Earl Grey Drive Extension Project

[skyscraperaccount]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

I think this opens the possibility of eventually closing the Roland Michener/Didsbury intersection so that it's only right turns in and out. The Terry Fox/Campeau intersection is so close to the highway interchange that when it gets bottled up with traffic they'll probably need that distance to hold traffic volumes in the future.

I also think that extending the O-Train past Terry Fox will be very unlikely when the arena moves downtown, at least for many decades. A Transitway style link via Roger Nielsen would make a lot of sense.

Take the 'savings' and run the LRT down/along TF to the Kanata Tech area/Innovation station

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

Can we just get a simple, 1.2m wide, grade-separated bike lane, approaching the intersection in a straight line alongside the sidewalk, with a simple curb depression adjacent to the sidewalk, and then a painted lane through the intersection, with a small bike signal either attached to, or just adjacent to the walk signal. I've seen one jurisdiction (is it Montreal? New York? with small red/yellow/green bulbs just above the button to cross) Is that too much to ask? Or are we solving for side-swipes by making cost and headache a bigger issue.

Sure, but having no separation from parallel car traffic put cyclists at greater risk of right-hook collisions.

The intersections you're referring to as "zig-zaggy" are based on Dutch intersection designs- they have a pretty good record on this stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlAp...l=BicycleDutch

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

My view on bike infrastructure is easy: Put bike infrastructure where it is the safest and most useful, period.

Why does there need to be full segregated bike-tracks at BOTH Terry Fox at Roland Michener/Didsbury AND under Terry Fox? Is it simply because there is a road rebuild happening, and therefore, based on the ideology that ALL road rebuilds NEED to be built as ‘Complete Streets’, both need to have everything.

I've previously said that I'm not sure if the project is worth it so I don't feel the need to defend all of its details. However, Google Maps seems to show that the Terry Fox/Roland Michener intersection is the one place along the entire length of Terry Fox Dr where there are no bike lanes. Since this project likely requires modifications to the intersection anyway (to deal with increased volumes turning onto/off of Didsbury) they are fixing that missing link. IIRC, separated cycle tracks are cheaper than on-street bike lanes because they don't require making the entire road bed wider.

If I’m riding west through the unhospitable ‘Jumble-Mall’ that is Kanata Centrum, it is very unlikely that I will detour to take an underpass of Terry Fox just so that I can be redirected back to it. I’d already be mixing with traffic in a dangerous parking lot environment that has ZERO bike infrastructure. I would head to Herlihey to get to Campeau. There are already bike lanes there.

Getting from Earl Grey to Herlihey (whether on a bike or in car) is exceedingly difficult at most times of the day, which probably forms a lot of the justification of the underpass project in the first place.

In any event, I see benefits in providing a safe cycling route from the west, under Terry Fox and into the Centrum. If this road project is going ahead, it should accommodate cyclists, and I'm glad the new design does.

Once this is complete, a cyclist from the Arcadia neighbourhood can take cycle tracks along Campeau, turn onto Didsbury W, then turn onto Earl Grey and pass under Terry Fox directly into the Centrum. This avoids the busy and bike lane-less Campeau/Terry Fox intersection. Buses on route 62 will probably also follow a similar route, saving several minutes.

The suggestion that the project cost has jumped by $20M because of cycling facilities is ridiculous. It's more likely that is related to the 30 years of construction cost inflation.

[ponyboycurtis]

Man, the things that this city puts priority too are a bit of a headscratcher.

If anyone is familiar with McCarthy dr. between Paul Anka and Walkley.. just before the the railroad tracks last summer they installed a half dozen of these weird concrete bumper things in the painted bike lane? Literally just cigar tube shaped islands that didn't connect to the curb. Not weird at all.

Well guess that they did this summer.. removed them and paved over.

Can I please get some of that mafia concrete money in my pocket?

I feel like if i got hired as head city manager I could keep a quart of whisky in my desk like Don Draper and instantly out perform all these losers.

[vtecyo]

Originally Posted by ponyboycurtis

Man, the things that this city puts priority too are a bit of a headscratcher.

If anyone is familiar with McCarthy dr. between Paul Anka and Walkley.. just before the the railroad tracks last summer they installed a half dozen of these weird concrete bumper things in the painted bike lane? Literally just cigar tube shaped islands that didn't connect to the curb. Not weird at all.

Well guess that they did this summer.. removed them and paved over.

Can I please get some of that mafia concrete money in my pocket?

I feel like if i got hired as head city manager I could keep a quart of whisky in my desk like Don Draper and instantly out perform all these losers.

Are you sure about the location? There's no painted bike lane on McCarthy - at least I didn't see one last year or this year. According to Google streetview as of Oct 2024 there's no sign of concrete bumpers either...
Google Streetview

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by vtecyo

Are you sure about the location? There's no painted bike lane on McCarthy - at least I didn't see one last year or this year. According to Google streetview as of Oct 2024 there's no sign of concrete bumpers either...
Google Streetview

Yes, there's a not about the change here in the end of this post:
https://hansonthebike.com/2025/07/17...s-ottawa-july/

The issue is that it is not officially a painted lane, but it looks like one so it is used as one.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Yes, there's a not about the change here in the end of this post:
https://hansonthebike.com/2025/07/17...s-ottawa-july/

The issue is that it is not officially a painted lane, but it looks like one so it is used as one.

Wow. I hope those geniuses from "JP2G Consultants" won't be hired again.



No need to invent the wheel, just install flexiposts on the painted line every hundred meters.

[harls]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

No need to invent the wheel, just install flexiposts on the painted line every hundred meters.

Something like this?

[zzptichka]

That's probably too much to ask from our broke-ass city. More like this. Middle lane one is optional.

[Richard Eade]

Why does the City need to use the most disruptive methods to get things built? The Earl Grey extension project will cause traffic chaos on Terry Fox for at least two years. Instead, it should be done with a ‘Top-Down’ approach.

At night, drill and pour concrete to create Secant Walls for the underpass. These holes should be covered by metal plates during the day so that all lanes remain available for the business activity. The re-bar cages should be prebuilt during the day so that they can be quickly moved into place by crane at night.

The concrete deck can be cast in place by excavating only what is needed for the deck thickness. The remaining ground would support the deck as it is cast. With the Secant Walls already in place, creating the deck should take little more time than it takes to cure. Then the road surface is reinstated. (If shutting down the entire road for a month, or so, is not possible, it can be done in two, or more, sections.)

Once the concrete work is done for the structure, the underpass would be excavated beneath the traffic flowing above. At that point, it doesn’t matter if it takes another year and a half to finalize the Earl Grey extension.

[vtecyo]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Wow. I hope those geniuses from "JP2G Consultants" won't be hired again.



No need to invent the wheel, just install flexiposts on the painted line every hundred meters.

Wow... that's... I can see why it was removed quickly. I swear I rode down that street a few times in the last year - but I never noticed them.

I must not have noticed because I usually ride through there on the sidewalk as if it was a MUP.

[harls]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

That's probably too much to ask from our broke-ass city. More like this. Middle lane one is optional.

The school near my place installs these bollards in the middle of summer when school is out, after they paint the road with children's non toxic crap that dissipates come November.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

Wow. I hope those geniuses from "JP2G Consultants" won't be hired again.



No need to invent the wheel, just install flexiposts on the painted line every hundred meters.

Flexiposts are a great quick fix, but they should be seen as just that - a temporary quick fix while we await a more permanent solution. This seems to be one attempt at that more permanent solution.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Flexiposts are a great quick fix, but they should be seen as just that - a temporary quick fix while we await a more permanent solution. This seems to be one attempt at that more permanent solution.

It appears they forgot what they wanted to solve in the process.

[OTownandDown]

In principle, I fully agree with you.

However: Terry Fox and the 417 is in no-way Dutch. Just shoehorning this design into a north american stroad is perhaps NOT the way to go?

How about the further Dutch design of a cycle track 10 feet from the road itself? For the intersection, I don't know.. tunnels? lol

But I do know that I'd be approaching the intersections at either side of the 417, downhill, at 25-30km/hr, and if its a green light, I will swear outloud at the people who designed and built something that requires me to choose: Dangerously Swerve at speed through the pedestrian sidewalks, TWSI plates, etc.? or Jump the Curbs at speed. The third alternative, to slow down and navigate the paths correctly, losing momentum on such a monotonous and long bike ride would be the absolute last thing anyone will do.

That is, if I've survived the on-road, painted bike lane/slip lanes for the double on ramps without causing a rear-ending pileup in the process (ask me how I know).

Originally Posted by TransitZilla

Sure, but having no separation from parallel car traffic put cyclists at greater risk of right-hook collisions.

The intersections you're referring to as "zig-zaggy" are based on Dutch intersection designs- they have a pretty good record on this stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlAp...l=BicycleDutch