Right now Ottawa seems happy with bicycles parked on sidewalks. Even many downtown office buildings surround themselves with on-sidewalk bike parking (eg Jean Edwards buildings) while some others make room for bikes indoors (Constitution Square, Flaherty building). But on-sidewalk bike … Continue reading Urban Detail (ix) More on bike parking issues
There are gazillions of bikes in European town centres (not so much in the car centric suburbs). Reducing clutter via bike parking becomes an important tool in keeping old town centres passable. In this photo, the City of Bruges has … Continue reading Urban Detail (viii) bikes in the old town core
This is one of a series of short stories on interesting bits of design noticed elsewhere. Below is a picture of a road given a drastic traffic calming. Instead of being two directions of car traffic, this paved surface was … Continue reading Urban Detail (vii) unusual cycling infrastructure
Enough of multi-part stories touring European housing projects. Let’s switch to somethings much briefer, more immediately rewarding. Thus starts a new series of very short stories showing only a few details of good (or occasionally bad) urban design that might … Continue reading Urban Detail (i)
As part of a retrospective of previous stories on new urban neighbourhoods, lets revisit Portland’s South waterfront new urban neighbourhood. While the details of what gets built and how, may vary, new urban neighbourhoods are tending to look more and more the same. After all, architects and planners read the same world-circulation magazines and journals, attend conferences, and share ideas (sometimes better, sometimes worse). It’s part of that world homogenization that sometimes makes it hard to tell just where one is. Yes, there is a loss of sense of place. Portland is interesting because it was a strong influence on … Continue reading The view from Portland
Albert-Scott Interim alignment, west from Champagne Avenue Open house 11 Dec 2017 at Tom Brown arena, 6pm to 8.30pm This story is mostly aimed at those citizens who are keen on city planning and the details of what is planned … Continue reading Scott Street interim alignment meeting Dec 11
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
Let’s look at that confusing stretch of road between Bayview Avenue and City Centre Avenue. Legally known as Albert Street, many folks persist in calling it Scott Street (which only runs west of Bayview). It’s a bleak and uninviting bit … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part vi – Bayview Station overpass
Ottawa’s streets and roads are mostly built on a grid pattern. This results in lots of ” + ” intersections, and also ” T ” intersections. From time to time, city engineers tell me there is no such thing as … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part v – Frustrating T
Scott Street, between Holland Avenue/Tunney’s Pasture, and Merton, is currently configured as four lanes. In addition, there is an on-road painted east-bound cycle lane: There is also a bi-directional MUP on the north side of Scott, that handles all westbound … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part iv – Scott Street at Holland
There is yet a third segment of Booth Street to consider. That’s the portion running from the Queensway south to Carling Avenue. That segment is not residential, it is mostly government offices, ranging from heritage Mineral and Mines brick buildings … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part iii – NRCan
There is more to Booth Street than the ignoble Freeway portion running north from Albert out to the War Museum intersection with Wellington/Sir JAM Parkway. There is the long suffering residential section to the south of Albert, running to the … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part ii
There are so many transportation bits and pieces related to the west side I’m just going to throw a whole bunch of stories up in the air like confetti, and you’ll have to try to figure out if what lands … Continue reading West Side Transportation Cornucopia, part i
Bike racks are appearing at more and more buildings and destinations around the City. I noticed the Keys of Saint Peter turned into a bike rack here in Beechwood Avenue real estate sales office: Continue reading Imaginative bike racks
When the Ottawa Humane Society left Champagne Avenue there was some sort of contractual agreement they had to offer the land to the city. For parkland. Nothing said the city had to buy it. So they didn’t. And as a … Continue reading City sleeps while mystery bridge decays
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 …
Recall that Booth Street between Albert Street and Wellington Street (out by the War Museum) was rebuilt with a grand overpass over the new LRT line. Before it was built, the design was hotly contested by local communities and advocacy … Continue reading Fixing the Booth Freeway fiasco
Here is a quick test text from @Hansonthebike to test Eric’s link to Twitter. A picture from Sparks Street this morning. Busy at Escape Bicycle tours. @Hansonthebike took his family from Toronto for an 18 km spin along the canal, … Continue reading Sparks Street this Saturday Race Weekend morning
Way back in 2009, in the toddler days of this blog, I noted the curious street closure on Lanark Avenue a block north of Scott Street, where… Lanark Avenue itself performs a tight turn that cuts it off from what … Continue reading It’s the little things that (don’t) count
It is hard to persuade some parts of the city bureaucracy that there are people other than motorists, and that non-automobile transportation is real. I’ve ranted here before that people on cycle paths or multi-user paths (MUPs) are expected to … Continue reading Almost knowing where we are
OK, here’s the hole? Recognize it? Ok, here’s a better shot. Recognize why that hole is there? Behind the rocks? Here’s a clue. Those cyclists needn’t wear a helmet anymore for fear of getting their noggin knocked off by the … Continue reading Tale of a Hole in the Ground
Safer Roads Ottawa has used city collision data and Bikemaps.org collision and near miss reports for a multi-year period to identify the bike incident hotspots. At first, I was surprised how many of them are clustered along Somerset Street. Recall … Continue reading Ottawa’s top bike incident hotspots
Ottawa is having some success in protecting walkable urban neighbourhoods. Othertimes planning seems designed to ruin the very things that make successful neighbourhoods. The latest threat comes from an unusual source: the fire department. And the target … is safe cycling. The most popular areas in Ottawa are often the older neighbourhoods. They are usually characterized by walkable main streets. The adjacent housing is usually on smaller lots. There are mixed land uses, with a sprinkling of apartments. Curbside parking buffers peds from through traffic. Most things are with an easy cycling distance. When we try to mimic this in … Continue reading Destroying livable Ottawa to save it
The story here earlier this week on the the next phase of the Trillium MUP got 1732 views, which indicates to me a keen public interest in expanded cycling and walking infrastructure. ** My colleague Richard Eade has some more … Continue reading More on Trillium MUP, phase 3
The recently constructed paved Trillium Pathway currently terminates as it crosses Carling Avenue, in the top left corner of the above aerial view. Those who persevere can follow the worn out remainders of the NCC’s 1963 stonedust pathway along the … Continue reading Trillium MUP Phase 3, aka OTrain path extension
