Category: bike path

bike path, NCC3 Comments

Alternatives to pathway apartheid,ii

Westsideaction

worn dirt trail along path. Arrow indicates NCC will sod this strip to repair it. sod laid last August, presumably to be removed and replaced agin this year as joggers wear it out typical worn jogging path along asphalt I am always curious when cycling the path as to why joggers run along side the path instead of on it. (Being a non-jogger, I can only believe people who claim the gravel, dips and hollows, and hard-packed dirt path is softer than the asphalt). –Eventually, they wear a complete dirt trail along the path, killing the green stuff that grows … Continue reading Alternatives to pathway apartheid,ii

bike path, NCC, pedestrians2 Comments

Alternatives to pathway apartheid,i

Westsideaction

through-cycling path interrupted by car access to parking lottypical pedestrian-only path leaves main path There are a number of things that can be done to existing multipurpose paths (which I normally call bike paths, because that is how I use them) to make them more user friendly.–For example, a Remic Rapids the riverside path is congested with families visiting the ducks, geese, and sculptures, and others accessing erotic pleasures in the remaining shrubbery (I no longer see the city social worker at this site handing out condoms… ).–To deal with the volume of slow moving pedestrian traffic and through-traffic cyclists, … Continue reading Alternatives to pathway apartheid,i

bike path, NCC, ottawa river

Double your bike paths ….

Westsideaction

Double your pleasure, double your fun, double your bike paths … Our society is prone to leap to solutions before clearly identifying problems or examining alternatives. Recent blogs on safe injection sites, green roofs, intensification … all have elements to me of being solutions searching for a problem. Before we go off parallelling our bike paths with yet more asphalt, we should examine the success of those segments of paths that are already segregated. Pathway apartheid may or may not work. For many years, the bike path along the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway was on the inland side of the … Continue reading Double your bike paths ….

855 Carling, Bayview, Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, Carling Ave, CDP, condos, Experimental Farm, LRT, NCC, O-Train6 Comments

855 Carling, part ii

Westsideaction

The Ottawa Civic Hospital Community Assoc. held a meeting on Tuesday evening. On the agenda was the 855 Carling Ave project proposed by Arnon Developments. They already own the two red brick office towers on Carling between Preston and Rochester (a site I vaguely recall might already have planning approval for a third tower?) – From their planning documents I had concluded in my post a few days ago that this was a rezoning well in advance of any project, but at the meeting it became clear that this project might proceed in the near future, and my interpretation was … Continue reading 855 Carling, part ii

aquaduct, bike path, Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats, Tailrace

How Wide is a Bike Path ?

Westsideaction

in May, NCC path is laid, looking south from Wellington in August, Claridge lays path behind 200 Lett St condo Now Claridge may not be the fastest developer in town, but he is finally implementing the landscaping around the 200 Lett Street yellow-brick condo tower on LeBreton Flats. The path behind the condo, along the tailrace/aquaduct, is being laid and connected to the NCC path. The path is laid to City of Ottawa standards, as spec’d to Claridge in the subdivision agreement. Look at the not-yet-paved gravel path in picture two, which extends the NCC path. Notice that the new … Continue reading How Wide is a Bike Path ?

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

bike path, Nature, NCC, oc Transpo, ottawa river3 Comments

Bird sightings along the Ottawa River

Westsideaction

The first photo shows a black cormorant ( I think … I googled the name and it seems to me to match) on the Ottawa River near Lemieux Island. If I recall correctly, cormorants are rapidly becomming an invasive species and are moving en masse into the Ottawa area having already over run the Great Lakes. It seems bird populations have bubbles just like our economy. Back in university, didnt they call it the boom/bust cycle? I first saw these birds about 3 years ago, there were a lot more last year, and this year I see them by the … Continue reading Bird sightings along the Ottawa River

bike path, NCC

More Observed Wildlife …

Westsideaction

I never cease to be amazed at what I see along the NCC Ottawa River bikepaths. At dusk the other evening, I watched a group of people with a large trebuchet (a seige engine of the catapult family) flinging objects several hundred metres across the lawns. In the picture above, the upper triangular object is the counterweight, the fulcum is in the centre of the tripod of posts, and the weight to be flung (in earlier days this could have been a stone to break fortification walls or a dead body to fling over the walls to spread terror or … Continue reading More Observed Wildlife …

aquaduct, bike path, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, green roofs, NCC, Tailrace1 Comment

Landscaping resumes at Claridge’s Condo

Westsideaction

I figured that Claridge might never landscape its project on LeBreton Flats. But in the last few weeks, a lot has happened. Sod appeared on the west side of Lett Street (right side of picture 2) in front of the Beirut-style bomb crater. And on Friday, some rather large trees appeared in the front lawn of the building, along the sidewalk. Compare the size of the new trees to the ones planted a few months ago along the north side of the building, shown on the left in picture 2. _ Picture 1 is of the rear yard, or courtyard … Continue reading Landscaping resumes at Claridge’s Condo

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, Nature, NCC, ottawa river

Blue Herons along the bike path

Westsideaction

It is probably necessary to double-click on these pictures to enlarge them. There is a large blue heron under the overhanging willow tree, and a second one sitting on the rocky point. A third one is out of view on the other side of the tree. – The NCC most conveniently provided an interpretation plaque at this very site to educate the viewer on the habits of the blue heron. This is along the NCC bike path just west of the Carleton St underpass… and east of the Island Park parking lot. Continue reading Blue Herons along the bike path

aquaduct, bike path, Booth St, cycling in Ottawa, LeBreton Flats, NCC, ottawa river

NCC vs City Maintenance Practices

Westsideaction

city aquaduct city aquaduct NCC maintenance The NCC landscaped the area along the bike path behind the new War Museum and east of Booth Street, shown in photo 3. Along the riverside chain link fence the NCC planted rose bushes and other shrubs, then applied mulch. Mulch does not stop all weed growth. The picture shows little piles of weeds and grass pulled out by NCC contractors. They picked them up just after I took the picture. By removing the weeds, the rose bushes will have more chance to grow stronger and bigger and choke out future weeds. And of … Continue reading NCC vs City Maintenance Practices

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, ottawa river, Scott street

Green Cycling

Westsideaction

A few days ago I was cycling back from Loblaws, along the Scott Street multipurpose pathway. My panniers were full of groceries. I noticed that my front tire glowed green as a I cycled. I have to admit I admire those cyclists who whizz by with green or red tire rims, they look so neat, so fast. Not like me, another elderly cyclist on my Cdn Tire six-speed. I stopped at the light at Lanark Avenue. Hmm, I looked more closely at my front tire. I reviewed my route. I had cut accross the grass at the end of Clifton … Continue reading Green Cycling

Bayview, bike path, LeBreton Flats, ottawa river1 Comment

Logging Days & Les Raftsmen on the Ottawa

Westsideaction

click image to enlarge These two concrete structures sit in the middle of the Ottawa River west of the Chaudiere Falls dam. They are on very small stoney islands, most likely man-made. Years ago, I vaguely recall that there were some small houses/work shacks out in the river for logging crews to use. I can recall they had sloped roofs. I was wondering if these are the walls of the buildings (ie, they were concrete buildings) or if these are the remaining foundations, and the wooden buildings used to be on top of them. This goes back to the log-boom … Continue reading Logging Days & Les Raftsmen on the Ottawa

aquaduct, Bayview, bike path, Booth St, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, Fallen Fire Fighters Monument, Fleet Street, LeBreton Flats, NCC, pedestrians, Tailrace

Bikepath to No-where

Westsideaction

The NCC has been landscaping the area north of the Claridge condo building on LeBreton Flats since mid-winter. Earlier posts on this blog showed the winter landscaping and very early spring planting of trees and shrubs. Eventually, the Fallen Firefighters Monument will be constructed on the grassy area. The contractor (same one as is doing Plouffe Park) has now paved the bike path from Wellington Street north along the west side of the tailrace. A side branch cuts off to the west to join Lett Street beside the condo. But the path goes nowhere, as Claridge hasn’t yet landscaped the … Continue reading Bikepath to No-where

bike path, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, green roofs, LeBreton Flats, NCC2 Comments

LeBreton Landscaping adventures continue

Westsideaction

NCC plantings along new bike path, view from Wellington Claridge doing nothing yet… this is their green roof NCC plants up to edge of Claridge condo NCC trees along north edge of condo In a posting in March, there were photos of the NCC doing winter landscaping on the Flats. They filled in the depression on the north side of the Claridge condo on Lett St, phase 1 of LeBreton Flats north of Albert. They graded the land to a lawn area, roughed in bike/pedestrian paths, and installed a generous trench of topsoil for a row of trees along Wellington. … Continue reading LeBreton Landscaping adventures continue

Bayview Otrain, Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, Carling Ave, CDP, City Centre, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, Dows Lake, LRT, O-Train, Preston street, somerset street, streetscaping2 Comments

Somerset Viaduct (Bridge) over the OTrain Line

Westsideaction

Somerset west of Preston rises up and over the OTrain Tracks, near the City Centre Building. At the height of the crest, the bridge itself is only about 20′ long; the rest of the road is simply a fill between retaining walls. The road was designed long ago and the angle of the slope means that motorists cannot see what’s on the road (for eg, a parked car) over the crest. This creates a stopping-in-time problem. The solution selected by the City is to narrow the road to two lanes for vehicle traffic. The road is wide enough for a … Continue reading Somerset Viaduct (Bridge) over the OTrain Line

aquaduct, bike path, Booth St, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, Fleet Street, kayaking, LeBreton Flats, NCC, Ottawa, pedestrians, Tailrace

Bureaucrats are not Marketeers

Westsideaction

aquaduct east of Booth Beirut Flats When Urbandale or Minto or one of the large reputable developers begins to build out a new suburban neighborhood there is usually some park amenities available with the first phase of the project. Then each year the parkland is further developed as more houses are built. These builders do not say “this is a twenty year buildout, we will do the public landscaping when the construction is all finished…” Developers realize that to entice residents there have to be amenities from day one, with tangible promise of more amenities to come. Contrast that with … Continue reading Bureaucrats are not Marketeers

bike path, Carling Ave, cycling in Ottawa, Dows Lake, Eric Darwin, NCC, Ottawa, pedestrians

Landscaping Goes In, Dow’s Lake pathway

Westsideaction

Recall that in late fall, 2008, the NCC reconstructed the pedestrian and cycling path along the south side of Dow’s Lake (along Commissioner’s Park). The new path is wider and in many places a foot higher, which should reduce puddling. There are more bench sitting areas too, set back from the path. Workers are busy this week cleaning up the unfinished details, including laying cobblestones between the path and the Queen Elizabeth Driveway. Continue reading Landscaping Goes In, Dow’s Lake pathway

bike path, condos, cycling in Ottawa, Eric Darwin, Fallen Fire Fighters Monument, LeBreton Flats, NCC, Ottawa

LeBreton Flats: landscaping in winter time

Westsideaction

The much-criticized condo tower on LeBreton Flats near Wellington and the War Museum is the first new residential building on these brownfields in 25 years. The view of the building is not helped by its isolation and strip-mined surroundings. Until the condo apartment market heats up again, we won’t see the second half of the first building (yes, second half: the first building is L shaped; the second joins onto it with another 7 storey yellow brick base and a 14 storey tower, making the whole building look like one, shaped in a U with the open end facing the … Continue reading LeBreton Flats: landscaping in winter time