ by. They will also block some of the residential views of the bus lanes, albeit at the price of a … Continue reading Fences Fences Everywhere a Fence

Confederation Line, LRT, NCC, ottawa river, planning, roads, Transit, Trees, Western LRT5 Comments

Westward ho ! (part i)

Westsideaction

So the NCC and the City came to an understanding for routing the western LRT beyond Dominion Station. It’s time to go beyond the headline coverage. Let’s parse that agreement, and see what’s there and what isn’t. The basic concept: the LRT will extend west from Dominion along the Ottawa River Parkway (ORP) to Cleary Avenue where it will transition southwards to follow the Richmond Road corridor. Instead of being pushed up close to the southern edge of the parkway lands, close to some developed parcels, the LRT will now run roughly down the centre of the space, halfway between … Continue reading Westward ho ! (part i)

Claridge, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, NCC, Ottawa, parks, pedestrians, roads, sewage and drains, surface water, The Isles1 Comment

Building a Better LeBreton, part 9, Walking Portland’s SouthWaterfront streets

Westsideaction

  The South Waterfront neighbourhood is very well landscaped. Intensively landscaped, with interesting bits of planters, plants, gardens, courtyards, and squares tucked into the smallest corners. The contrast to Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats couldn’t be stronger. Some of this may be due to a milder climate in Oregon. Or a project that has had vegetation in the ground and growing for longer. Or maybe a much more generous budget for greenery. The Flats look good on paper, and on the ground the “right elements” are laid out, but the execution makes me wince and thus far is poorly maintained. The City has … Continue reading Building a Better LeBreton, part 9, Walking Portland’s SouthWaterfront streets

Nature, pedestrians, roads, Seattle, sewage and drains, sidewalks, somerset street, streetscaping, surface water, walkways5 Comments

More exciting drainage swales, in industrial parks

Westsideaction

Seattle and its suburbs had an abundance of drainage swales. That might reflect the high seasonal rainfall. In a suburban industrial park (in Redmond or Bellevue, I’m not sure) , about half populated with businesses and the other half being vacant lots, the existing roads had been retrofitted to accommodate swales. The existing infrastructure looked to me to be about a decade old. At each half block, a pair of bulbouts had created a “neckdown” or pinch in the road. A crosswalk was installed, simply marked with a zebra stripe and fluorescent sign (Ottawa traffic engineers are horrified at this … Continue reading More exciting drainage swales, in industrial parks

roads, Seattle

Seeing Seattle (ix) street paving you can’t have here

Westsideaction

There are a variety of reasons to pave a street in something other than asphalt. Decorative paving, for example, highlights to drivers and pedestrians that we are in a special place. Take extra care. Regular readers of this site will have seen many such paving examples of certain blocks or even major intersections. And sometimes the paving is deliberately complex to increase uncertainty and blur the distinctions between different parts of the paved area. Right in the heart of downtown Seattle there was this paving pattern that covered sidewalks, corsswalks, roads, parking areas, intersections… [an area roughly akin to Rideau … Continue reading Seeing Seattle (ix) street paving you can’t have here

bike path, Booth St, cycling in Ottawa, design, Montreal, planning, roads, streetscaping, walkways

Bike Path, Walkway, Bus Stop: all together now

Westsideaction

The City of Ottawa claims it cannot possibly design the new section of Booth Street running north from Albert, serving Pimisi Station and the LeBreton Flats area, to include motorists, buses, transit, and bikes. The cyclists just don’t fit. So they are being thrown under the bus. As for their partner in crime, the NCC’s vision for their new urban downtown showpiece doesn’t seem to include complete streets or cyclists. Dusk a few weeks ago, I noticed this lovely bike path – walkway – bus stop combo in Montreal, on the side of Park Lafontaine. Everyone approaching the place gets ample visual … Continue reading Bike Path, Walkway, Bus Stop: all together now

bike path, bikewest, Booth St, Cdn War Museum, cycling in Ottawa, pedestrians, planning, road diet, roads, sidewalks, streetscaping, walkways6 Comments

Churchill Cycle Track takes shape

Westsideaction

  Churchill Avenue running north from Carling Avenue towards Westboro is being rebuilt today as a complete street. In addition to the regular car / truck traffic lanes on the street, there will be concrete walks and at the same level as the walkway, a cycle track. A cycle track differs from a bike lane, which is a painted zone on the street just off to the side of the car traffic. Road traffic can readily intrude into the bike lane (hello FedEx). The cycle track is separated from other vehicular traffic by a curb and buffer zone. The opening … Continue reading Churchill Cycle Track takes shape

roads, streetscaping3 Comments

Paint the streets red…and blue…and green…and pink

Westsideaction

If you are out cycling or walking this weekend, make a point of passing by Clarendon and Iona Streets on the West Side. There you will see Ottawa’s first officially sanctioned, artist-supervised street painting exercise. It is mid-block, whereas most street painting projects I have seen on-line favour intersections (to slow vehicles down) or along main streets (same reason). Ottawa, of course, is still very much under the thumb of conservative traffic engineers who seemingly cannot distinguish a road (for getting from point A to B) from a street (which is for local access, and therefore reduced speeds). In their … Continue reading Paint the streets red…and blue…and green…and pink

Bayview-Carling CDP, intensificatioin, planning, roads, walkways4 Comments

Building a liveable Ottawa

Westsideaction

So, on Tuesday night I trotted off to the City’s launch of its OP (official plan) and TMP (Transportation master plan) tweaks. My, so many fine words. So many nice drawings. Lots of display boards. Mind you, there are some pretty fine words in the last plan too, like the promise that public spaces would be designed for pedestrians first, cyclists, transit, then motorists. To those fine words, every neighbourhood has their own response. Ours is: Bronson Avenue ! Some observations: the traditional traffic analysis uses “level or service”, rated A thru F, for motorists. No measure of pedestrians, cyclists. New measure … Continue reading Building a liveable Ottawa

design, parks, pedestrians, roads, streetscaping, walkways2 Comments

Burlington Design Smarts

Westsideaction

Every place offers new twists and variations on urban design. My fall visit to Burlington revealed some interesting ones that were not on Church Street Marketplace. (see the previous series a week or so ago on Burlington, this completes that series) One of the streets dead-ended at the lake. It terminated in a traffic circle. A mini-traffic circle. Can you imagine Ottawa’s engineers designing something so tight you couldn’t drive a 53′ tractor trailer around it at 50kmh?? At the lakefront park, they had park benches mounted as swings. They looked glorious. They looked fun. But I dunno how well they worked, … Continue reading Burlington Design Smarts

Bronson, Ottawa, roads, somerset street, streetscaping, walkways4 Comments

Maybe the temporary on Bronson should be permanent

Westsideaction

The noisy work crews on Bronson have taken a winter break. They need one. It must be dispiriting for them to be reconstructing Bronson in the same dysfunctional 1950’s pattern of urban abuse. Our city is sometimes like a dysfunctional family, where the mistakes of the prior-generation parents are doomed to be repeated by the so-called adults of the present. Here’s a view of the Bronson-Somerset intersection prior to the construction. Note the big yellow signal lights we so love to festoon above the traffic lanes, suspended on long metal arms in turn supported by freestanding metal posts, sometimes known as “street furniture”. For … Continue reading Maybe the temporary on Bronson should be permanent