Quote:
Originally Posted by phil235
My extremely low opinion of Manconi has just gotten worse.
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I don't like the guy but his job is to move people through Ottawa. During shut down when the streets were empty, letting pedestrians and then bikes and pedestrians onto the streets was a reasonable idea. And as long as it was outdoor dining only, closing streets for patios was a good idea to help businesses.
But traffic is picking up. In March and April I could cross Island Park at Clearview while on a walk without breaking stride. Now I have to wait for a break in traffic, or during peak hours, someone to let me cross.
With my car, I can no longer use Island Park confidently to get home from the 417. The tailbacks are now often to Richmond from Sir JAM. Sure that is better than the not unusual backup to Byron or Iona but given so few gov't workers are back on the job and it is summer, that is still an indication that volumes are returning.
Traffic on the commercial streets is definitely more than in May.
When the government is finally called back to their offices, traffic will get worse immediately.
The LRT is still not running at proper capacity and people are nervous about returning to transit and the crowds and delays that happen daily.
It would be all rainbows and lollypops to say that those people will take to their bikes instead of cars but 1) new/used bikes are in short supply right now and 2) we have 2 months of good biking weather left. New riders won't be struggling with all-weather commuting, they'll buy a car.
So protecting the roads for cars and buses needs to be done by someone. Who better than the transportation general manager to do so?