Cycling in Ottawa

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Yroc

Russia and China are far away.

Does anyone own the shoreline?

Yes, Russia and China, hence "As for north of Scrathcona Park, you have to go through the Russians and the Chinese for that path to happen."

[Yroc]

I thought no one could own the shoreline.. Just like no one can own a lake.

I think it varies by region, but someone should know what the rules are along the Ottawa River and the Rideau River within city limits. I myself do not.

http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/plann.../beach_en.html

[acottawa]

Doesn't look like there is much room.

http://www.canada.com/northshorenews...9-b1bf9360bddb

[Kitchissippi]

The same thing happened with the nuns adjacent to Jacques Cartier Park, they wouldn't let the pathway run through the convent and it was one of those odd things where they owned up to the Ottawa River shoreline. That's why the pathway was built on stilts on the water.

However, instead of spending money on that side of the Rideau, I would rather see a pedestrian/cycling bridge built between Somerset E and Donald Street. Not only would this be a great facility (along with the Corktown Bridge) for east end cyclists to get into the core, it would also increase the amount of walkable, affordable housing for U of O students.

[Yroc]

The bridge you speak of is on the plans or at least on one coucillors radar.

… AND A SMALL NEW BRIDGE

I believe that it is now time to advance the idea of a new pedestrian/cyclist bridge across the Rideau River linking Somerset Street East to Donald Street. This would costeffectively extend the cross-town link created by the opening, a couple of years ago, of the pedestrian bridge across the Canal at Somerset.

Pedestrians and cyclists must at present choose between Cummings Bridge, which is an arterial route with heavy traffic 700 metres to the north, and the footbridge to the south of the Queensway, a kilometre and a half away.
In the past, there was a summer crossing (see photo above) at this location by means of a wooden bridge that was dismantled every winter and reinstalled in the spring. As the water is only ankle deep at this point, many people can still be seen to roll up their pants and take a short-cut, a practice that raises safety and health concerns

Go to the link and see the photo of the old bridge.. worth the look.

http://www.rideau-rockcliffe.com/ann...20E%202009.pdf

[Dado]

Originally Posted by Yroc

I thought no one could own the shoreline.. Just like no one can own a lake.

Sure you can own a lake, at least effectively. All you have to do is find a lake with no navigable rivers that is not touched by a public road allowance and then buy up all the land around the lake. Short of someone landing on it with a pontoon-equipped helicopter, it's yours.

And you can definitely own shoreline.

[Yroc]

Not the case everywhere it would seem.

http://www.shorewalk.ca/news/shoalts.html

[Kitchissippi]

Here's a great article from Scientific American that city planners should read:

From the October 2009 Scientific American Magazine
How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road
To boost urban bicycling, figure out what women want
By Linda Baker

Getting people out of cars and onto bicycles, a much more sustainable form of transportation, has long vexed environmentally conscious city planners. Although bike lanes painted on streets and automobile-free “greenways” have increased ridership over the past few years, the share of people relying on bikes for transportation is still less than 2 percent, based on various studies. An emerging body of research suggests that a superior strategy to increase pedal pushing could be had by asking the perennial question: What do women want?

In the U.S., men’s cycling trips surpass women’s by at least 2:1. This ratio stands in marked contrast to cycling in European countries, where urban biking is a way of life and draws about as many women as men—sometimes more. In the Netherlands, where 27 percent of all trips are made by bike, 55 percent of all riders are women. In Germany 12 percent of all trips are on bikes, 49 percent of which are made by women.

“If you want to know if an urban environment supports cycling, you can forget about all the detailed ‘bikeability indexes’—just measure the proportion of cyclists who are female,” says Jan Garrard, a senior lecturer at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, and author of several studies on biking and gender differences.

Women are considered an “indicator species” for bike-friendly cities for several reasons. First, studies across disciplines as disparate as criminology and child ­rearing have shown that women are more averse to risk than men. In the cycling arena, that risk aversion translates into increased demand for safe bike infrastructure as a prerequisite for riding. Women also do most of the child care and household shopping, which means these bike routes need to be organized around practical urban destinations to make a difference.

“Despite our hope that gender roles don’t exist, they still do,” says Jennifer Dill, a transportation and planning researcher at Portland State University. Addressing women’s concerns about safety and utility “will go a long way” toward increasing the number of people on two wheels, Dill explains.

So far few cities have taken on the challenge. In the U.S., most cycling facilities consist of on-street bike lanes, which require riding in vehicle-clogged traffic, notes John Pucher, a professor of urban planning at Rutgers University and longtime bike scholar. And when cities do install traffic-protected off-street bike paths, they are almost always along rivers and parks rather than along routes leading “to the supermarket, the school, the day care center,” Pucher says.

Although researchers have long examined the bike infrastructure in Europe, they have only just started to do so for the U.S. In a study conducted last year, Dill examined the effect of different types of bike facilities on cycling. The project, which used GPS positioning to record individual cycling trips in Portland, compared the shortest route with the path cyclists actually took to their destination. Women were less likely than men to try on-street bike lanes and more likely to go out of their way to use “bike boulevards,” quiet residential streets with special traffic-calming features for bicycles. “Women diverted from the shortest routes more often,” Dill says.

Other data support those findings. In New York City, men are three times as likely to be cyclists as women. Yet a bicycle count found that an off-street bike path in Central Park had 44 percent female riders. “Within the same city you find huge deviations in terms of gender,” Pucher remarks.

Good infrastructure alone won’t improve women’s cycling rates, researchers caution. In an automobile-dominated culture, “attitudinal variables” also play a role, says Susan Handy, a professor of environmental science at the University of California, Davis. In a survey to be published in Transportation Research Record, Handy found that “comfort” and “needing a car” were important factors influencing women’s cycling rates—but not men’s. Needing a car is likely tied to the household errands women often perform, Handy says, and could be addressed in part by outreach programs showing that women can “jump on a bike the way they jump in a car.”

A few municipalities are beginning to implement a “second wave” of strategies aimed at broadening the cycling demographic. In Portland, a city already renowned for its urban cycling, a Women on Bikes program targets such concerns as fixing a flat tire. The city is also building its first cycle track—a European-style bike lane that is separated from cars and pedestrians. Across the country state and federally funded Safe Routes to Schools programs are creating practical bike routes for kids so they don’t have to be driven by their parents.

Ahead of the curve may be New York City, where about five miles of traffic-protected bike lanes have recently been installed. Credit goes to the new Department of Transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who is upending the department’s long-standing focus on trucks and automobiles. Remarks Pucher: “A woman cyclist became head of the DOT, and wonderful things started happening.”

Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Shifting Gears."

Link to article

[waterloowarrior]

Great article Kitchissippi... I really noticed that effect when cycling in Germany and Holland (along with the lack of spandex/helmets and all the children on bikes )

There's an online discussion on the citizne's website about cycling at noon today
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/talk/index.html

also a cycling expert is coming to town
http://communities.canada.com/ottawa...u-in-town.aspx

[Radster]

I just got back from Europe a few weeks ago where once again I had the chance to bike in Amsterdam for a few days, plus last weekend I was in Montreal where they have their segregated biking lanes and traffic signals criss crossing the city. Every time I get out of Ottawa and travel to bike-friendly places I become more and more frustrated with the situation in Ottawa/Gatineau.

I remember when I was a kid, and immigrating to Ottawa from Poland, one of the highlights of Ottawa (according to the Canadian embassy in Poland) was to be their amazing bike path network. Well, now that I have lived here for over 20 years, I can say that this was a big farce! Ottawa doesn't have a bike path system at all. Ottawa has an incomplete recreational path system, where bikers are intermingling with pedestrians, dogs and wheelchairs. Hardly a safe system! These paths are also scenic, and therefore not efficient for getting from point a to b.

Why is Ottawa so behind? Why can't city council look 200km to the East (MTL), to get a clue? Now that Bixi's experiment in Ottawa is over, will Ottawa make some progress and start an initiative to build a network of East-West segregated biking lanes, with their own traffic signals at major intersections? Because if Ottawa (or NCC) only works towards improving the recreational path system, then the BIXI idea will never work here, and there will never be an increase in bike ridership as it is inefficient and dangerous at the moment.

This is just yet another example (like LRT, like Lansdowne Live, etc) of how slow Ottawa is in progressing towards being a real metropolis. Ottawa is a big shame for Canada.

[Radster]

Also, CBC had an interesting documentary on biking around the world, it can still be viewed online, for free :

http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/docz...09/pedalpower/

[Kitchissippi]

Making a couple of segregated east-west bike routes through downtown Ottawa won't be too hard, nor expensive. All we need to do is sacrifice a line of parked cars on Laurier and Queen, and at the expense of a hundred or so parking spots (which the city could off-load by requiring new development to make up for it, along with improved transit) we could comfortably accommodate thousands of cyclists entering the core. Buffered bike lanes could also be easily implemented on the left hand lanes of Albert and Slater opposite from the Transitway lanes and corresponding with the centre lanes on the Mackenzie King Bridge. These measures will not take huge amounts of money and can even be done right away, what is needed is just a willingness on the part of the city.

I was in New York City last spring to do the Five Boro Bike Ride and was amazed at the huge strides they have taken to make that metropolis a lot more bike friendly

[Ciemny]

Hey Radster your From Poand too? I came here in 89.

But yes I have been to Warsaw, Rome, Prague..several other cities and I find their bike paths pretty good, especially Warsaw. Here we seem to have recreational paths in the greenbelt, some inside the city but they seem disjointed, one ends and finding where it begins again is a pain. I know the city puts bike lanes on roads but completing our path system would be nice...not the constant talk about completion.

I don't know if its me or I have just been here too long but our council members are experts in discussions, meetings, town halls, grandstanding, endless motions and revies but when it actually comes down to creating a bike path.....that is beyond them.

[Radster]

Ciemny, I came here in 89 too

Its not just bike lanes on the sides of roads that we need - a painted line on a road will not make cycling safer, nor will it stop pedestrians from using it. We need dedicated and seperated bike lanes. Montreal has done a great job, in some cases this was done using a cement curb to seperate the lanes from car traffic, and on some streets, even in old neighbourhoods this was done without sacrificing on-street parking - they simply shifted the on-street parking over a few feet,and put up thin cylinder-type barriers to seperate the lanes from car traffic. Come winter, the barriers are removed, parking is shifted back and there is more room for cars and snow.

Many of our streets are wider than streets in other cities, IMO this not just to accomodate on-street parking, but also to accomodate snow come winter time. In the summer, this is wasted space, which can be used for segregated bike lanes. This is done in Montreal in very old neighbourhoods, ie. Plateau, where the bike modal share in the non-winter months is over 7%.

[Radster]

Kitchissippi, thanks for that video. Yet another good example, they don't even seperate the bike lanes with physical barriers like in MTL or Amsterdam, yet they seem to have an effective classification system of bike lanes. So Ottawa has many examples to look at and many sources of inspiration. Yet IMO, the problem is that Ottawa city council does not distinguish the difference between recreational paths and bike lanes, and so they are blind in a way and believe that the NCC is in charge of what in their mind are bike lanes and so it will take a while before someone opens their eyes and makes them realize that we need REAL bike lanes and that it is the city that has to act to make it happen. This applies to Gatineau as well.

[Ciemny]

Radster,

Ottawa seems to have a mentality that the NCC is responsible for the paths. The NCC at least widens them or does periodic fixes but nothing beyond that point. I do not know if there is any co-ordination between both sides on implimenting a bike lane network. I think people just got used to biking on whats available here.

[waterloowarrior]

Councillors seek $16.7M for cycling

Committee says money needed to bring system up to speed with council-approved strategy
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/Council...213/story.html
BY PATRICK DARE, THE OTTAWA CITIZENOCTOBER 27, 2009 11:43 PM


OTTAWA — City officials, concerned that not enough is being done to promote cycling, are recommending $16.7 million be spent in 2010 to upgrade the city’s system.

The cycling capital projects being considered include:

- A new corridor for cyclists and pedestrians along the Sawmill Creek stormwater facility between Hunt Club Road and Walkley Road;

- Bike lanes on Heron Road, Prince of Wales Drive, Carling Avenue, Johnston Road, Trim Road, Limebank Road, Fernbank Road and 10th Line Road; and

- Shared pathways for cyclists and pedestrians on Industrial Avenue, the Ottawa River Parkway and Alta Vista Drive.

Two councillors pushing for the projects say that Ottawa has fallen behind on building its cycling network. The city has a plan, but it’s too often treated as optional, they say, a piece that can be tossed out during budget talks.

“We’re spending hundreds of millions on new roads,” said River Councillor Maria McRae, chairwoman of the transportation committee. “We’re looking for a balance. Otherwise there’s no point in having a cycling strategy. We’ve fallen very far behind.”

Councillor Christine Leadman, vice-chairwoman of the committee, said the city lists pedestrians and cyclists as top priorities in all its planning documents, but fails to follow through.

“We don’t support our own policies,” said Leadman. “It’s easy to cut, but it shouldn’t be.”

The Kitchissippi councillor said cycling should be encouraged, especially in the central part of the city where there’s no room to build new roads. However, she said many cyclists don’t feel safe mingling with vehicle traffic on the roads.

The capital spending is to be part of the proposed 2010 budget for the transportation branch of the city released at noon today, a move that will add to the property-tax increase expected at the city.

McRae says the stimulus program should mostly cover costs for capital cycling projects, where costs are shared with the federal and provincial governments. There are modest costs on the operating budget for a safety program, a cycling map and two new staff members to run pedestrian and cycling programs.

McRae said even if the city must spend money on these cycling projects, they pay off with less road congestion and air pollution, healthier citizens and less wear on roads.

She says expanding the cycling network would also strengthen Ottawa’s image as a green city, a perception that many visitors to the city already remark on.

Ottawa officials are looking to cities like Portland, Oregon, as examples of how expansion of the cycling network can boost participation. In 1992, Portland had just over 130 kilometres of bikeways and about 2,850 daily trips by cyclists. Portland has expanded its bikeway network to 440 kilometres and, by 2008, daily trips exceeded 16,000. Six per cent of residents in Portland travel regularly by bicycle.

Ottawa’s cycling plan, adopted by city council, aims to move from an estimated 4,500 cycling trips daily in 2001 to 12,000 trips daily by 2021.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[RTWAP]

I've recently become aware of the debate between the road cycling proponents, who want bikes to be treated like cars, and safe cycling proponents, who want segregated bike lanes like in Europe.

Having biked on our recreational pathways, I've got to admit they're not great for getting where you need to go. And bike lanes that disappear mid-block are worse than no bike lane at all.

I hope the city moves in the direction of segregating bikes and cars, at least for a few designated commuting corridors.

[TransitZilla]

I took a look at the draft Transportation capital budget (http://www.ottawa.ca/city_hall/budge...et_2010_en.pdf) and wasn't able to see where the $16.7 million came from, nor was there a list of all the projects planned.

I emailed Maria McRae, and received the following reply from Mona Abouhenidy:

$400k for Cycling Facilities
· Isabella-Hawthorne (Pretoria Bridge Bike Lanes)
· Aviation Parkway Crossing
· Hartwell Locks Bike Ramp
· Heron - Prince of Wales to Data Centre
· Prince of Wales Bike Lanes (at Meadwolands)

$4.0M as a component of renewal program (road rehab, integrated road/sewer program, etc)
· Examples:

· Carling Avenue bike lanes (O-Train overpass to Bronson)
· Johnston Rd (Tapiola Cres. W - 215m east of Tapiola Cres. E)
· Mcllraith Bridge (Rideau River Dr. -Riverside Hospital entrance)
· Trim Rd (800m south of Millennium to Navan)

$1.3M as a component of new road construction
· Limebank Rd (Spratt to Earl Armstrong) bike lanes - 900m
· Fernbank (Eagleson and Terry Fox) bike lanes - 670m
· 10th line Rd (Lakepointe to Blackburn Hamlet By-Pass extension) –730m


$5M for the design and construction of Hunt Club Community connection to SE Twy

$500k for the EA for the Coventry/Train Station pathway connection

$1M for the Bike Share Implementation Program

$4.5M from the Stimulus Fund
$1.1M for urban multi-use pathways

· Industrial Rd (Riverside to Alta Vista)
· Ottawa River Pathway (Hiawatha to Trim)
· Sawmill Creek (Hunt Club to Walkley)
· Alta Vista (Smyth to Walkley)



· $3.4M for rural multi-use pathways

· Prescott Russell Pathway
· Osgood Link

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

$16.7M Total

Why this isn't easily found on the city's website, I have no idea. You would think that they would want to advertise good things that they're doing!

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Why this isn't easily found on the city's website, I have no idea. You would think that they would want to advertise good things that they're doing!

I look at those projects and realize how useless it is to most cyclists and how much of the cycling budget is being hijacked by projects that are really for cars. For example the $4 million "renewal" program sounds ridiculous. It looks like they are just resurfacing these roads and painting new lines. The cycling portion on projects like these should be just the cost of the paint.

Also, I find it stupid that they account for shoulders as merely for cycling. They are not, otherwise they would not install them on the 400 series highways. Shoulders prevent soil erosion at the edge of the roadway, extending the life of the main surface. Since bikes have the right to be on the road, a cycleable shoulder really just frees the main roadway for cars.

What I am getting at is that the cycling budget should be spent on bike paths and segregated lanes (if warranted) and things like specialized bike signals and signage. What worries me is that it is being used to pad road building budgets.

Another thing that pisses me off royally is that the is nothing here for the downtown core where cycling facilities need a drastic fix especially if we are serious about expanding the Bixi program. The NCC had wanted a Bixi station at Parliament Hill until they realized there wasn't a safe way to get from there to the other stations in the Market and in Gatineau. Now that is sad.