Lemieux Island has a pleasant park on west and south sides of the Island. Most of the Island is fenced off to guard the water filtration buildings.
This vehicle-proof gate and lengthy stone barricade prevents vehicles from accessing a service road around the south side of the Island. The narrow road/path beyond has nice pedestrian-scale lighting and is a popular dog running / dog swimming / occasional-human swimming area.
The barrier to prevent unauthorized vehicle access, which is fine. But why does have have to block 100% of the paved surface, forcing peds to walk on the freshly seeded sides? Doesn’t anyone plan for pedestrians or cyclists??
While not terribly attractive, this barrier on Echo Drive is much more pedestrian and cyclist friendly. Just cycle or walk on through. Easy peasy. No curbs to jump, nor fences to climb. This type of barricade is compliant with the ideals of bicycle boulevards (long stretches of street that thwart through-cars but encourage cycling).
To answer your question "Doesn't anyone plan for pedestrians and cyclists?" : this is Ottawa, of course not!
Just a quick note to the dog people at Lemieux Island. My dog was bitten by a black dog named Phoebe today and is at the vet being stiched up. Watch your dogs – this was a $600 expense we were not counting on.