Albert St, aquaduct, bike path, Booth St, Claridge, condos, design, DOTT, Fleet Street, LeBreton Flats, LRT, OLRT, Preston street6 Comments

LRT Stations (part iv) LeBreton

Westsideaction

There is currently a bus transitway station at LeBreton Flats. The proposed LRT station is essentially at the same location, except it extends further west under Booth Street and is a few feet south of the current station, allowing room for landscaping and breathing space between it and the aqueduct. On the aerial photo above, note also the pedestrian crossing of the aqueduct off to the left side of the picture, this is the old Broad Street right of way and ped bridge. The site analysis drawing, above, shows the proximity of the current LeBreton residential neighborhood. Blue arrows show view planes, but both are rather curiously … Continue reading LRT Stations (part iv) LeBreton

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, bikewest, design, DOTT, LRT, OLRT, Scott street, Transit, Uncategorized15 Comments

LRT Stations Revealled (part ii) Tunney’s Pasture

Westsideaction

Tunney’s Pasture is the interm western end of the initial LRT system. At Tunney’s, riders will transfer from bus rapid transit on the transitway to LRT to go through the downtown and then on to Blair Road in the East. Tunney’s is the second largest employment node in the City, and will triple in size over the next few decades. At some point the LRT service will extend west of Tunney’s to Lincoln Fields and then out to College Square. The new LRT station will replace the existing bus station at Tunney’s, down in the cut. The train track will extend a few meters west … Continue reading LRT Stations Revealled (part ii) Tunney’s Pasture

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)

Dalhousie, hintonburg, parking, parks14 Comments

Ottawa District Parking Board

Westsideaction

This is the view of the south side of Devonshire School, taken from the rear lane. The very old (historic??) chain link fence has been removed in preparation for the Ottawa Carleton District School Parking Board paving the tiny strip of grass that formerly separated the paved yard from the paved laneway. The playspace, which until last week was the site of parent-paid-for tether ball posts, the Board wants to convert into parking spaces for the staff. I really must commend the board for their economy, saving money on building parking spaces (then provided free to staff) by converting a children’s play yard. … Continue reading Ottawa District Parking Board

downtown1 Comment

Exciting Downtown Ottawa

Westsideaction

During the years I pretended to work downtown, I could count on some periodic excitement since the UNHCR was next door and was regularly subject of street demonstrations. An hour ago, it was rather like old times cycling back from City Hall via the Library to come across this demo. The ambulance was there to load up a yellow striped officer. It arrived in a bloody hurry but was reluctant to leave the excitement. On the west side, with the green and black flags, Libyan rebels. On the east side, with green flags and the portraits of the dictator with clenched … Continue reading Exciting Downtown Ottawa

Uncategorized10 Comments

No water shortage here…

Westsideaction

Across the street from me, there is a housing coop for active adults over 55. They water their driveways pretty much every day. They either want the asphalt to grow, or have some sort of cleaning fetish. In the photo above, the guy is pressure washing his driveway at the same time as it rains. His behaviour is not odd on this street, his neighbours do this too. What explains this? The desire of older men to play with water? Boredom? Or is it because the water is almost “free”? In this co-op, the water is bulk-metered, so it’s cheaper … Continue reading No water shortage here…

intensificatioin, LRT, Uncategorized16 Comments

Intensification follows LRT

Westsideaction

Throughout the LRT planning process the City and its consultants have been showing walking radii around the proposed stations. These radii are more than just the convenient five-minute walk zone around the station. They will also be where the City will encourage transit oriented development (TOD). Most residents get the five-minute walk radius. Judging by questions and comments I hear at LRT meetings, they have much less understanding of TOD. Some clearly think it only applies to vacant lots. If there are few or no vacant lots, there’s no room for highrises, is there? They seem bonded to the present land use, not realizing … Continue reading Intensification follows LRT

Bayview Otrain, DOTT, Transit, Uncategorized4 Comments

Timing the OLRT

Westsideaction

The was some good news on the LRT construction schedule last week. The City announced that the project could be finished a full year earlier than previously announced, ie spring 2018 instead of summer 2019. This is sleight of hand. The City attributes the shorter time line to various design factors. Instead of designing the system 100% in-house, they will do all the preliminary design and then outsource the detailed engineering to the winning bidder. This will allow the winning bidder, according to the city, to be more confident that the design is implementable and covers all the bases. They also have the … Continue reading Timing the OLRT

145 Elm, infill, intensificatioin

145 Elm updated

Westsideaction

At 145 Elm is a 56×100 lot that used to contain just one very small house. Now Sage Developments is constructing 4 very large “shoebox” style houses  on it.There are two at the front, two at the back, and parking for four vehicles in the centre. A number of previous posts showed earlier steps in the construction. Here is the artist’s impression of two finished units: They are very far advanced now. Two have been drywalled; two are still being wired and plumbed. Here are some shots of the framed-in units: Above: A view from the front windows back into the unit, … Continue reading 145 Elm updated

cycling in Ottawa2 Comments

The Bicycle

Westsideaction

While walking over to Art Is In bakery, I saw this bike. The lock has been cut off in a most bizarre way. Here I am fretting over my wobbly bike, and someone has done this to a road-worthly looking bike!  But why cut the bike off the lock and not remove the bike? Is a bike like this even repairable? I find myself thinking of Charles who has a bike wherein the rides separately from the back, joined by some hinged mechanism. Maybe this is the latest trend, the frameless bike? Continue reading The Bicycle

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

DOTT, intensificatioin, LRT, ottawa river, pedestrians, Richmond road, Uncategorized19 Comments

Western LRT (part iv) The River Parkway

Westsideaction

Perhaps the most controversial and divisive suggestion for converting the transitway to LRT concerned the portion along the Ottawa River Parkway. There seems to be a large crowd that is convinced the parkway would be ruined by letting LRT transit users have a view instead of just motorists. Concerns were expressed about destroying green space, the aesthetics of overhead wiring, and the danger to dog walkers from high speed trains. Spectres of high chain link fences demarking the line where it slashed through mature forests … etc etc. Recall that two of the Richmond-Byron options covered in the previous post used tiny bits of the Parkway – from Dominion … Continue reading Western LRT (part iv) The River Parkway

Bayview, DOTT, LRT, ottawa river, Richmond road, Scott street16 Comments

Western LRT (part iii) Richmond-Byron Options

Westsideaction

If the western LRT does not go via Carling Avenue, there is a whole set of options in the Richmond-Byron corridor, shown below: The Churchill-Richmond option had a fatal flaw: too sharp a turn at the corner of Richmond and Churchill. The McRae-Richmond option required redoing the Westboro Station and then entering a short sharp S turn, something that engineers love — NOT. Another McRae option put a President’s Choice station at Loblaws and then turned west under Byron. That tunnel section would have emerged just west of the Westboro Station condo development. Here’s what is left: The Churchill-Byron option digs cut and … Continue reading Western LRT (part iii) Richmond-Byron Options

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)

DOTT, LRT, O-Train, Prince of Wales Bridge, Transit3 Comments

Western LRT (part i)

Westsideaction

Last week, city staff offered some briefings on the western LRT options. Recall that the current downtown Ottawa transit tunnel study, now renamed  Ottawa Light Rail Transit/Tunnel (OLRT), covers that portion from Blair Road in the east to Tunney’s Pasture in the west. However, the first components of the LRT system includes a service from Tunney’s to Lincoln Fields, but under a different Environmental Approval process. The western portion might be completed at the same time as the downtown portion, or shortly thereafter. City council directed that staff consider various options running west from Bayview Station (Council selected Bayview in order to include the O-Train corridor … Continue reading Western LRT (part i)

Fallen Fire Fighters Monument, LeBreton Flats, NCC8 Comments

Rearranging dirt

Westsideaction

  The NCC has started construction on the Firefighters Monument on LeBreton Flats. They scraped off the topsoil first. They stacked the topsoil in a pile, either the better to truck it away, or to store it for reuse later around the monument. But what will they be doing with all the dirt underneath? I would hope they could use it to fill in the bomb crater front yard of the 200 Lett Street condos. At the recent all-candidates debate, it was right to describe the development as flawed. But equally obviously, lots of people DO want to live in buildings … Continue reading Rearranging dirt

Chinatown, sidewalks, somerset street, streetscaping

Chicken pedestrians

Westsideaction

The City will reconstruct Somerset Street West between Booth and Preston later this year. As part of the streetscaping, a number of decorative granite pavers will be inserted into the concrete paver sidewalk. While the final designs haven’t yet been selected, the likely theme will be animals of the Asian zodiacs. In addition to the Chinese zodiac animals, the Vietnamese zodiac has some different characters, so there will be more than twelve designs. Each will be carved into a granite block that is then set flush in the sidewalk. These will be sure to delight children and amuse adults who watch where they … Continue reading Chicken pedestrians

Uncategorized4 Comments

Storm damage

Westsideaction

There are so few large trees left in the City, and the City is determined not to (re)plant large-maturity trees, instead preferring small-size trees. Even in areas with no overhead wiring, or underground utilities, where there is plenty of room for a large tree, new tree stock is generally what I have heard some refer to as “toy trees” or furniture-size trees. As for fruit and nut trees … fergetaboutit. Yesterday I saw this large limb knocked off the tree at the corner of Albert and Commissioner (Bronson) Streets: Continue reading Storm damage

Uncategorized

Primrose Park cleanup

Westsideaction

Local residents have registered a Spring Cleaning project for Saturday, April 30 as part of the city’s “Cleaning the Capital” campaign. Our neighbours are invited to bring their work gloves and join us in the park at the corner of Rochester and Primrose Streets on Saturday, April 30 anytime from 9 AM to 3 PM. We will have cleanup kits, several rakes, and cold drinks on hand. Bring your kids: we’ll clean up the play area first! Rain date is Sunday May 1 but we are sure to have a beautiful sunny day on April 30. Continue reading Primrose Park cleanup

DOTT, LRT, oc Transpo, Transit3 Comments

Electric bus

Westsideaction

I was doing some browsing on the internet to look at bus and transit technologies. This is dangerous for me, as with little knowledge I can be easily mislead. But I did see a few things that interested me, and so I am sharing them here. Shanghai fast charge electric bus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3rg-SsPJuU.  The bus charges at bus stops, when picking up passengers. A pantograph-like device rises from the roof to connect to charged overhead rods. The bus needs ten minutes to fully charge its batteries, which can be spread over several stops. In theory, the bus could run all day without … Continue reading Electric bus

downtown, sidewalks, streetscaping, Trees2 Comments

Well planted trees

Westsideaction

Here’s another bit of Ottawa sidewalk I like. It’s along Place Bell Canada. Notice how well the curbs protect the trees against snowplows, parked objects, construction vehicles and equipment, etc. The tree trunks are thick, the leaf canopy is generous. The trees appear to be happy and growing. What a difference from so many Ottawa trees so obviously struggling hopelessly along the streets. Hey, it’s a sidewalk worth walking on. Continue reading Well planted trees