All pedestrians complain at the roller coaster sidewalks Ottawa inflicts on pedestrians. No driveway is too small or too seldom used that it can’t have a dip in the sidewalk.

I had hoped that with the reconstruction of West Wellington, Somerset, Preston, and other streets with new wider sidewalks that maybe, just maybe, pedestrians could come first. But alas, no, the old patterns reappear even when there is no functional reason. Look at the sidewalk in the picture above. It is set back about 10 feet from the curb, but it still slopes down to a dip. Why can’t a car climb up six inches (the height of the curb and sidewalk above the street surface) over a length of ten feet? Because then the pedestrian sidewalk would be flat and level and useful … but not subservient to the almighty automobile. I could take similar pictures on any local streets.

Puddles, slush puddles, icy sidewalks, dangerous slopes, death sentences to the elderly and infirm … are not regretable by-products of necessity but the deliberate creation of sidewalks by automobile-worshipping city functionaires.