Category: O-Train

LRT, O-Train, OLRT9 Comments

OLRT to the Airport — Not

Westsideaction

It appears the City of Ottawa is once again sloughing off easy expansion of the rail infrastructure in favour of more roads to the suburbs. Extending the O-train to Riverside South? Along an existing unused rail right of way? Where fields of houses are the main farm crop? Where long term plans call for rail eventually? Using the 3 Talent trains that are already on hand and soon to be declared surplus? Nahh, premature to consider such expansion. And of course, the line would go right past the Airport but not into it. Someday, there might be a shuttle bus from the airport … Continue reading OLRT to the Airport — Not

Claridge, condos, hintonburg, housing policy, infill, intensificatioin, O-Train, somerset street10 Comments

Claridge application for 1050 Somerset West

Westsideaction

Claridge is proposing a new condo tower for their site at Breezehill and Somerset Streets, just west of the O-Train corridor. The site is between Devonshire school and Somerset, in the old Chinese market store (which was Acklands AutoSupply before that). (Pending zoning approvals etc the store is being renovated and rented out to a dollar store). Immediately to the west of the site is a four storey red brick office building, opposite that is the 18 storey residential tower that looks like it might date from the sixties or early seventies. Here in a nutshell is the neighborhood context: The left picture, a … Continue reading Claridge application for 1050 Somerset West

Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, City Centre, condos, cycling in Ottawa, design, infill, intensificatioin, O-Train, somerset street15 Comments

Lonely house on the parking lot

Westsideaction

The area along the O-Train corridor has undergone lots of changes from its original industrial beginnings. Occasionally, an old building survives. Notice that it has a real slate roof, there are few houses or buildings left in our neighborhood with slate roofs. In this case, it probably was to provide additional fire proofing from the sparks that flew out of the many steam engines in the area. David Jeanes tells me this may have been the home of Ottawa Stair Works. Probably built right after the Great Fire in 1902, the building then faced Somerset Street which was not yet elevated up on the … Continue reading Lonely house on the parking lot

125 Hickory, 855 Carling, Bayview-Carling CDP, Carling Ave, condos, Dows Lake, housing policy, intensificatioin, O-Train, traffic volume, Uncategorized, Young street23 Comments

The Dog Shelter Condos – Is Ashcroft Serious?

Westsideaction

The Champagne Avenue area — immediately west of the O-Train near Carling Avenue — has been a hotbed for developers recently. Domicile built two red brick mid-rise condo towers and some townhouses at the southwest corner near Carling Avenue.  He has another one – Hom – starting at the corner of Hickory and Champagne. Starwood Mastercraft has the vacant lot at the NE corner of Hickory and Champagne, where they are building two towers, about 16 floors high, the Soho Champagne. Here is an aerial view of the neighborhood, taken from somewhere above the soon-to-be-demolished Sir John Carling Building (which should instead … Continue reading The Dog Shelter Condos – Is Ashcroft Serious?

Albert St, Bayview, Bayview Otrain, bike path, bikewest, cycling in Ottawa, Dalhousie, DOTT, intensificatioin, interprovincial transit study, LRT, O-Train, OLRT, ottawa river, Uncategorized10 Comments

Bayview Station (final)

Westsideaction

The saga of the amazing perambulating Bayview Station is nearing completion. Recall that the station has been proposed in various scales, sizes, and locations. Well, the final plan is available exclusively to readers here. Bayview Station is back to being “on the structure” of the transitway bridge over the O-Train cut (yes, I know, the O-train isn’t in a cut, it’s on the level, it’s the road that is elevated, but  such is our road-focussed society that the road becomes the normal level, and the flat becomes the hole…). The new station is in the same style as the majority of other proposed LRT stations. … Continue reading Bayview Station (final)

801 Albert, Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Bayview-Carling CDP, bike path, bikewest, City Centre, Claridge, Dalhousie, design, DOTT, hintonburg, infill, intensificatioin, LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC, O-Train, OLRT, ottawa river, Phoenix DCR Developments, Scott street, Transit, Uncategorized, Walnut Court, west wellington9 Comments

Sim-City model: Bayview-carling CDP

Westsideaction

The City has been sporadically doing up a CDP (Community Design Plan) (which is a plan of dubious effectiveness under the Official Plan) for the O-Train corridor running from Bayview Station to Carling Avenue. Residents frequently ascribe its tardiness to a desire on the part of the City to see all the developable land purchased and rezoned before the plan is drawn up. In that way, the city won’t have to continually amend it. The City is committed to having CDPs done for all the stations along the OLRT. Having seen some of the in-progress ones I’d have to say they are better than nothing.  At least they … Continue reading Sim-City model: Bayview-carling CDP

Albert St, Bayview Otrain, bike path, bikewest, Carling Ave, City Centre, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, design, Gladstone, LRT, NCC, O-Train, oc Transpo, OLRT, parks, Scott street, surface water, Uncategorized6 Comments

Planning the O-Train bike path

Westsideaction

Okay, so it’s not really a “bike path”, the City doesn’t have any of those. We have MUPs, or Multi User Paths, which are shared by cyclists, dog walkers, parents with wailers, grannies with yappers, kids alone,  etc. (It makes an interesting contrast: on roads, cyclists are told to play nicely with cars, buses, and tractor-trailers going 70km; off road, cyclists are sent to play with various pedestrian folks). I’m on the PAC (public advisory committee) for the O-Train path that will eventually run from the Ottawa River pathways south to Dow’s Lake. The City will construct the section from Bayview Station to Somerset (or maybe … Continue reading Planning the O-Train bike path

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, bike path, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, LRT, O-Train, oc Transpo, OLRT5 Comments

Bike shelter at Bayview Station

Westsideaction

OC TRANSPO has installed the new bike shelter at Bayview Station. It does not have a glass wall on the “back” side of it, but nor is the back side readily accessible for cyclists while there is loose dirt/mud. Presumably, if no glass back wall is installed, and the grass grows, some cyclists can use the rack from the back side but at the cost of losing out on the roof. Is it safe to suggest this is another one-sided front-in only bike shelter? In which case, it holds six bikes. After we spend millions on the new Bayview LRT and indoor-transfer-by-escalator to the … Continue reading Bike shelter at Bayview Station

Bayview, bike path, cycling in Ottawa, DOTT, LeBreton Flats, LRT, NCC, O-Train, OLRT, pedestrians, Richmond road, sidewalks11 Comments

How “secure” (or disruptive…) will the OLRT be?

Westsideaction

        We are in the process of replacing the transitway with LRT. In the Scott Street cut, this won’t matter much. But at either end of the cut, it matters a lot. The City is preaching two totally opposed messages on how the track will interact with the community.  On LeBreton Flats, they claim that anyone getting near the tracks will be imminent mortal danger so great that six foot high chain link fences will be constructed on both sides of the tracks. For pedestrian safety, of course. So there will be no crossing of the tracks through the Flats.  City staff … Continue reading How “secure” (or disruptive…) will the OLRT be?

Chinatown, design, hintonburg, little Italy, O-Train, sidewalks, somerset street, Uncategorized, west side culture, west wellington

Public art for Somerset Street

Westsideaction

The City has a “percent for art” whereby a percentage of capital (construction) costs of projects is to be spent on public art. West siders will be familiar with public art sculptures on Preston (postcards from the piazzas), West Wellie (marble fire hydrants), and Bank Street (the bike racks). So now it is the turn for the current Somerset construction projects running from Bayswater to Preston, and the Preston to Booth Street sections. The City combined the two projects in order to afford a larger art installation. The City encouraged artists to employ lighting. Community input suggested that the slope eastbound up from Preston into Chinatown … Continue reading Public art for Somerset Street

bike path, cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, O-Train, somerset street, Uncategorized5 Comments

Tunnel goes underground

Westsideaction

Faithful readers will have seen earlier posts showing the excavation under the Somerset Viaduct, the placing of the new multi-user path underpass precast sections, and most recently, their waterproofing. Here’s what’s been happening lately: This version of the Canadarm pumps cement right to where the workers want it, when cement mixers cannot get close enough. The arm reached right over the hole, and down the outside of the viaduct walls, to pump cement into reinforcing walls on the exterior of the viaduct: Meanwhile, on the inside of the viaduct, workers installed the last of the tunnel waterproofing and drainage pipes, and … Continue reading Tunnel goes underground

cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, O-Train, somerset street2 Comments

Update on Somerset bike underpass

Westsideaction

Recall that a bike underpass is being constructed where Somerset crosses the O-Train tracks. Once the tunnel sections were installed, bolted together, then the roof had to be waterproofed: A red coating was painted onto the concrete using rollers. Then workers attached Blueskin to cover each joint between the precast tunnel sections. Quite a rough chopped out hole was made through the 12′ thick Somerset viaduct walls for the tunnel pieces to fit. That space was reinforced, rebars tidied up, and pumped full of cement, now making a handy tool shelf for the workers: At the south end of the tunnel, a worker is starting … Continue reading Update on Somerset bike underpass

cycling in Ottawa, cyclopiste de preston, O-Train2 Comments

First tunnel segments go under Somerset

Westsideaction

Recall that there is a pedestrian-cyclist tunnel under construction. The tunnel will take users under Somerset Street, parallel to the O-Train. Segments of the pre-cast tunnel were delivered today. Each giant precast block of concrete has a female and male “end”. There are holes cast in the tunnel segments to tie them all together and some holes in the sides which will have pins that hold them to the concrete reataining walls of the viaduct. The first piece installed is the north portal. It got its inside leading edge a bit crumbled in the process (visible on the far left of … Continue reading First tunnel segments go under Somerset

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, DOTT, O-Train, oc Transpo, OLRT, sidewalks, Uncategorized4 Comments

Preventive maintenance vs replacement

Westsideaction

The Bayview O-train station is only “temporary”, but like many temporary things in the City, it has a long “temporary” life. Constructed in 2001, there are long sloping pedestrian walkways connecting the O-Train and Bus platforms. The asphalt paths were laid on gravel base, but with no “shoulder” of gravel. Instead, the gravel slopes away right from the edge of the asphalt. I am sure someone dutifully looked up the correct slope in some engineering table, and that the gravel would be stable and not erode. Except … Except the stability of gravel on a slope depends on there being no load … Continue reading Preventive maintenance vs replacement

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

Carling Ave, CDP, Claridge, condos, design, DOTT, downtown, Dows Lake, housing policy, intensificatioin, LRT, O-Train, OLRT, Scott street, Soho Italia, Transit27 Comments

March of the High Rises

Westsideaction

The City has recently seen a spate of high rise applications and project announcements. Claridge has a number of downtown high rises in the high 20- storey range: beside Bell Canada, on Nepean and Gloucester, and on Queen at Lyon (currently Barbarella’s and a parking lot). There are taller applications too. The first out of the gate* was Soho Italia, proposed for 500 Preston Street near Dow’s Lake. The Soho Italia structure is notable for several features: most of the parking garage is above grade (about 7 stories of it) clad in a perforated black metal screen; the building rises straight up occupying all of … Continue reading March of the High Rises

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

Bayview, Bayview Otrain, Bluesfest, Booth St, NCC, O-Train8 Comments

Preston Extension open (for how long…)

Westsideaction

Recall that last week the Preston extension (running north from Albert to a legal crosswalk over the transitway to NCC paths along the River) was suddenly gated and locked. We still don’t know for sure who did it, but the NCC seems willing to take the hit. Then, the next day the gate was open. I am told that the chain/lock were cut rather than unlocked. On Tuesday evening, the path received heavy use for patrons heading out to Bluesfest, where they could catch The Long Waits and The NeverEnding Lineups. About dusk I headed out to check out the route. Upon first seeing … Continue reading Preston Extension open (for how long…)

Carleton U, DOTT, LRT, O-Train, oc Transpo, OLRT15 Comments

O-Train fast track

Westsideaction

After years of ignoring the O-Train (as Chiarelli’s baby it was “thrown out” with the Mayor who drew the bath water); it is finally back on Council’s agenda. Council is looking at some significant service improvements: 8 minute frequency (starting in 2014) rather than 15-minute headway now. This comes with a significant cost: buying six new train sets and selling off the existing Talent train sets in 2014 that would be nearly half-way through their lifespan. The City can make a business case for doing the upgrade, based on several factors: the  current O-train is at- or over-capacity and apparently cannot be made to run faster; … Continue reading O-Train fast track

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

Bayview, design, DOTT, downtown, LeBreton Flats, LRT, O-Train, OLRT18 Comments

LRT Stations Revealled (part i)

Westsideaction

The design for the Ottawa LRT stations will be shown below. In this post, there will be the inspiration for the Ottawa design, then some initial Ottawa designs both at the surface and in the tunnel sections. In following posts, there will be the detailed station design and layout and approaches to the Tunney’s, Bayview, and LeBreton Stations. Finally, there will be the Rideau Station and Hurdman. So stow your tables, put your seat backs upright, buckle up, here we go: Interior decorators call it the “inspiration shot”, the picture of some other project that captures some of what we want to emulate. The above … Continue reading LRT Stations Revealled (part i)

Bayview, DOTT, downtown, LRT, O-Train, Transit8 Comments

Western LRT (part v) Choosing the best route

Westsideaction

The Western LRT study outlined in the previous posts assumes there will be a WLRT and a separate local LRT along Carling should one of the non-Carling routes be chosen for the WLRT. But could the two services be combined? If one of the northern corridors is chosen for the Western LRT, then the TMP identifies Carling as the route for a supplementary LRT corridor. Thus the political process has pre-selected the mode, it is up to the engineers to make it work and be financially viable. If Carling is the route of the Western LRT, then a supplmentary transit service would be required in the northern corridor, … Continue reading Western LRT (part v) Choosing the best route

Carling Ave, DOTT, LRT, O-Train1 Comment

Western LRT (part ii)

Westsideaction

The study team considered many options for getting from Bayview to Lincoln Fields (and eventually to Colleqe Square, shown in the drooping panhandle line on the far left, which is common to every option). The city study team has now ruled out a number of the options shown above. First, they sought out “fatal flaws” in the potential corridors. This could include pinch points were the corridor becomes too narrow, or turns are too sharp. While the flaws of some corridors were achingly obvious right from the beginning, they were all studied, which prevents someone coming along at a much … Continue reading Western LRT (part ii)