Category: sidewalks

Bronson, Carling Ave, Chinatown, downtown, Laurier Ave, pedestrians, Preston street, sidewalks, Uncategorized4 Comments

More Empty Parking lots and underused streets

Westsideaction

There are turning moments in the urban paradigm whereby all that was “normal” before gets swept away and is replaced by a new version of “normal”. I think we are in the midst of a paradigm shift to a new normal with respect to parking and streets in central cities. We saw this once in the 70’s when the anti-freeway mobilizers successfully beat down the Spadina Expressway in Toronto. This inspired decades of courage to residents of Canadian cities coast to coast to object to road building. It was only a partial victory of course. Freeways were renamed parkways, or arterials. The Hunt … Continue reading More Empty Parking lots and underused streets

Claridge, condos, pedestrians, Preston street, Primrose, sidewalks, WalkSpace5 Comments

Good neighbours on snowy sidewalks

Westsideaction

Note: this post was originally written for WalkSpace over at www.SpacingOttawa.ca site. I repeat it here just in case you don’t also read Spacing — shame on you! Go subscribe right now! ______________________ Whether or not you enjoy well-plowed winter sidewalks depends on where you live, when you use them, and your neighbours. Sidewalks get a lot of use in the urban bits of the City. Especially where the road is a grid pattern, pedestrians can get from point A to B directly and easily on a route easily understood. The City plows the sidewalks in winter. If you are an early riser … Continue reading Good neighbours on snowy sidewalks

condos, cycling in Ottawa, downtown, Laurier Ave, parking, roads, sidewalks18 Comments

Condo, heal thyself …

Westsideaction

  Part of the controversy about the Laurier Separated Bike Lanes relates to who gets to use the street. According to the Bank Street BIA, it’s for cars and deliveries, period. Less strident but still vocal are the various condo owner and management groups in the core. Let’s look at one downtown condo, Queen Elizabeth towers, and their parking issues. Built in 1975 (left tower, 500 Laurier, 238 units) and 1978 (right tower, 530 Laurier,  217 units)  these 26 storey big block condos are a well known downtown presence. For these 455 units there are 455 parking spaces (according to the building manager’s office), … Continue reading Condo, heal thyself …

Albert St, design, downtown, pedestrians, sidewalks, streetscaping, Uncategorized11 Comments

Who sets the street agenda?

Westsideaction

I spent a little bit of time in Montreal over the holidays. I was struck by several huge differences between Montreal’s treatment of downtown streets vs Ottawa’s. In the following photos, notice that the traffic signal lights are pushed off to the side of the road. Their cases and mounting brackets are dark coloured, and very unobtrusive. They are mounted low, not high in the sky. The pedestrian signals, which are relatively rare in downtown Montreal compared to Ottawa, were mounted snugly close to the traffic signals.     The discreet treatment of traffic signals means that the downtown streets are not dominated or given … Continue reading Who sets the street agenda?

Bayview-Carling CDP, Chinatown, design, pedestrians, Preston street, Primrose, sidewalks, streetscaping, Uncategorized, woonerf6 Comments

Planning exercise (i)

Westsideaction

The photo above is taken a few weeks ago, looking south along Cambridge. Primrose is behind us, Somerset and the new Chinatown Royal Arch is directly ahead. The street looks closed to automobiles, which is the idea. It was reconstructed years ago using the Dutch design principles called a woonerf. Getting closer to the woonerf, it is less constricted than it first appeared. There is, indeed, plenty of room for a car … or truck, or school bus, or fire truck … to get through. The high shrubs and planters deliberately block the view and sight lines, forcing motorists to slow down. It … Continue reading Planning exercise (i)

Booth St, Chinatown, sidewalks, somerset street, streetscaping, Uncategorized

Tex-Mex with a touch of China

Westsideaction

  Somerset Street will be reconstructed from Preston up to Booth next year (city budget permitting). After the underground utilities are replaced, the street gets repaved and new sidewalks, ped lights, trees, benches, garbage cans, the whole shebang gets set up for the next decades. Many of those streetscaping decisions are being made right now, and it is fun being on the committee debating the colour palette of the paving blocks, the crosswalk designs, selecting the benches, etc.  So … what Chinatown should look like is much on my mind. It is rather ironic therefore that the Southern Cross restaurant, which serves tex-mex food from its … Continue reading Tex-Mex with a touch of China

Bronson, cycling in Ottawa, pedestrians, roads, sidewalks, streetscaping, Transit, Trees8 Comments

Public gets chance to Rescue Bronson

Westsideaction

  This flyer is making the rounds of the west side neighborhoods abutting Bronson Avenue. The above photoshopped illustration shows just ONE potential way to improve Bronson so that it meets the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, transit users, adjacent businesses and residents, as well as motorists and commuters. There are alternative ways to improve Bronson so that it makes more people happy. Anyone who travels on or across that blighted street knows that the 1950’s thinking that gave us the current “four lane” urban arterial didn’t work. Yet Ottawa seems on the way to fifty more years of a disfunctional … Continue reading Public gets chance to Rescue Bronson

sidewalks, streetscaping2 Comments

From Ugly Utility to Street Art

Westsideaction

Have you noticed the growing proliferation of utility boxes on our sidewalks? Our engineers call them street furniture, but they are truly obstructions that they don’t dare put on the roadways. Utility functions that used to be down a personhole are more and more often mounted on posts. Those little yellow boxes that used to hold traffic signal controls are now big gray cabinets 6′ high and 3-9 feet wide. And they are always put in the primest locations, at corners, in front of commercial storefronts, etc. I had the opportunity to look inside several utility boxes this summer. The giant gray ones along Preston … Continue reading From Ugly Utility to Street Art

Bronson, cycling in Ottawa, parking, sidewalks, Uncategorized17 Comments

Toronto road diet

Westsideaction

Christie Street in Toronto is painted in different configurations. The southern section is a typical urban arterial, like Bronson: four lanes squeezed into a tight right of way, traffic jostling for position and obviously unattractive to adjacent businesses and residents. The more northerly section has been repainted into a different configuration. There is a painted bike lane between the parking and the travelled road surface. The bike lane is tight up to cars, raising concerns about “the door prize”. Traffic flowed much more smoothly too, with no passing and less stress driving the street. Above: north of Davenport,  Christie is painted with two … Continue reading Toronto road diet

sidewalks, streetscaping, Uncategorized

Acts of faith

Westsideaction

  Some neighbors got together to plant bulbs along Preston. The 200 daffodils and 200 tulips were bought by the Preston BIA and the buying/planting delegated to the Dalhousie Community Assoc. The Somerset Chinatown BIA also bought bulbs to refresh the flower beds along Somerset near Empress. These will be planted in the next week or so. About seven beds were planted along Preston Street. We chose areas with new, smaller shrubs where the soil would be easy to dig up. The bulbs should bloom before the shrubs leaf out. We don’t know if the bigger shrubs will block out too much light for the … Continue reading Acts of faith

pedestrians, sidewalks, streetscaping2 Comments

Posterior sight

Westsideaction

  Getting our traditional mainstreets rebuilt into a more pedestrian and neighborhood friendly format has been a long but ultimately rewarding task. It took eternal vigilance to fight off the naysayers, the city minions who thought facilitating rush hour commuter traffic was the ultimate city goal, those  residents and business people who felt that the highest duty of the city was to provide free storage for private cars … but there were many delightful moments too, and significant victories, and the fine quality of the finished streets is a tribute to all the hard work, coöperation, and trade-offs made over the years. The progress … Continue reading Posterior sight

oc Transpo, sidewalks, Transit1 Comment

Unknown offence

Westsideaction

There’s a big hubabaloo in the Centre of the Universe ™ about arrests without cause (just being in Toronto should have been enough cause for criminal prosecution). Here in Ottawa, we have our own cryptic crimes ™  — see sign above along the “virtual LRT line” (as bus rapid transit is now being rebranded in some cities).  What is the offence? The fine is known, and it indicates the city has its revenue enhancement priorities straight. Safety considerations seem to have been let fade away, however. Continue reading Unknown offence

oc Transpo, sidewalks, Transit

Unknown offence

Westsideaction

There’s a big hubabaloo in the Centre of the Universe ™ about arrests without cause (just being in Toronto should have been enough cause for criminal prosecution). Here in Ottawa, we have our own cryptic crimes ™  — see sign above along the “virtual LRT line” (as bus rapid transit is now being rebranded in some cities).  What is the offence? The fine is known, and it indicates the city has its revenue enhancement priorities straight. Safety considerations seem to have been let fade away, however. Continue reading Unknown offence

sidewalks, streetscaping7 Comments

City discovers flat sidewalks !

Westsideaction

One of my major complaints about Ottawa city sidewalks is that they grovel and contort themselves for the convenience of motorists. They dip low at driveways, so motorists don’t have to rise up to cross the sidwalk, but the pedestrian must go down slope then up slope. Some sidewalks end up looking like roller coasters. These are difficult to keep clear in winter, and every driveway dip turns into a salt and slush puddle or slippery ice surface all winter. Honestly, the city couldn’t have designed a worse sidewalk for pedestrians if their goal is to thwart any pedestrian movement at … Continue reading City discovers flat sidewalks !

sidewalks, streetscaping

City discovers flat sidewalks !

Westsideaction

One of my major complaints about Ottawa city sidewalks is that they grovel and contort themselves for the convenience of motorists. They dip low at driveways, so motorists don’t have to rise up to cross the sidwalk, but the pedestrian must go down slope then up slope. Some sidewalks end up looking like roller coasters. These are difficult to keep clear in winter, and every driveway dip turns into a salt and slush puddle or slippery ice surface all winter. Honestly, the city couldn’t have designed a worse sidewalk for pedestrians if their goal is to thwart any pedestrian movement at … Continue reading City discovers flat sidewalks !