Quote:
Originally Posted by osirisboy
You think a major retail street having curb side parking is "embarrassing"? Ugh
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I do. The Rideau Centre just recently expanded their multi-storey parking garage around the corner from Rideau, and there are at least 2 multi-storey parking garages a block or two away in the Byward Market, followed by the fact that this is right beside an LRT station such that parking on this section of Rideau is completely unnecessary.
We haven't had private vehicles on this stretch of Rideau for several years and it has not had any negative impact on traffic patterns. As well, the Byward Market is notoriously dangerous to get to by bike such that it's pretty much impossible unless you want to be riding in traffic with tonnes of aggresive vehicles, including tractor-trailers. Rideau should have been narrowed and with a segregated bike lane instead of dangerous sharrows, have much wider sidewalks with nice street furniture and vegetation/ trees, and rebuilt this street as a great example of urban design. Instead, we're getting more of this half-baked street for car drivers from the '60s and '70s that you'll find everywhere else in the city.
I could also get into how retail streets don't actually need curbside parking, and that wider sidewalks and bike lanes actually results in businesses doing even better than if it were just parking. It's also problematic when we consider the failure of what is planned for Elgin despite extensive consultations that told them that what they're doing now is not what people want.