In a lot of suburban areas, I wish we'd combine sidewalks and bike lanes in to multi use paths. Less to maintain. Safer for cyclists. And let's be honest. Our suburban sidewalks are mostly empty anyway. Nobody walks in car dependent suburbia.
In a lot of suburban areas, I wish we'd combine sidewalks and bike lanes in to multi use paths. Less to maintain. Safer for cyclists. And let's be honest. Our suburban sidewalks are mostly empty anyway. Nobody walks in car dependent suburbia.
It really depends on the street/road you are talking about. When looking at stroads, sure (they aren't very fun to walk or cycle on and thus tend to be avoided by both pedestrians and cyclists), but once you get into the residential areas, you see a lot more pedestrians out walking their dogs or just out getting some exercise and having cyclists share the sidewalk on those streets could create dangerous situations. If we want to make the suburbs more walkable, making it more dangerous to walk seems to be counter productive.
EDIT: Then there is also the issue of cyclist safety. If not designed properly, a MUP can give a cyclist a false sense of security. The most dangerous place for cyclist is intersections (including driveways) and shoving cyclists further out of the way, makes them less visible to motorists. In general MUPs are created by motorists who want to get the cyclists off of their road.
I disagree about converting sidewalks into MUPs. I just spoke to someone who complained that MUPs are bicycle highways and very unpleasant for pedestrians. My suburban sidewalk is well used.
Noticed at Carling and Herzberg that the city of Ottawa signage is different - blue and white, font appears to be highway gothic and no city of Ottawa decal.
I disagree about converting sidewalks into MUPs. I just spoke to someone who complained that MUPs are bicycle highways and very unpleasant for pedestrians. My suburban sidewalk is well used.
Agreed. That is a recipe for conflict. Suburban roads should be slow enough that they are fine for cycling. Should be, anyway.
Agreed. That is a recipe for conflict. Suburban roads should be slow enough that they are fine for cycling. Should be, anyway.
But they aren't. Even most of our residential streets are pretty dangerous at signed speeds of 40 kph and designed to accomodate 50-60 kph.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uhuniau
Suburban stroads are the one (very very large) rights of way where you can pretty well accomodate ALL TEH MOADS, and comfortably.
They can. But they don't. I live off Ogilvie. There's no way, I'm riding a bike in the painted bike gutter there with 60-80 kph traffic speeds a foot or two away. And I don't think these stroada will get protected bike lanes in my lifetime.
Ottawa street signage seems fairly inconsistent anyway.
Part of that is they didn't bother replacing all of the signs after amalgamation to make them standard. There are still lots of pre-amalgamation street signs out there.
But they aren't. Even most of our residential streets are pretty dangerous at signed speeds of 40 kph and designed to accomodate 50-60 kph.
But it is safer than riding on the sidewalk not designed for bikes.
Glen Gower is proposing that the money raised from the speed cameras be used to improve the road it is on and then move it to another location.
Quote:
They can. But they don't. I live off Ogilvie. There's no way, I'm riding a bike in the painted bike gutter there with 60-80 kph traffic speeds a foot or two away. And I don't think these stroada will get protected bike lanes in my lifetime.
Even the installation of flex stakes along the edge of the bike lane would be a huge improvement, though admittedly not as good as a true protected bike lane.
But it is safer than riding on the sidewalk not designed for bikes.
Glen Gower is proposing that the money raised from the speed cameras be used to improve the road it is on and then move it to another location.
Improve the road... with separated bike lanes? Right? Gower seems pretty logical usually, so I imagine so. Would make sense.
Don't remember if it was speed or red light cameras, but I think the Mayor and Hubley wanted the money to go to cops again. Should be for road safety. Cops should not be paid for a job they are not doing.
Improve the road... with separated bike lanes? Right? Gower seems pretty logical usually, so I imagine so. Would make sense.
He didn't specify (he just said traffic calming), but he is a regular cyclist and transit user, so if cycling improvements were feasible, I am sure he would encourage it. The camera in question was beside Sacred Heard High School on Abbot Street, which is adjacent to the Trans Canada Trail, so I don't know what would be planned in this particular case.
I think these are the first uses of Clearview on the usual blue municipal signs here. There have been a few on the green ones, though not very common, e.g.
Though Clearview is more widely used as an actual street sign typeface, I do like how the old one (Frutiger) seemed to be consistent with City branding generally, like police, fire and ambulance (though police and fire seem to have shifted away lately):
(Photos from CBC)
Anyway, will have to update this compilation:
Quote:
Originally Posted by caveat.doctor
Ottawa still has some pre-amalgamation signs with the former Ottawa-Carleton Regional Municipality coats of arms:
After the merger, some of these were updated by simply putting a sticker with the new City of Ottawa logo on top:
The official current street sign font is a 65% condensed Frutiger (shown here on "Rideau"), but some are incorrectly in Helvetica (shown here on "Sussex"):
There is also a National Capital Commission sign for the streets that make up "Confederation Boulevard". Originally they were all gray (above, "Sussex" blade), but have been updated to match the City of Ottawa white-on-blue, Frutiger font and civic numbers (below, "Sussex" blade):
Ottawa does a good job with details like putting the City logo after the name when there is a directional arrow, for balance
but sometimes they don't leave enough space above and below the text to ensure visibility
Also, on some major roads (generally, ones that are also regional roads) there are highway-style white-on-green signs. Some of these are in the same Frutiger font
but others are in Clearview
though most are in good old Highway Gothic
Quote:
Originally Posted by roger1818
Part of that is they didn't bother replacing all of the signs after amalgamation to make them standard. There are still lots of pre-amalgamation street signs out there.
Indeed - though I do like how the older ones preserve the old neighbourhood/city names, and even the logos like the Nepean bell:
Does the pedestrian bridge really have to wait until the train is operational?
That is extremely dissapointing given it looks to be progressing faster than a fall of 2023 deadline (I say that as a non-expert on bridge building).
They are already letting pedestrians down on the path again anyways so it isn't like they are trying to keep people away from the site, so I am curious why they need to open together.
Chaudière Bridge to be closed for repairs this week
Staff Reporter, Ottawa Citizen
Aug 01, 2022 • 14 hours ago • 1 minute read
The Chaudière Bridge will be closed to traffic this week to accommodate repairs, officials said.
As of Tuesday, the bridge will be closed from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. each weekday. Following that, the bridge will be closed to traffic at all hours starting at 8 p.m. on Friday.
The interprovincial crossing will be closed to traffic through that weekend, reopening at 5 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 8.
Similar closures were put in place from July 22 through July 30. Construction forced the closure of the southbound lanes from March 2022 until next summer, June 30, 2023.
No vehicles will be allowed on the bridge during the August closures, though Public Services and Procurement Canada said the sidewalks will remain open for pedestrians and cyclists.
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