Roads/Bridges projects/issues

[Norman Bates]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Ottawa gets its first 30 km/h street
City staff approved a petition to lower the speed limit on Princeton Avenue.

By: Alex Abdelwahab, Metro
Published on Thu Aug 17 2017

Princeton Avenue in Ottawa's Kitchissippi ward will soon become the city's first street to have a 30 km/h speed limit, following a policy change earlier this year.

In a statement, Greg Kent, acting director of traffic services, said the decision was made after the city received a petition from a resident with the required community support.

"The petition not only serves to inform city staff of the proportion of residents who support the change in speed limit, but it also provides the notice to the residents along the affected street that the change may occur," he said.

In April, council passed a motion to allow for speed limits below 40 km/h when a number of conditions are met, including a technical review, having a petition from residents and the road being in an area where pedestrian and cyclist activities are high.

Princeton Avenue, which stretches 850 metres between Churchill Avenue North and Denbury Avenue, has a number of nearby schools, including Nepean High School and Broadview Public School.

"I think it's an extremely good idea because there are masses of students that heading not only to Nepean, but also to Broadview," resident Susan Dewar said. "It's just safer for the kids."

Resident Rob Caillier said he supports the change, but he's skeptical it will make a difference on speeders without enforcement.

"It's a busy street and if you look at it, as well, the grade is downhill," he said, "If I'm doing it, I'm gonna do it until I see a cop and radar."

"There's a big difference even in a collision between a pedestrian and a car from 30 km/h to 40 km/h, bigger at 50 and even bigger at 60. The slower we can get cars travelling on our residential streets, the better," Kitchissippi Coun.Jeff Lieper said, but admitted that changing the sign alone will not necessarily be enough to alter driver behaviour.

"It's not the only thing we need to do. In order for people to actually travel at 30 km/h, enforcement is going to be critical," he said. "This doesn't replace the need to design our streets to enforce 30 km/h. It's an interim step."

He said the city doesn't have the budget to redesign all streets to encourage drivers to slow down.

"But that's something that we need to constantly press for as streets get rebuilt."

A staff report that recommended the policy change back in April noted: "A significant amount of the information a driver uses to select an appropriate speed is based on visual and physical cues received as he/she drives along a roadway."

http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017/08/17/ottawa-gets-its-first-30-km-h-street.html

I'm a stickler for speed limits - but this is just plain silly. No one. I repeat no one, will drive 30 km/h. Including those that lobbied for this.

Good luck with enforcement. Even with hairdryers.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by Norman Bates

I'm a stickler for speed limits - but this is just plain silly. No one. I repeat no one, will drive 30 km/h. Including those that lobbied for this.

Good luck with enforcement. Even with hairdryers.

Huh. It's a quiet residential street. I already rarely drive above 30 in my neighborhood with posted 40 limit.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Ottawa gets its first 30 km/h street
City staff approved a petition to lower the speed limit on Princeton Avenue.

By: Alex Abdelwahab, Metro
Published on Thu Aug 17 2017

Princeton Avenue in Ottawa's Kitchissippi ward will soon become the city's first street to have a 30 km/h speed limit, following a policy change earlier this year.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017/08/17/ottawa-gets-its-first-30-km-h-street.html

Does this mean the ridiculous 30 km/h speed limit on King Edward doesn't exist?

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Does this mean the ridiculous 30 km/h speed limit on King Edward doesn't exist?

Where on King Edward is there a speed limit of 30 km/h? You aren't confusing a yellow speed advisory sign for a speed limit are you? They are just a suggestion based on the design of the corner. See What is the actual speed limit on a highway ramp? for more information.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Where on King Edward is there a speed limit of 30 km/h? You aren't confusing a yellow speed advisory sign for a speed limit are you? They are just a suggestion based on the design of the corner. See What is the actual speed limit on a highway ramp? for more information.

I think he's referring to these 4 speed limit signs (which I have never seen observed in all my travels through there):
https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.4359383,-...eqAEFjU4WehkgaUlERYJg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[acottawa]

King Edward is really awkward-the city engineers designed it for about 80 and then they marked it for 30. Some people want to go the engineers speed, some people want to go the posted speed, and most people are just confused.

[rocketphish]

Hoping for a windfall, Ottawa hurries to get Barrhaven rail underpass plans 'shovel-ready'

David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: September 1, 2017 | Last Updated: September 1, 2017 2:03 PM EDT

The city is hurrying to get studies done for rail overpasses in Barrhaven, hoping to have plans to wave if upper-level governments show up with bags of money.

The rush comes after a 20-year delay on the projects, which local governments first investigated in the mid-1990s, and four years after a northbound OC Transpo bus on the Transitway adjacent to Woodroffe ran through a warning gate and hit a passing Via train, killing six people.

The city’s about to hire consultants for a fresh environmental assessment of overpasses for Woodroffe Avenue, the Transitway and Fallowfield Road, where each of those roadways crosses the railway tracks that cut southwest across Barrhaven.

The things will still be vastly more expensive than the city feared back when it dropped the notion back in the early 2000.

The problem then was that the ground around the rail crossings is both rocky and extremely wet, making it tough to build in. Water would run into construction trenches faster than it could be pumped out, workers would have to seal the rock with concrete as they went, and the underpasses the city had in mind would be in constant danger of leaks. Overpasses would be very nearly as difficult to construct, plus they’d anger nearby residents who wouldn’t want to see them or hear the racket of engines on the ascents.

A $40-million ballpark estimate for the underpasses doubled, with the possibility the actual cost could end up being a whole lot more, at a time when the city was being especially stingy with its construction budgets, and city council called the whole thing off.

An oddity of the way we handle rail lines in Canada is that they’ve been so important that in law they’re practically treated as if they were natural features like rivers. If want to build a road across one, it’s your problem to do it safely. Whatever you do, the rail line must remain unperturbed by your petty imaginings.

We allowed south Nepean to grow, and have kept doing so, without a live plan for how the people who live and work there would get across those rail lines. It’ll be OK, we figured, as long as everyone’s careful.

Ten years later, the bus crash, a new look at the importance of building safe crossings as the number of people driving to and from Barrhaven continues to increase, and fresh engineering work. The city’s latest estimate for two overpasses (a shared one for the Woodroffe and Transitway crossings, another a couple of hundred metres away on Fallowfield) is $275 million. For those and additional underpasses the city wants for Merivale Road and Jockvale Road, the total is $430 million, and that’s still only an educated guess.

The total is about half the city’s annual budget for capital projects, and it’s not like we’ve been socking money away. We just know we can’t pay for them, at least not without sacrificing a lot of other things we’d also like to build.

Among the consultants’ duties will be to “Review the technological changes over the last number of years, e.g. use of lightweight fills, that might impact the design and construction constraints of overpass/underpass construction in the study area.” Maybe there’s some new material and technique we can use to reinforce the ground under the overpasses so they’re not quite so fabulously expensive. Don’t expect magic, though.

Nevertheless, next week city council’s transportation committee will vote on taking the next step, that environmental assessment, to get a more reliable figure. (It’ll also likely vote for a little companion assessment of a pathway underpass for Jockvale, where the need for a road underpass is less urgent.) The city wants the job done fast, because over the last decade or so municipalities have learned that when federal and provincial governments decide to lay out for city construction work, they want to get rolling.

“Having these crossings ‘shovel ready’ will benefit Ottawa as potential funding-partner opportunities arise,” Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder says, praising the city’s plan.

Both the federal and Ontario governments are on infrastructure kicks, with the help of low interest rates, so the sooner the city can say it has a big thing we’re ready to do, the better.

Even so, and even if a pot of money appears, getting the point where the city’s ready to do up detailed designs, let alone hire builders, will take two more years.

These overpasses are still a long way from getting done.

[email protected]
twitter.com/davidreevely

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news...rhaven-rail-underpass-plans-shovel-ready

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

King Edward is really awkward-the city engineers designed it for about 80 and then they marked it for 30. Some people want to go the engineers speed, some people want to go the posted speed, and most people are just confused.

And it still looks like crap and is dangerous to cross as a pedestrian.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

And it still looks like crap and is dangerous to cross as a pedestrian.

Can't disagree with that.

The area councillor should revive the effort to put in a pedestrian signal at Cathcart. The excuse for not doing it was always bogus.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Can't disagree with that.

The area councillor should revive the effort to put in a pedestrian signal at Cathcart. The excuse for not doing it was always bogus.

We have to be careful with pedestrian signals on wide roadways especially when traffic may naturally be moving at a good speed.

These traffic signals may be dangerous for traffic and pedestrians. I know I got confused once at one of these signals on Walkley Road near the Giant Tiger warehouse. I guess the light changed at that critical moment and I ended up stopping at the adjacent intersection instead of the crosswalk. I then realized that I was actually past the signal and I should not have tried to stop.

[acottawa]

To me either a) it is a highway, speed limits should reflect that as should the design (there should be a fence and a pedestrian overpass at Cathcart). Or b) it is a local road, the roadway should be way narrower and there should be an axel-breaking speadbump to make sure people travel the speed limit.

[waterloowarrior]

Notice of Study Commencement and Open House #1
http://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/public-eng...tice-study-commencement-and-open-house-1
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Fred Barrett Arena
3280 Leitrim Road
6 to 9 p.m. (presentation at 7:00p.m.)
OC Transpo route 93 (formerly 144)
Free parking is available

The City of Ottawa has initiated the Leitrim Road Realignment and Widening Environmental Assessment (EA) Study to identify the right-of-way requirements for the project, protect the corridor and inform the ongoing planning and development of adjacent lands. The study area is illustrated on the key map.



The EA study is being undertaken in accordance with Ontario’s EA Act, fulfilling requirements as a Municipal Class EA process for a Schedule C project. The EA process will involve developing, assessing and evaluating alternatives, leading to a Recommended Plan including a functional design and an estimate of capital and operating costs for implementation.

There will be ongoing public consultation activities during the course of the study. This first Open House will provide:

An overview of the study progress to date including an overview of existing conditions
Reconfirming the project need and justification
An evaluation of alternative solutions and alternative corridor

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

The City of Ottawa has initiated the Leitrim Road Realignment and Widening Environmental Assessment (EA) Study to identify the right-of-way requirements for the project, protect the corridor and inform the ongoing planning and development of adjacent lands. The study area is illustrated on the key map.

Widening Leitrim all the way to River Rd and leaving the stretch of River Rd south of Leitrim to Earl Armstrong Dr at 2 lanes is just going to move the problem somewhere else (then again, all road widening projects end up doing that). The majority of those traveling on Leitrum west of Limebank are heading to the Vimy Memorial Bridge.

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Widening Leitrim all the way to River Rd and leaving the stretch of River Rd south of Leitrim to Earl Armstrong Dr at 2 lanes is just going to move the problem somewhere else (then again, all road widening projects end up doing that). The majority of those traveling on Leitrum west of Limebank are heading to the Vimy Memorial Bridge.

Eventually there will be a bridge at Fallowfield

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Eventually there will be a bridge at Fallowfield

But that doesn't explain widening Leitrum west of Limebank as Fallowfield would be extended to Limebank. No one heading north from Leitrum would continue west of Limebank (except for the few who's destination is actually on River Rd).

So I still say, if they are going to widen Leitrum west of Limebank, they need to widen River Rd between Leitrum and Earl Armstrong. If they aren't going to widen River Rd, there is no point widening Leitrum west of Limebank. I suspect the later is the better option, but I could be convinced otherwise.

[rocketphish]

Jim Watson looking for solution to Ottawa's Hog's Back Bridge
Mayor says he wants to help NCC find money for project.

Metro News,
Published on Tue Sep 12 2017

Mayor Jim Watson wants the National Capital Commission to come up with a permanent solution to the Hog's Back Bridge and hopes to help them find the money to do it.

Watson raised the bridge, which has seen emergency closures a number of times summer, at the NCC’s board meeting on Tuesday.

“We need something more long-term for that particular site, because obviously there are fire stations and ambulance stations that use that route as well,” he said.

In a review of the commission earlier this month, the auditor general found they did not have adequate funds to handle their deferred maintenance backlog and had not been clear about that with government.

Watson said he hopes to work with local MPs to help the NCC get the funding it needs to deal with the bridge.

“I recognize there are limited dollars, but we can’t keep having the bridge break down.”

The 40-year-old bridge has dealt with a series of mechanical problems this year as old and failing components needed to be updated.

The NCC’s CEO Mark Kristmanson said the bridge does need a permanent upgrade.

“It’s not only an old bridge, but it’s old technology and it takes tender loving care to keep it going.”

He said right now it is a question of money to find a replacement, but they know they have to handle the problem.

“It will be a priority to get to a long-term solution for the Hog’s Back Bridge.”

http://www.metronews.ca/news/ottawa/2017...ution-to-ottawa-s-hog-s-back-bridge.html

[PHrenetic]

Good Day....

I lived at Hog's Back from 1980 to 1993, and that bridge was temporarily out-of-service so often that the Fire and Paramed did not depend on it at all. And it was closed for major repairs (one to three weeks usually, once for two months) often enough that everyone had their alt-routes already at hand. NCC has massively underplayed the fact that has been a terrible bridge since the day it was installed. IE - a typical NCC disaster.

No EnJoy!

[harls]

Good day,

I don't know what has happened in the last week, but traffic from Aylmer to the Champlain Bridge during morning rush hour is nuts. 40 minute wait from Rivermead to the bridge via Lucerne. Last week it was half that.

Yes, I know. Summer Vacation is over. Kids are in school.. but why the week and a half lag? Where are all these people coming from?

Someone at work suggested that it's getting colder out, so less people are cycling. WTF. Been outside lately?

I don't get it. Also, I'm taking my bike tomorrow. Screw this noise.

[Horus]

Originally Posted by harls

Good day,

I don't know what has happened in the last week, but traffic from Aylmer to the Champlain Bridge during morning rush hour is nuts. 40 minute wait from Rivermead to the bridge via Lucerne. Last week it was half that.

Yes, I know. Summer Vacation is over. Kids are in school.. but why the week and a half lag? Where are all these people coming from?

Someone at work suggested that it's getting colder out, so less people are cycling. WTF. Been outside lately?

I don't get it. Also, I'm taking my bike tomorrow. Screw this noise.

It's been equally as bad to get into Hull from Aylmer these past couple of weeks. Anecdotally, it's usually about a 2 week process for people to figure out their new routine once schools open up, but this year seems to be taking longer. Or my memory is getting worse.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Horus

It's been equally as bad to get into Hull from Aylmer these past couple of weeks. Anecdotally, it's usually about a 2 week process for people to figure out their new routine once schools open up, but this year seems to be taking longer. Or my memory is getting worse.

The late start to summer may be clouding peoples' brains.