Category: cycling in Ottawa

City Hall, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, LRT, oc Transpo, OLRT7 Comments

Bike Parking at New LRT Stations

Westsideaction

I sit on the public advisory committee for pedestrian and cyclist access to and design of the new LRT stations. Sometimes my comments are welcome there, and sometimes I feel like the skunk at a garden party. After last week, I was a stunned bunny. The subject was (again) cyclist and pedestrian access to the new stations. There was some useful stuff, like the likely walk-in catchment zone, the cycle-in catchment zone, and the zone where it is just too much effort to get out the bike so someone might walk; and zone where someone might decide, since they were already … Continue reading Bike Parking at New LRT Stations

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, somerset street2 Comments

How to ride a bike through Thick cement

Westsideaction

Recall that the new O-Train corridor cycling path parallels the tracks on their east side. To get under Somerset Street, the City is constructing a new underpass for the multi-user path. The north portal has been cut out; here is the view from the top of the hole in Somerset:  Notice how thick is the base of the wall of the viaduct. There is no further foundation — the wall just bulbs out and rests on the dirt. It reminds me of those blocks sold to hold up decks — rather than digging a deep hole and filling it up with cement, … Continue reading How to ride a bike through Thick cement

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, NCC, parks, sidewalks, streetscaping, Uncategorized

Toe chopping specials

Westsideaction

Residents of the national capital(e) are indeed fortunate beneficiaries of tax dollars collected from the good folks of Ecum Secum and Lower  Shubenacadie who provide us with wonderful paths and benches to sit on. I am not sure how much thinking goes into the details of bench location, though. Take the above pic, which shows the most typical installation of a bench right on the edge of the travelled portion of the path. Slouch down and you risk getting your toenails clipped by passing cyclists. If you stopped because your kid was squirming in the stroller or bike trailer, and needs to run around for … Continue reading Toe chopping specials

Albert St, bike path, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, parking, pedestrians, sidewalks, streetscaping5 Comments

Dullsville

Westsideaction

Some days on the west side of town are just peachy. Other days are a tad … dull. Depressing, even. Someone had enough time and energy to attack this Ginkgo tree in Plouffe Park: Meanwhile, over on Albert Street, where a half-assed multi-user path runs along the north side of the road, these have appeared scattered all along the path: Some of the posts are steel, like the one shown. Others are chunky 4×4 posts, all about 10′ high. I think the city buys one size of post, digs any depth hole, plants said post, then cuts it off at … Continue reading Dullsville

bike path, Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats7 Comments

End of the Yellow Brick road, err buildings

Westsideaction

The NCC wanted a different look and feel for the LeBreton neighborhood. They wanted a neighborhood that was distinctive. To this end they chose a particular palate of colours that all bidders had to employ. Predominate in this palate was yellow brick. It was always in the plan that as the buildings approached the south edge (I thought they meant Albert Street…) they would become two tone brick, employing the traditional red brick common to the older neighborhoods, to form a transition zone. I am not sure whether the lack of enthusiasm for the look of the recently constructed condos comes … Continue reading End of the Yellow Brick road, err buildings

cycling in Ottawa, design, Elm Street, LeBreton Flats, parks, plant recreation centre, Plouffe Park, Primrose, surface water, Uncategorized8 Comments

Waterparks in the City

Westsideaction

Dufferin Park in Toronto is justifiably well known for its innovative features. The boy on the left (picture, above) is by the spigot that flows water into this large sand lot, complete with oversize logs that seem perfect to stimulate little imaginations while containing the mess and providing bum rests for parents. Can’t you just hear Ottawa park bureaucrats commenting on the “safety” of that big log bridge? (shown above) Actually, watching the baby crawl up out of the ditch was hilarious and inspiring. The Dufferin Park neighborhood and adjacent Trinity Bellwoods neighborhoods appear to me to be in the “Glebe” level of affluence. A number of … Continue reading Waterparks in the City

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, somerset street

Bike underpass progresses

Westsideaction

The City is inserting a new bicycle underpass parallel to the O-Train track where it goes under the Somerset Street viaduct. A viaduct is like a bridge, except it isn’t hollow underneath, it has dirt fill between side retaining walls. In the picture below, the far side wall is visible as is the wall of the O-Train underpass  on the left edge of the picture.  A construction worker, busily supervised by another, is shown with a large horizontal saw blade (about 36″ diameter) riding on rail attached to the wall, cutting a horizontal opening through the wall. I suspect this is the … Continue reading Bike underpass progresses

cycling in Ottawa17 Comments

More, please

Westsideaction

Hmm, high rise apartment building. With affordable rents. Tennants who ride bikes… What could be missing? Uhh, a place to park them? This unsightly mess on Bell Street reveals a) the lack of bike racks; b) the secondary utility of tree guards; c) another step in the jeeze-I’m-tired-of-cyclists syndrome; d)all of the above. Now I don’t actually believe the City should be rushing out to install bike racks on every sidewalk. Somehow, there is a niggling bit in the back of my mind that wants sidewalks for pedestrians. Convenient cycle parking yes, but not over-running every sidewalk. I recall my last … Continue reading More, please

Albert St, bike path, bikewest, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, DOTT, housing policy, intensificatioin, LRT, NCC, O-Train, OLRT, parks, Richmond road, Scott street8 Comments

Air rights over the transitway/LRT

Westsideaction

Councilor Katherine Hobbs is in the news for asking the City to examine developing the air rights over the west side part of the transitway/LRT line. I have a bunch of mutually contradictory thoughts on this. 1. The City should sell air rights to help pay for the transitway. Taxpayers are forking out a bundle of money for a transit line, we can recoup some of that expenditure by selling prime access to the most-accessible locations in the city. Otherwise, many of the development benefits go to the builders on adjacent lands. In some cases, these are private developers; in the case … Continue reading Air rights over the transitway/LRT

bike path, Bronson, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, design, O-Train, pedestrians, sidewalks, somerset street1 Comment

My rules vs your rules

Westsideaction

Yes, dealing with the City (and the BIA’s, the Community Associations, the Councilors, neighbours… you name it) can be frustrating. I persevere, joining traffic studies and public advisory committees because sometimes we “win”, ie speaking up effects a change or improvement in a project. But it can be terribly frustrating. The City is an impenetrable maze of rules and standards for any occasion. Too many times to count we are told “you can’t have that” because it violates some engineering code, or bylaw, or whatever. Only to turn around and see that violation employed somewhere else or to get the … Continue reading My rules vs your rules

bike path, Chinatown, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, roads, somerset street

Road improvement only temporary

Westsideaction

The City repaved Somerset west of Preston this morning. Don’t get too excited though. It’s just short term improvement change followed by more disruption. The section of Somerset further west, near Bayswater, is not ready for paving yet. The newly paved section will be striped next week as a two-way cul-de-sac street, ending at Musca’s. There will be no vehicular traffic, east or west, over the O-Train bridge, starting in August. The road will be completely dug out to insert a new underpass, for the north-south cycling route that parallels the east side of the O-train corridor. The contractor will keep … Continue reading Road improvement only temporary

cycling in Ottawa, O-Train, sidewalks, streetscaping1 Comment

Somerset bike underpass underway

Westsideaction

Somerset rises up and over the O-Train on a viaduct. A viaduct is rather like a bridge, but it is not hollow underneath; instead two side walls hold up a long berm of dirt with the road on top. The only bridge portions are over the O-Train itself and over a bit of City Centre Avenue. Another viaduct is the portion of the transitway from the O-Train overpass west, over the top of Baysview Avenue, and then descending into the cut that enters Tunney’s Pasture. An underpass is required for the new bicycle path that parallels the east side of the O-Train corridor. A … Continue reading Somerset bike underpass underway

bike path, Bronson, Carling Ave, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, parking, roads, Uncategorized11 Comments

YES ! to municipal bike tax

Westsideaction

So a City Councillor has suggested we tax bicycles, perhaps by levying a license fee. I suspect he pictures in his mind a miniature license plate, similar to the full size plates that a car has, or what bicycles in the 1950’s used to have. Some places use stickers instead of metal plates, but these are hard to read, and certainly cannot be read while an offending cyclist speeds off into the sunset after his or her dasterly deed. I agree with Councillor Monette. The municipality should license bicycles and indeed all vehicles driving in the City. Right now, the City … Continue reading YES ! to municipal bike tax

bike path, condos, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, Laurier Ave13 Comments

Laurier Bike Lane opens

Westsideaction

The Laurier Avenue separated bike lane (SBL) opened today. Mayor Watson was there, Marianne Wilkinson, and former councilor Bedard: There was a reasonable size crowd to see the ribbon cutting and hear the (mercifully short) speeches. There were some protesters too, objecting to the bike lanes. Two cyclists were wearing helmet cams to film what they see: These paramedics patrolled the path, searching in vain for early fatalities or run-over protesters. The bigger risk might be sunburn on the bum cleavage: There were several cycle-mounted police there too. It just might be possible that Laurier Avenue will have faster medical … Continue reading Laurier Bike Lane opens

bike path, Chinatown, cycling in Ottawa, Empress St, Laurier Ave, parking, Uncategorized4 Comments

Unintended benefits of Laurier SBL

Westsideaction

The Laurier Separated Bike Lane — SBL — opens July 10th. Considerable criticism has been levelled that it goes nowhere from nowhere to nowhere. I guess these critics want a SBL that never starts nor stops…  they just don’t want it at all. At the western end of Laurier, the bike lane stops at Bronson. Considerable volumes of bike traffic will have moved off the route to go north and west or south by time the lane reaches Bronson. But for traffic continuing into Dalhousie, Chinatown, or desiring to go south parallel to Bronson, some new measures have been put into place … Continue reading Unintended benefits of Laurier SBL

Bayview Otrain, bike path, Bluesfest, Booth St, cycling in Ottawa, pedestrians, Preston street16 Comments

Popular bike and ped route “locked shut”

Westsideaction

Several years ago a gate was installed at the north end of Preston, where it crosses NCC land. There is a paved path (actually a derelict bit of the transitway from pre-1980’s) that leads to a legal marked crossing of the current transitway and then out the Ottawa River bike paths. The gate was installed by contractors during water main construction a few years ago. On Monday, it was locked shut. I went out Monday evening to view the scene. I met cyclists coming up from the River, having crossed the transitway, and were then forced to return and recross the transitway to search … Continue reading Popular bike and ped route “locked shut”

bike path, bixi bike, cycling in Ottawa, Laurier Ave, NCC, Ottawa, road diet, traffic volume, Transit4 Comments

Ontario Bike Summit, Day 1

Westsideaction

The Ontario Bike Summit started Monday at the Museum of Nature, and continues on Tuesday. Bug Me, says Watson: What’s a public meeting without politicians to speak? This meeting opened with an abundance of them. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson spoke of the increased volume of cyclists (155,000 in May) and their increased visibility. Speaking of the Laurier Separated Bike Lane (SBL) he made it clear that he understood some cyclists did not like the project, but “they don’t have to use it”. It is designed to offer a safer route for cyclists, to encourage more cycling, and to facilitate tourists who cycle … Continue reading Ontario Bike Summit, Day 1

bike path, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, NCC, parks, Uncategorized, WalkSpace4 Comments

Get Lost

Westsideaction

This post was originally written for Spacing Ottawa, www.spacingottawa.ca, and is reprinted here in case you are so negligent you do not subscribe to that site. You should have read it there! Spacing deals with geography across Canada; Spacing Ottawa deals with geography in Ottawa. WSA, of course, is a smaller focus on the neighborhoods on the  west side of the downtown. But it’s all geography! There is some new content at the bottom of the post. ________________________ As an urban society, we have to shift our focus away from exclusively serving motor vehicles as the norm, and towards serving people, regardless … Continue reading Get Lost

cycling in Ottawa, design, downtown, NCC14 Comments

Indistinguishable crosswalk lures peds to danger

Westsideaction

The picture is taken from the McKenzie-King Bridge, between the canal and Rideau Centre. The unique spiral staircase on the left is now closed, and will be removed. It is, apparently, not fully accessible. It is being sort-of replaced by the straight staircase on the right, adjacent the new Convention Centre. It has an elevator hidden inside a nifty turned-over ice-cream cone metal shroud, so Everyone can go up or down. But look closely at Colonel By Drive. Notice that peds arriving at the bottom of the staircase on the right appear to have a crosswalk. And on the left side, partially obscured by the … Continue reading Indistinguishable crosswalk lures peds to danger

bike path, cycling in Ottawa4 Comments

Cyclist doored by a toilet

Westsideaction

She-who-must-be-obeyed once won the ‘door prize’ whilst cycling on Bank Street some years ago. (She is fully recovered now, and back in control, thank you for your condolences.) Macabre* humour is one of the ways we deal with difficult situations. Our teen son and his school chums referred to her as being “hit by a parked car”, along the lines of those “your mom is so dumb…” jokes. The memories of those times, or at least memories of the joke, came to us while cycling through Moonies Bay yesterday. We discovered all the port-a-potties lined up along the bike path. … Continue reading Cyclist doored by a toilet

Albert St, bike path, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, Scott street, Uncategorized6 Comments

BikeWest

Westsideaction

Last Saturday, readers who also listen to the CBC awoke to a real nightmare. My dulcet tones were on the morning news, talking to Laurie Fagin about the lack of markings on the multi-user path (MUP) that runs along the north side of Scott Street and Albert Street.” Is it a bike path?” was the theme of the story. (It’s OK, you can listen to the radio today, it is Eric-free). Long time readers may recall that last May or June I reported that the City decided to paint a yellow line down the path to clearly indicate that it is … Continue reading BikeWest

Claridge, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, Uncategorized3 Comments

Pooley’s Bridge quietly re-opened

Westsideaction

  Above: a pic of Polley’s Bridge as seen from Fleet Street, beside the new Claridge condos on leBreton Flats. The City closed the Bridge  for several years as Claridge used Fleet as a construction staging site for the new condos. Then in June last year, it became possible to cross the bridge going west provided you were willing to follow a narrow goat trail along the tailrace, skirting the construction site for the yellow-brick tower, to join the path built two years ago at the base of the first part of the building. Much more promptly this year, Claridge has … Continue reading Pooley’s Bridge quietly re-opened

Bayview Otrain, bike path, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, O-Train1 Comment

O-Train Cycle Path makes progress

Westsideaction

A version of this post appeared earlier this week at www.SpacingOttawa.ca. ______________________________________________________ The City has an amazing bureaucratic machine. It spends most of its time and resources promising, planning, and budgeting. All of that mental heavy lifting seems to leave it quite exhausted, but, sometimes, just sometimes, it surprises by making something actually appear “on the ground”. There is a multipurpose path (MUP) (aka a bike path) proposed to run along side the O-Train corridor. Parts of it, south of Young Street, have existed since 1963. This year, Council decided to fund an underpass under Somerset, which is the last big … Continue reading O-Train Cycle Path makes progress

801 Albert, Albert St, Bayview, Bayview Otrain, bike path, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, design, DOTT, LeBreton Flats, O-Train, OLRT, ottawa river, Prince of Wales Bridge, sidewalks, Transit, Uncategorized10 Comments

LRT Stations: (part iii) Bayview Station

Westsideaction

The Bayview Station is quite complex to describe compared to Tunney’s or Hurdman. Basically, it is a long thin platform built atop an earthen embankment, pretty much where the bus shelters are now. But rather than have sloping pedestrian paths connect to the O-train platform about 16′ lower down, under the overpasses, the City proposes to build an escalator connection at the west end of the new platform that takes users directly down to the O-Train platform. This is a great development for users that transfer.  What complicates the Bayview Station is that it is in the middle of an … Continue reading LRT Stations: (part iii) Bayview Station