Category: LeBreton Flats

aquaduct, kayaking, LeBreton Flats

Eskimo roll

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The picture above is the outlet below the water pumphouse on the aqueduct that runs through LeBreton Flats. The ped bridge is at the top, the beginning of the kayaking course is at the bottom. The water course is variously known as the Tailrace, or Bronson Creek (until the last decade the creek was actually the private property of the Bronson Corporation). There are three signs in the area. Notice one in the lower centre left of the picture above. Here’s a closer up: It says: Combined Sewer Overflow AreaAdverse Water Quality Can Occur I think that is bureaucratic speech … Continue reading Eskimo roll

LeBreton Flats, NCC, ottawa river

Navy Monument Sod Turning

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2010 is the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy. This accounts for all the banners and display panels on Confederation Boulevard and down by the war memorial. A monument is being errected to this anniversary at Richmond Landing, the original origin point of Richmond Road, at the Ottawa River below Chaudiere Falls where the Bronson Creek/Tailrace/Kayak course enters into the Ottawa River. The banners behind the tent are some of the ones decorating Confederation Boulevard. There was a large collection of navy-types there. I haven’t seen this many navy uniforms in decades (a navy brat, I grew up down … Continue reading Navy Monument Sod Turning

LeBreton Flats, NCC, ottawa river

Navy Monument Sod Turning

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2010 is the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy. This accounts for all the banners and display panels on Confederation Boulevard and down by the war memorial. A monument is being errected to this anniversary at Richmond Landing, the original origin point of Richmond Road, at the Ottawa River below Chaudiere Falls where the Bronson Creek/Tailrace/Kayak course enters into the Ottawa River. The banners behind the tent are some of the ones decorating Confederation Boulevard. There was a large collection of navy-types there. I haven’t seen this many navy uniforms in decades (a navy brat, I grew up down … Continue reading Navy Monument Sod Turning

Claridge, condos, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, Richmond road

Archways

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 Ashcroft is proposing a wide two or three storey arch on the north side of its convent development in Westboro. They are proposing an “arched” arch, rather than the very square ones at 200 Lett St (Claridge’s project on LeBreton Flats). The photos above show their north arch. Notice that the road surface and pedestrian walking surface are undifferentiated with so much as a curb or coloured paver. At the midpoint of each Claridge arch is the entrance to the parking garage, so this passageway is sometimes busy with cars. The length of the passageway through the building seems short enough … Continue reading Archways

Claridge, condos, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, Richmond road

Archways

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 Ashcroft is proposing a wide two or three storey arch on the north side of its convent development in Westboro. They are proposing an “arched” arch, rather than the very square ones at 200 Lett St (Claridge’s project on LeBreton Flats). The photos above show their north arch. Notice that the road surface and pedestrian walking surface are undifferentiated with so much as a curb or coloured paver. At the midpoint of each Claridge arch is the entrance to the parking garage, so this passageway is sometimes busy with cars. The length of the passageway through the building seems short enough … Continue reading Archways

Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats

Courtyard in Condo

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This photo looking towards the downtown from the courtyard at 200 Lett Street, the first condo on the Flats. Place de Ville is the blocky building in the background. Phase two of the condo is under construction to the right. At the very back, it is still one floor short of its full podium height. Due to the angle the building sits on the site, the second phase podium has more units than the first, and it turns to partially enclose the back of the courtyard. The second tower, to be clad in yellow brick and some of the same … Continue reading Courtyard in Condo

Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats

LeBreton Flats Condo grows

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The first phase of the first building on LeBreton Flats is towards the left. It includes a six storey podium building of yellow brick with a seven storey glass tower above. The right most wall of the podium was partially unfinished, in order to attach the second phase. The podium portion of the second phase has been poured. Six storeys high, it will be clad in yellow brick like phase one. Windows and exterior walls are being put in place. Plumbing drains have been installed on the first two floors. There will be a seven floor tower on top of … Continue reading LeBreton Flats Condo grows

LeBreton Flats, Preston street, Transit

Future of No 3 bus route

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The City is busy paring back bus services. Residents in the Preston area are probably glad to get back to having the No 3 on Preston again. And in the spring, the bus stops will again have shelters, benches, and trees for shade. Once the bus transitway is converted to LRT service (sheduled for 2017 or so) then the no 3 bus route will follow Preston to Albert to Booth Street and the LeBreton LRT station, then over to Gatineau. It will no longer go to downtown Ottawa. Riders on the north-south routes will be taken to rapid transit stations … Continue reading Future of No 3 bus route

Claridge, condos, hintonburg, infill, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats

West Wellington Condo Mania

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A new condo is planned for 1433 Wellington, a half block east of Island Park Drive. It is almost opposite the recent Domicile building at the corner of Picadilly. The site is currently a small strip mall. I think a new mid-rise condo is a big improvement over the strip mall and worthwhile bit of intensification. The building will have vehicular access from the side facing the Loeb/Metro store. The building exterior is very much in the same style as the building at 200 Lett Street at the corner of Wellington, the first condo built in the current LeBreton Flats … Continue reading West Wellington Condo Mania

Claridge, condos, infill, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats

LeBreton Flats condo grows

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Claridge is busy building the second tower / second half of the first building at 200 Lett Street on LeBreton Flats. Now that the garage levels are in, the swiming pool cast, and the ground floor poured, the remaining floors will pour quickly, maybe one floor per week. The new building will be a seven storey podium of yellow brick, with a tower on the east side going to 14 floors, with an exterior of yellow brick and glass (same glass as first tower, but second tower will read as mostly brick). The architecture or style of this building is … Continue reading LeBreton Flats condo grows

Bayview, DOTT, LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC

Dalhousie Community Assoc responds …

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Wearing my other hat, and with much input from other members of the Dalhousie Community Association board, the DCA sent two letters. One to the Marie Lemay of the NCC regarding the bad idea for bringing Rapibus to Ottawa over the POW bridge; and the other is detailed comments on the current state of the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel study. You can read both of these letters at http://www.dalhousiecommunityassociation.blogspot.com/ Continue reading Dalhousie Community Assoc responds …

Bayview, interprovincial transit study, LeBreton Flats, LRT, Prince of Wales Bridge, Transit

NCC to Quebecers: Back [on the] Bus

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  Proposed modernist Bayview LRT station is elevated and long. The proposed STO bus terminal would be off the left. Click to enlarge photo. Planning in a Federal capital region is not just about good planning on utilitarian “planning’ terms. A good chunk of it is political planning and symbolism too. In the past,  separatist elements in Quebec made hay from the disparate images of the Quebec side of the river (low rise, lower income housing, industrial mills) and the Ottawa side of the river (shiny high rises set high on a green hill). They drew a direct line to the … Continue reading NCC to Quebecers: Back [on the] Bus

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

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

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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

Bayview, Bluesfest, LeBreton Flats, Library, NCC, O-Train

Lansdowne Live

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Some misc observations on Lansdowne Live, and in particular the meeting last night at arena Tom Brown arena. 1. Opponents are well organized, sporting custom printed apparel and carry bags (made of recycled hemp, I hope) and handing out reams of photocopied green paper that may have required the souls of every tree in the Glebe. Of course, the Glebe trees are still there (at least along Ralph and Percy when I walked up those streets yesterday) so trees from some other place were sacrificed. Sacrificing somewhere else seems a common theme. 2. The green shirters took off their shirts … Continue reading Lansdowne Live

aquaduct, Dalhousie, LeBreton Flats, Nature, Wildlife

Twilight on the Aquaduct and the … come out to play

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A number of earlier posts show damage caused to large trees in the LeBreton Flats area. The Dalhousie neighborhood hosts a surprising number of animals and birds. These two twilights shots show the local vampires, err, beaver out to prey on unsuspecting urbanites. In the photo with a fine stone-arch bridge in the background, the beaver can be jut seen in the right foreground. Click picture to enlarge. The second picture shows him up close … he was about 20 feet away from me and curious about the flash on my camera. After several shots, he dove leaving only a … Continue reading Twilight on the Aquaduct and the … come out to play

Albert St, bike path, bikewest, Booth St, LeBreton Flats, LRT

More on Bike West – part vii

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The story of BikeWest began at the point where the transitway meets Albert-Slater where they split in front of the Good Companions centre just west of Bronson. It began there because the block between the split and Bronson used converted bus lanes which won’t be required once the downtown LRT is built and BRT is suspended. For all points west of the Albert-Slater split, BikeWest does not use any street lanes but is a separate route all the way west to Dominion Avenue using the City-owned right of way on the north side of Albert and Scott Streets. Alternative Route … Continue reading More on Bike West – part vii

Bayview, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, LeBreton Flats

BikeWest – part iii – from Booth to Bayview

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Above: looking west from Preston, approaches to the Bayview Station area From Booth, the BikeWest bike road would continue as a two-way road separated from the car traffic by a curb and possibly a boulevard, and coloured pavement, with a raised sidewalk to the side of the bike road, all the way west to Bayview Station. Note that the City already owns the right of way along the side of Albert to Bayview, it is where they buried a high-pressure water pipe and where a vague multipurpose paved path was installed two years ago. The path will pass between the existing Dalhousie … Continue reading BikeWest – part iii – from Booth to Bayview

Albert St, bike path, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, LeBreton Flats1 Comment

BikeWest – part ii – from Bronson to the transitway

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The current transitway carries buses across LeBreton Flats and links them onto Albert Street (westbound) and Slater Street (eastbound) where Albert-Slater split, in front of the Good Companions Centre, located half way between Bronson and Booth Street. Above: The Albert-Slater split, where the transitway begins/ends, by the Good Companions Centre. Slater, on the right, was originally built expressly for streetcar traffic to access the downtown. Both Albert and Slater have dedicated bus-only lanes from the split right into the downtown core. These lanes will not be required for buses once the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT) is constructed and the … Continue reading BikeWest – part ii – from Bronson to the transitway

Albert St, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, Dalhousie, LeBreton Flats, Scott street, westbike

Coming soon: BikeWest

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Starting Sunday or Monday I will deviate a bit from my catch-all blogging and post a multipart series on a project to improve the cycling experience from the downtown to Westboro. At the end of the series (next Friday?), the entire post will be available, with photos, as a single document, for anyone upon request to my email or to via comments on the blog (be sure to include your email address explicitly stated, it won’t show up even to me when you submit comments to the blog). Continue reading Coming soon: BikeWest

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, LeBreton Flats, O-Train, oc Transpo, pedestrians

Otrain “temporary” station at Bayview

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When the OTrain service began in 2001 it was a “temporary” experiment to see if Ottawan’s would like a train. That the service – derrided as being from nowhere to nowhere – quickly exceeded its longer time ridership projections was a pleasant surprise. Today it carries 50% more riders than the optimistic forecast. Still, being an experiment and all, the stations were designed to be “temporary”. Bayview Station was no exception. The City engineers designed the paved paths with steeply sloping gravel sides. No doubt their text books and tables told them that these would be “stable”. Of course, in … Continue reading Otrain “temporary” station at Bayview

Bayview Otrain, interprovincial transit study, LeBreton Flats, little Italy, LRT, O-Train, Prince of Wales Bridge6 Comments

Light Rail and the SW (OTrain) route

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I am constantly amazed at what I hear about light rail planning in the City. I have to conclude it doesn’t matter what happens, people will simple reinterpret it (twist it) to fit their own preconceived agenda. It is part of the hyper-partisan-ization of our society that I find distressing. There was a SW transit plan under Mayor Chiarelli. It ran on street surface in the downtown, accross the Flats and Dalhousie neighborhoods,  and turned south at Bayswater, ran along the OTrain line, managed to miss the airport, to Riverside,  to the new Strandherd Bridge over the Rideau and thence … Continue reading Light Rail and the SW (OTrain) route

Albert St, Bayview, City Centre, Dalhousie, Empress St, LeBreton Flats, O-Train, Preston street, Scott street, somerset street, streetscaping4 Comments

Bayview re-landscaped

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Looking east on Albert as it goes over the OTrain Boulevard trees, west side of Bayview seen from Scott Curious curb jogs, seen from Somerset looking north Field of Trees, between TomBrown Arena and Albert Sometimes the City makes me very happy. Like when I see the amount of generous landscaping going in along Bayview Avenue between Somerset and Albert/Scott. For several years the City waterworks people have been burying high pressure water mains in the area. Approx.where the sidewalk is shown in picture 4 & 5 is the route of the pipeline. There was a bare grassy lawn running from Tom … Continue reading Bayview re-landscaped

LeBreton Flats, little Italy, Preston street1 Comment

Preston Street meteorite identified ?

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The large stone-like lump arrived on Preston Street near Albert earlier this week. Its about 2m on each dimension, and very heavy. – It has no handle, ductwork, conduits, cables, bolt holes, or other humanly useful features. Why on earth would someone have made this giant lump of concrete? Or maybe no one on earth made it … its a meteorite made of Luigite ! Continue reading Preston Street meteorite identified ?

Claridge, condos, LeBreton Flats1 Comment

Blinding Urban Development

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It’s not often that I feel dazzled by the Claridge condo at 200 Lett Street on the Flats, but this sunset corrected that. BYW, the condo finally has a street number near the front door, but curiously confuses the viewer by showing the street number but not the street name, instead it is accompanied by the NCC marketing phrase LeBreton Flats. It’s not really 200 LeBreton Flats, it’s 200 Lett Street. Continue reading Blinding Urban Development

Cdn War Museum, green roofs, LeBreton Flats

Greenroofs – CWM

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The bottom photo shows the lower roof of the Cdn War Museum green roof. The grass is green. Further up the slope, beyond the admin offices with the gorgeous views of the River, the green roof is decidedly brown. – There is a N/S bicycle and foot path up the centre point of the museum which takes you to the roof and down the other side. The views are interesting. The path is supposedly open whenever the museum is open (there is a locked gate other times) but I often see it locked mid-day. If you are lucky and see … Continue reading Greenroofs – CWM