Quote:
Originally Posted by waterloowarrior
p. 19
https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/documents/files/baseline_brtboards_final_en.pdf
Transit Priority Measures
While the alignment from Bayshore Station to Baseline Station is identified
as being operational sometime post 2031, there are opportunities for
interim Transit Priority Measures to be implemented along the corridor
prior to 2031. These are included as part of the Recommended Plan.
Transit Priority Measures being considered are:
• The removal of bus bays to reduce merging requirements for busses
• Signal timing improvements
• Queue jump lanes at Greenbank
• Intermittent bus only lanes in select portions (Where existing roadway
can be reallocated)
These measures will help improve transit operations in the western half of
the study area prior to ultimate implementation of the project. |
This project strikes me as an odd selection of choices.
The City has chosen to build the section east of Baseline Station in its entirety as a first phase. I find this odd because, in my experience, the morning delays along Baseline are heading east from Richmond Road to Woodroffe. The westbound traffic seems to flow fairly well along the entire length of Baseline in the morning. In the afternoon, the traffic is bumper to bumper from Riverside through to Woodroffe, then it clears out and flows fairly well. The afternoon east-bound traffic seems to flow fairly well all along Baseline. Yes, Baseline gets busy, but the real problem segments are going to Woodroffe from the west, in the morning, and to Woodroffe from the east in the afternoon.
Why, if it cares about getting the buses moving, does the City not phase the project to build the east-bound portion west of Woodroffe, and the west-bound lanes east of Woodroffe?
Then there is the dogged determination to take the buses to Bayshore mall. Why? The current bus traffic goes through Bells Corners and on to service Kanata. Is OC Transpo planning on splitting the route and having everyone transfer to a new route that runs from the Queensway-Carleton Hospital out to Kanata, via Robertson Road?
With the DND campus filling up, these buses should be continuing, as they do now, through Bells Corners, with every second bus turning north on Moodie Drive, going to Moodie Station, and then up to the DND campus. This would connect the DND workers to Bells Corners, and connect Bells Corners to the Moodie Station. (In the meantime, the # 57 Bells Corners – former # 97 – should be extended from its current terminus on Fitzgerald, north, through the Moodie Station, to the DND campus.)
Anyway, those are moot points.
Regarding the planned Transit Priority measures west of Woodroffe, I’m not a big fan of removing bus bays, but OC Transpo is. I am hoping that, since this is a temporary measure, they will simply pin down pre-cast curb segments and back-fill with asphalt. That way they will not be cutting into the road surface. The idea of pre-cast curbs has been used in the past, and I hope that it is used here. It would be much cheaper, since this is a temporary measure
Of course, many of the bus-bays are, actually the turning ramps for side-streets. I doubt that they are filling those in – but I might be wrong.
I would be interested in seeing what is planned for the queue-jumps at Greenbank Road. The west-bound-to-north-bound ramp is so short, it is usually blocked by straight-through traffic. Bu the time a bus can reach the ramp, it can usually get through the intersection. And there really isn’t extra room in the existing road allowance. Is the City expecting to expropriate part of the parking lot of the strip mall?
In the east-bound direction, there is no right-turn ramp onto Greenbank, so there is nowhere for a queue-jump to launch from. And, again, the Right of Way does not permit an extra lane to be added here. Again, is the City anticipating expropriating – this time, from the row-houses?
I also am curious about which sections of roadway will become Bus Only lanes. I assume that it will be the east-bound third lane that starts at Centrepointe Dr. W. If the curb lane is taken all the way to Constellation Dr., then it will leave only a very short section for a large number of vehicles to shift over to the right to go straight through the Woodroffe intersection. If they do take that lane for buses, then they should change the road markings so that the straight-through lanes veer to the right and the two left-turn lanes begin on the left – similar to what the lanes do in the west-bound half of the road.
Of course, the buses could be bumped from Baseline to Gemini Way, with a stop at each end of that street. That would avoid some of the traffic on Baseline.
Prev
Linear Mode
