Queen Street renewal

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

That does not sound right. Kent is one way and Queen is two way. If you're taking a left from Kent you'd be scraping the car on the eastbound lane if you took the curve that close, and you can't make a right from eastbound Queen, you'd be going the wrong way.

The eastbound stop line has been set back quite a bit (maybe 10 feet).

[c_speed3108]

This idea that narrowing intersections makes pedestrians safer is right up there with Toronto polices arm band campaign.

I swear the people that design these things have never heard of large vehicles like trucks and buses!

Then the trailer of a semi climbs the sidewalk where pedestrians are waiting and well...


Gotta leave lots of room at intersections.

[Kitchissippi]

Here's that corner. Seriously, if you go over that corner you're not doing the turn properly. I think they should have actually put a bollard there to prevent drivers from cutting into it.

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Here's that corner. Seriously, if you go over that corner you're not doing the turn properly. I think they should have actually put a bollard there to prevent drivers from cutting into it.

A bus has a 40-45 foot outside turning radius, depending whether is a 40 or 60 foot. I would say they are probably changing the wrong side of the intersection. They would be better to cut the north side back to at least the planter (maybe a bit more)

In that picture, I think I can see rubber on the pedestrian area, which is quite disconcerting. A post would certainly help save make it a bit safer but would not fix the bus turning problem. Alternatively, they could just have STO stop on Kent and the bus take Kent right to Wellington.

[Richard Eade]

I was wandering along Queen Street today, and had to remark that it looks fairly good with the potted plants:


And I saw that the City couldn’t be bothered to actually complete the job on the east end:


But is this really the best they could do for the transition?


They couldn’t even move a hydrant. Sheesh. Corner-cutting is one of the reasons that people get so frustrated with what the City does. Something that could have been a nice, worthwhile, improvement becomes a ‘Why did you waste money on the rest of it?’

[LRTeverywhere]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

They couldn’t even move a hydrant. Sheesh. Corner-cutting is one of the reasons that people get so frustrated with what the City does. Something that could have been a nice, worthwhile, improvement becomes a ‘Why did you waste money on the rest of it?’

This is also something I noticed on that part of Queen st recently. With the building standpipes, there is water access for fire at at least 7 locations on that one block. I think we should consider removing adjacent hydrants when a new devolopment adds a standpipe hookup. Or at the very least a less intrusive hydrant design on constrained streets.

[J.OT13]

It's pretty disappointing the City abandoned the project after the first phase. This was supposed to be a showcase street for Ottawa.

[zzptichka]

These jersey barriers have been sitting on this already narrow sidewalk on every Google Maps shot going back to at least 2007. Crazy.

Right across from the NCC HQ to boot.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Richard Eade

I was wandering along Queen Street today, and had to remark that it looks fairly good with the potted plants:

I think that's the property owner's doing.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

These jersey barriers have been sitting on this already narrow sidewalk on every Google Maps shot going back to at least 2007. Crazy.

Less crazy, and more in response to UK or Canadian threat assessments.

[OTownandDown]

Originally Posted by LRTeverywhere

This is also something I noticed on that part of Queen st recently. With the building standpipes, there is water access for fire at at least 7 locations on that one block. I think we should consider removing adjacent hydrants when a new devolopment adds a standpipe hookup. Or at the very least a less intrusive hydrant design on constrained streets.

I thought that some of these building standpipe hookups were to push water INTO a building, and not out of it?

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

It's pretty disappointing the City abandoned the project after the first phase. This was supposed to be a showcase street for Ottawa.

I'd really like to know why they didn't reinforce the pavement at the Parliament station bus stops, the same way they did the former Transitway stops on Albert and Slater years ago, and for the same reasons.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Less crazy, and more in response to UK or Canadian threat assessments.

Nah still crazy.

[LRTeverywhere]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

I thought that some of these building standpipe hookups were to push water INTO a building, and not out of it?

I'll admit I don't know much about them, if true than I stand corrected. Seems weird to me though since the buildings should already be hooked up to water?

[LRTeverywhere]

Ah did some reading. It appears there are two types of standpipe systems, wet and dry. Wet systems seem to always have water in them from the watermains, and dry systems are used to pump water into the system by a fire engine.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by zzptichka

These jersey barriers have been sitting on this already narrow sidewalk on every Google Maps shot going back to at least 2007. Crazy.

Right across from the NCC HQ to boot.

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Less crazy, and more in response to UK or Canadian threat assessments.

I assume with the NCC now owning the building and working to make it more public facing, these will be removed at some point.

[A_Spire]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I assume with the NCC now owning the building and working to make it more public facing, these will be removed at some point.

The concrete barriers have all been removed for at least a few months now. There's a large wooden construction fence surrounding the building, which is undergoing extensive interior and exterior renovation.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by A_Spire

The concrete barriers have all been removed for at least a few months now. There's a large wooden construction fence surrounding the building, which is undergoing extensive interior and exterior renovation.

Ah good to know. Wonder when they rebuild this block of Queen street. At least one lane has to go, and be replaced with a sidewalk.

[OTownandDown]

Originally Posted by LRTeverywhere

Ah did some reading. It appears there are two types of standpipe systems, wet and dry. Wet systems seem to always have water in them from the watermains, and dry systems are used to pump water into the system by a fire engine.

Yeah, I thought that its like 'if all else fails' we can pump water into this riser which will be forced thru the sprinkler system upstairs.

Fire suppression systems in buildings get tested and drained regularly, but they still rely on a pump system (also wet or dry..water in the pipes).

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I assume with the NCC now owning the building and working to make it more public facing, these will be removed at some point.

Yeah, the IRA (or whoever) will no longer be interested in that building from a thermobaric perspective.