Albert St, DOTT, downtown

DOTT plans affect west side residents (ix): downtown west station

Westsideaction

The western most downtown station would be located deep under Albert Street * in the block between Kent and Bay. There will be two major entrances for the “base” station design. If developers wish to tie in, there could be more. One entrance will be right where the CS CoOp building is now. The entire block housing the CoOp is to be purchased by the City for the new library project. If the library is under construction at the same time as the DOTT, then the station will be incorporated into the Library. If the Library is to be constructed … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (ix): downtown west station

DOTT, hintonburg, LRT

DOTT plans affect west side residents (viii): Tunney’s station

Westsideaction

At Monday’s public open house, city planners will unveil the final system plans for the DOTT and LRT facilities to be constructed as the first phase of a city-wide sytem. The western terminus of the LRT will be at Tunney’s until the LRT is extended west. A major bus transit to LRT facility will be constructed at Tunney’s. The current bus station is in the cut immediately west of Holland Avenue. The new station will be in the same place. The earlier plans for a centre platform LRT station have been scrapped, to avoid having to widen the cut under … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (viii): Tunney’s station

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, bike path, bikewest, City Centre, DOTT, interprovincial transit study, LRT

DOTT plans affect west side residents (vii): Bayview Rapibus Station?

Westsideaction

The City has been evaluating the structural soundness of the historic Prince of Wales Railway Bridge over the Ottawa River to Gatineau. The City bought it a number of years ago for transit. Friends of the OTrain and  LRT transit proponents have long viewed the POW bridge as a great solution for taking transit across the River. The interprovincial transit study offered renewed hopes for extending LRT service from downtown Ottawa to Gatineau over the POW as the first phase of a loop system serving the two downtown employment centres and to alleviate bridge congestion. Alas, logic may be loosing … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (vii): Bayview Rapibus Station?

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, bikewest, DOTT, LRT

DOTT plans affect west side residents (vi): Bayview Station revised

Westsideaction

Currently the transitway passes over the railway tracks at Bayview with a simple high level overpass. At the east side, it widens for the Bayview station, which is built on a downslope into the LeBreton Flats area. The only access to the Bayview transit station or OTrain station is from the east side of the overpasses. Passengers can transfer to the OTrain tracks which are on the east side of the railway right of way, simply by walking down the sloped asphalt paths (being careful not to fall off the broken up edges of the path). Recall that the OTrain service north … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (vi): Bayview Station revised

Albert St, DOTT, LRT, Scott street

DOTT plans affect west side residents (v): when the transitway ends at Tunney’s

Westsideaction

The first phase of the LRT system extends as far west as Tunneys Pasture. It may always terminate there, or may be extended further west as phase two of the LRT system. Until it is extended, a major transfer facility is required at Tunney’s for bus users from the west who need to transfer onto the LRT vehicles for the continued journey through the downtown. (The design of that station will be subject of another post.) Most of the users of the 95 and similar buses from the west will get off their vehicles at the new transfer station to … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (v): when the transitway ends at Tunney’s

Albert St, Bayview, DOTT, LRT

DOTT plans affect west side residents (iv): closing the transitway during construction

Westsideaction

The new LRT line runs along the existing transitway alignment, with some slight variations. During the construction period of 3-5 years that transitway will have to be closed to buses to permit construction of the new LRT stations and tracks. Where will the buses go? Earlier plans by the city to move all the transitway buses onto Scott and Albert, starting at Tunney’s Pasure, have been abandonned. Thankfully. The additions of 1000 buses per day per direction on Albert and Scott would have horrendous social and environmental impacts. Instead, the City is proposing to totally rework the bus routes that … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (iv): closing the transitway during construction

Booth St, Dalhousie, DOTT, LRT

DOTT plans affect west side residents (iii): Albert Street widening planned

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tailback of cars on Booth going to Gatineau, evening rush hour at 3pm tailback of cars extends back to Gladstone, every single vehicle had only one person in it The intersection of Booth / Albert fails for several hours a day. Mostly this is due to our city policies of catering to single occupancy vehicles. Drive them by the thousands,  and we will widen the roads for you! Right now the “tailback” or long queue of vehicles trying to get onto Booth to go to Gatineau extends back to Preston on the west (often blocking that intersection) and back to Empress … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (iii): Albert Street widening planned

Dalhousie, DOTT, LRT

DOTT plans affect west side residents (ii): Tunnel entrance

Westsideaction

 The new LRT  LeBreton Station is to be located roughly where the current transitway station is at Booth. The entrance to the tunnel portion of the new LRT service under the downtown core will be immediately east of the station. Its location and design is in accordance with the Escarpment Plan that outlines how the adjacent lands are to be developed. During the tunnel construction period of 2-3 years, tunnel boring machines will eat their way through the limestone bedrock six to ten stories down under the street level of the core. All this chewed up rock has to come … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (ii): Tunnel entrance

DOTT, LeBreton Flats, little Italy, LRT, Preston street

DOTT plans affect west side residents (i): Preston St

Westsideaction

The city will hold an open house on Monday afternoon for the “final” recommended plan for the downtown Ottawa transit tunnel and LRT line from Tunney’s to Blair. It has a number of modifications and changes from previous editions of the plan. As somewhat expected but never expressed in previous versions of the plan, it has proven too difficult to keep the Booth/transitway intersection open during the construction period. Recall that the new station will be directly under Booth Street. The new Booth  will be elevated onto an overpass that crosses the LRT line and the aquaduct. It is simply not … Continue reading DOTT plans affect west side residents (i): Preston St

bikewest, cycling in Ottawa

Roger Geller, Portland’s Bike Experience

Westsideaction

Roger Geller, cycling coordinator for the city of Portland, OR spoke last evening at the CfSC meeting held at Tom Brown arena. Here are some of the points he raised in his PPT presentation on cycling in Portland. 1. There is a continuous interplay of facilities, ridership, politicies/politics, and funding. It is akin to a virtuous cycle, with any improvement to cycling facilities leading to increased ridership, more political support, then more funding of improved facilities, etc. The most common spot for the cycle to be broken is the policies/politics phase. He advises cycling advocacy groups to go for simple, … Continue reading Roger Geller, Portland’s Bike Experience

bikewest, cycling in Ottawa

Words of Wisdom from Velo Quebec in Ottawa

Westsideaction

On Monday evening over 100 people jammed into a too-small reception room at the Lord Elgin to hear Suzanne Lareau. She is head of Velo Quebec, a cycling lobby and information group. The event was organized by Cycle Vision Ottawa (why weren’t they signing up memberships??). It wasn’t just ordinary citizens that came out in unexpected numbers to hear her speak. Prominent in the front row were Roger Geller (cycling coordinator from Portland OR and speaker at tonight’s meeting at Tom Brown arena), Vivi Chi and Mona Abouhenidy and Robin Bennet from the City, and Marc Corriveau, new transit and cycling … Continue reading Words of Wisdom from Velo Quebec in Ottawa

DOTT, LRT

Underground City Not Premature, its DOA

Westsideaction

“The feeble business response to the city’s plan to create an underground shopping plaza along the proposed downtown rail tunnel is mainly due to lingering doubts about the $1.7-billion project,” — Ottawa Citizen, quoting expert. There are two possible issues here, and I dont know what was in the city’s tentative RFP. (And yes, they should be guaging interest now, even with conceptual LRT plans, rather than once the project is costed with assumptions of connections and revenue). The first issue is whether the city is looking at what buildings/landlords want to be connected to the LRT system. Here are my … Continue reading Underground City Not Premature, its DOA

downtown, pedestrians, streetscaping

The Broken Promise of Interlock

Westsideaction

When interlock paving first appeared on the Ottawa scene back in the early 1970’s — remember those “trillium”shaped paving blocks?– one of the advantages touted over concrete was that the pavers could be relaid when necessary, individual blocks could be replaced when damaged, without tearing out and throwing away the entire concrete “square” of regular sidewalks. Of course, what we really got was endlessly heaved and uneven interlock sidewalks, often patched with asphalt. Individual stones are not replaced because labor costs are too high and the block shapes discontinued every few years. Sometimes we get mismatched “repairs” using different block shapes. … Continue reading The Broken Promise of Interlock

infill

Infill on Elm Street

Westsideaction

I admire this porch rebuild on Elm Street. It began as a dilapidated wooden porch that was sagging off the house. The new room has new studs, floors, roof, exterior wrap, windows, new door and windows. It short, it complements the house and the streetscape very nicely without being precious. I especially appreciate the care the renovator took to get the porch, columns, and steps. The porch is shallow, perhaps due to setback limitations, not so much useful for sitting on as for storing the blue blox, black box, green bin, and regular garbage bin. So often in this neighborhood, … Continue reading Infill on Elm Street

infill

Another Infill on Cooper

Westsideaction

This Cooper Street infill is just a block down the street from the one in the previous post. The cribs are still in place, some in the foundation hole and some in the driveway. The exterior was likely to have been brick on this house, as the exterior cladding has been removed and the house wrapped in fabric for weather protection. Note that the new foundation has lots of windows, so it will likely be living space. There is also a large addition to the rear. The access to the addition will be along the side yard on the left … Continue reading Another Infill on Cooper

infill

Infill on Cooper street

Westsideaction

There are two houses on Cooper undergoing interesting infill treatments. This older house has been jacked up and put onto a new foundation. The two openings at the foundation facing the street were for the steel beams holding up the house. The process: the house is supported from underneath with cribs, the joists cut off around the old stone foundation, and new joists sistered onto the old ones, along with additional supporting beams. Then the house is lifted, new foundation poured, and the house lowered down again. In this case, the new foundation under the old house has few if … Continue reading Infill on Cooper street

bikewest, cycling in Ottawa

Busy Bike Week

Westsideaction

Next week will see two interesting guest speakers in Ottawa on the topic of improving cycling facilities. Both speakers are highly credible experienced individuals with real-world accomplishments. On Monday, CycleVision Ottawa presents Suzanne Lareau (see poster below) and on Tuesday CfSC presents the cycling coordinator from Portland OR. Portland has a much-lauded cycling network.  Tuesday’s meeting is 6pm at TomBrown Arena (right along the proposed BikeWest route!). Catch the Montreal Cycling Wave! Meet Suzanne Lareau The woman who is transforming Montreal for cycling A Public Presentation Monday October 19, at 8 p.m. St-Laurent room, off the Elgin Café in the … Continue reading Busy Bike Week

Ottawa

BikeWest project update

Westsideaction

A series of posts on the possibilities of a segregated bike route running from Bronson due west to Westboro was a big hit with readers and CBC listeners who yearn for a safe way to cycle. The various blog postings have been collected into one, slightly revised document, which you can have for your very own, free, just by asking me: EricDarwin1@gmail.com, or use the comment button for this posting. Be sure to include your email address if you use the comment button, as all input comes to me on an anonymous basis. EMC newspapers will be running an article on … Continue reading BikeWest project update

cycling in Ottawa, Dalhousie, LRT

A tale of two neighborhoods

Westsideaction

Digging a trench along the old Byron trolleyway park just north of Highland Park for these beasts? That’s just slightly less brutal a planning decision than running steam trains through slums in 19th-century Manchester.  –  Ottawa Citizen editorial Hmm, let’s see if I can get this right. As part of its LRT program the City is converting the current bus rapid transit (BRT) roads (the “transitway”) to LRT (“the beasts”). A problem arises where the BRT shares road surfaces with the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. It shares the road alignment … because the original alignment along the Byron transit streetcar … Continue reading A tale of two neighborhoods

pedestrians

Typical Mismatch

Westsideaction

This intersection of Torrington at the Driveway is typical of many in the City. The stop line for vehicles is up close to the intersection but the pedestrian walks are set back a few meters, right at the midpoint of a car. In this case as I walked up to the intersection and stepped onto the asphalt to cross a car had to brake sharply as the driver was focussed on the stop line not the crossing walking. It seems more logical to me that the stop line be at the sidewalk – and the sidewalk dip – and after … Continue reading Typical Mismatch

Chinatown, infill, somerset street

Lotus Court green roof

Westsideaction

Lotus Court is a mixed use project by Phoenix DCR developers at the corner of Rochester and Somerset Streets. The upper levels consist of townhouse units and stacked townhouse/loft units that are accessed off a central courtyard 3/4 of a flight up off the street. Under the units facing Somerset there are storefront offices. Under  the units facing the back (Eccles Street) are another level of residential units. Somewhere under the whole thing is underground parking. Resales seem to be brisk. The building seems to function well for the location. However, the courtyard and thus the upper units – some … Continue reading Lotus Court green roof