Rideau-Sussex Redesign/Public Square | Proposed

[phil235]

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

I don't know what everyone's complaining about. Now that there's an east bound bikepath painted on the southerly lane of the overpass on Rideau, pedestrians can EASILY just scoot along the pedestrian railings intended to keep them out of traffic, shuffle down the bike path, sashay over sussex, and pop right into the rideau centre no problem. No need to descend the stairs at all! (sarasm).

Also, sorry to sh*tpost like this but...

Can we not just extend the side of Rideau Street by another 10 feet to the south, and just install a f*cking sidewalk already? Do pedestrians walking through the underpass need a 20 foot right-of-way, can it not be shrunk just a bit? How hard is it to install a retaining wall and backfill to install a sidewalk along the full southern lane of Rideau (Exactly adjacent to the bike path installed so cyclists can go full speed into the rideau centre entrance doors). I'm proposing where the stairs are now, and roughly where the railing is now for the ramp down the underpass, just backfill that area to raise it to Rideau Street level, and put a crosswalk across the overpass ramp, same as there's a bike path crosswalk now.

Instead, no, we must completely spend $20M rebuilding the intersection.

Your plan would be an improvement, but it's definitely a stopgap. The point of the reconstruction is to remove the underpass, get rid of what is essentially a highway off-ramp in the middle of the busiest part of the city, and to create a new public space. This is an important intersection for the city and the country - it is worth doing it right.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

It's a lot of local traffic and relatively uncongested as for most going the whole legnth of Rideau street doesn't make sense. It was closed for many years and the detour was annoying and probably added traffic to the actual market which is where they should use rules to lower traffic volumes.

Thank you. I never understood why people keep calling for the closure of Rideau Street to cars. It's one of the very few streets that connect the east and west sides of the canal and closing it would, as you say, make traffic on Sussex and the ByWard Market far worse.

Originally Posted by phil235

Your plan would be an improvement, but it's definitely a stopgap. The point of the reconstruction is to remove the underpass, get rid of what is essentially a highway off-ramp in the middle of the busiest part of the city, and to create a new public space. This is an important intersection for the city and the country - it is worth doing it right.

100%

I think that one of the big delays in all this is figuring out if the STO tram goes ahead, and if so, how do we plan on looping it around to cross the new Alexandra Bridge. No point in rebuilding the whole intersection just to have to do it again in 10-20 years.

I think I did see plans to make the bike lane on that side a sidewalks or MUP for now.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Thank you. I never understood why people keep calling for the closure of Rideau Street to cars. It's one of the very few streets that connect the east and west sides of the canal and closing it would, as you say, make traffic on Sussex and the ByWard Market far worse.

There is no street that the Close The Street To Cars faction won't advocate for closing to cars.

I mean, I hate cars as much as the next guy, but there are only so many places you can Close To Cars in any city, let alone one with such a non-robust street layout as ours, and there is only so much you can Close to Cars without also Closing to Buses.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

There is no street that the Close The Street To Cars faction won't advocate for closing to cars.

I mean, I hate cars as much as the next guy, but there are only so many places you can Close To Cars in any city, let alone one with such a non-robust street layout as ours, and there is only so much you can Close to Cars without also Closing to Buses.

Agreed. I very much want to see more streets closed in the Market. I'm happy to close Wellington to cars if the STO tram is built, and would even be open to closing it without the STO tram. There is no good alternative for cars if we close Rideau.

That said, FWIW, the "close Rideau" group seems to want to go back to the Rideau bus mall, but I don't see how that small stretch would really help buses gain much, if any reliability. That's not the choke point.