Rideau Street Renewal - Page 4

OTownandDown · #61 Posted **Jan 23, 2020, 2:49 PM**

Pretty sure they'll have the bus lay-by in front of the Scotiabank on Williams, West Bound get off at Scotiabank and pop into the station, and East Bound passengers get off in front of Farm Boy. There's no need for the bus stops to be across the street from eachother. Personally I can't wait for the street to reopen to regular traffic. It's such a pain in the ass to drive across town on Rideau and detour around this 200m long section of closed road.

Also, the North side of Wellington 'bike path' is set to be renewed all the way to Lebreton, to FINALLY connect the bike path over the bridge to something actually useful. I'm tired of taking my life in my hands to bike up the Wellington sidewalk, crossing at Bay, then going as fast as I can in the turn lane on Wellington to Lyon and then try to zip around Lyon street mixed with buses.

YOWetal: The market isn't really that difficult to navigate in mixed traffic on a bike, with low speeds and lots of pedestrians. The Cumberland connection is appreciated, as it would allow you to go north and skip the congestion of the market itself.

Its almost like the Hospital link through Alta Vista. It's death by a thousand cuts by adding pieces of bike lanes here and there until they finally connect. The same thing is happening in Alta Vista, to fool the NIMBY's by incremental change.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zzptichka

William street?
Hopefully they remove some of the parking near the LRT entrance. There wasn't much of a bus lane in the earlier plans either.

TransitZilla · #62 Posted **Jan 23, 2020, 2:56 PM**

^ Remember those plans are no longer up to date. There will be much less parking since all the parking/"flex space" on the north side will now be a cycle track.

The continuous bus lanes have been removed, but remember that STO buses will no longer be using Rideau Street; they will be moving over to MacKenzie King Bridge and/or Lyon.

There is some transit priority at the bus stops- the reason the stop line in the car lanes are set back so far is to allow a special bus priority signal for the buses to pull out from the lay-by while cars have a red.

UrbOttawa · #63 Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 8:22 PM**

Looks like construction is finally set to start on April 19th

Quote:

On Sunday, April 19, Rideau Street from Sussex to Dalhousie will close to transit, traffic and cyclists to renew streetscape elements and upgrade transportation components within the Rideau Street right of way.

Pedestrian access to businesses will be maintained at all times.

https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/publi...street-renewal

Baybreeze12 · #64 Posted **Apr 7, 2020, 10:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by UrbOttawa

Looks like construction is finally set to start on April 19th

https://ottawa.ca/en/city-hall/publi...street-renewal

I hope they release the updated plans by then! I still don't really know what it's going to look like, apart from the addition of a bike lane in lieu of curbside parking (?)

Glenlivet Ave · #65 Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 10:43 AM**

These are from a June 2019 open house:

source: https://ottawastart.com/comment-city...ne-for-slater/

TransitZilla · #66 Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 1:09 PM**

^ Those are outdated. We know that they added a bi-directional cycle track on the north side between Sussex and William, and on the south side between William and Nicholas.

rocketphish · #67 Posted **Apr 9, 2020, 4:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradnixon

^ Those are outdated. We know that they added a bi-directional cycle track on the north side between Sussex and William, and on the south side between William and Nicholas.

You can see some of the new plan in this image:

https://documents.ottawa.ca/sites/do...eau_pg5_en.pdf

Uhuniau · #68 Posted **Apr 10, 2020, 1:44 AM**

Look at all those fake people, not fake-distancing!

YOWetal · #69 Posted **Apr 10, 2020, 5:09 PM**

So the bike track switches sides at William?

Jayday23 · #70 Posted **Apr 10, 2020, 10:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Look at all those fake people, not fake-distancing!

Why are they even opening it up to non-transit? it makes no sense. increase the sidewalks , create bike lanes, and leave it transit only. They literally just demonstrated for the past couple years that vehicle traffic does not need to use the street...

YOWetal · #71 Posted **Apr 11, 2020, 10:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jayday23

Why are they even opening it up to non-transit? it makes no sense. increase the sidewalks , create bike lanes, and leave it transit only. They literally just demonstrated for the past couple years that vehicle traffic does not need to use the street...

Yes it's crazy. As a through route it's useless. Even going from Parliament to Vanier is probably faster on Murray/St. Patrick. The only major destination it inconveniences is Rideau Centre Parking and Col By to the back entrance is a minor detour.

J.OT13 · #72 Posted **Apr 11, 2020, 3:50 PM**

The intersection of Elgin/Wellington/Mackenzie/Colonel By/Sussex/Rideau is a nightmare. It can take 15+ minutes, 2, 3, 5 light cycles to get through. A lot of people block traffic. Having some traffic continue down Rideau will ease congestion at the intersection and in the Market.

The entire intersection needs to be redesigned and simplified. This could start by making Mackenzie pedestrian/cycling only (either as an extension of Major's Hill, a linear plaza or a active transport street), which would eliminate one of the three intersections. Next is to fill up the underpass, making the intersection safer and more accessible.

There are very few east-west routes through the city. At the moment, we only have the Queensway downtown, and arguable Laurier going through uOttawa. Rideau needs to re-open to private vehicles to get the downtown moving again.

OTownandDown · #73 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 1:57 PM**

if only the americans hadn't taken the southbound lane from Sussex, thus requiring everyone go take MacKenzie. We could have used that lane to force southbound-to-Colonel By traffic to continue down Sussex and finally demolish the MacKenzie ramp.
Edit for clarity: There is a southbound lane on Sussex, but only from York and southwards. From St. Patrick to York there is no longer a southbound lane, because of the American's love for giant bollards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The intersection of Elgin/Wellington/Mackenzie/Colonel By/Sussex/Rideau is a nightmare. It can take 15+ minutes, 2, 3, 5 light cycles to get through. A lot of people block traffic. Having some traffic continue down Rideau will ease congestion at the intersection and in the Market.

The entire intersection needs to be redesigned and simplified. This could start by making Mackenzie pedestrian/cycling only (either as an extension of Major's Hill, a linear plaza or a active transport street), which would eliminate one of the three intersections. Next is to fill up the underpass, making the intersection safer and more accessible.

There are very few east-west routes through the city. At the moment, we only have the Queensway downtown, and arguable Laurier going through uOttawa. Rideau needs to re-open to private vehicles to get the downtown moving again.

J.OT13 · #74 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 3:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OTownandDown

if only the americans hadn't taken the southbound lane from Sussex, thus requiring everyone go take MacKenzie. We could have used that lane to force southbound-to-Colonel By traffic to continue down Sussex and finally demolish the MacKenzie ramp.
Edit for clarity: There is a southbound lane on Sussex, but only from York and southwards. From St. Patrick to York there is no longer a southbound lane, because of the American's love for giant bollards.

I wish they would have built a little outside the traditional downtown. I get that the bollards were installed after 9/11, but quite frankly I don't understand how they make any difference.

kwoldtimer · #75 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 3:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I wish they would have built a little outside the traditional downtown. I get that the bollards were installed after 9/11, but quite frankly I don't understand how they make any difference.

With hindsight, Mile Circle would have been a vastly better location for the U.S. Embassy.

TransitZilla · #76 Posted **Apr 13, 2020, 8:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by YOWetal

So the bike track switches sides at William?

That's what I was told, yes. The segment east of William will be quite short; it will only be between William and Ogilvie Square; presumably to allow a connection to bike parking there or a potential future cycling link south on Nicholas or east on Besserer. (Come to think of it, Besserer would make a good parallel bike route to Rideau if they made some improvements- like adding a westbound lane- west of King Edward. East of King Edward, it's a pretty quiet street).

There is no traffic signal at Nicholas, so William is the last opportunity to cross. Also, the previous designs showed a westbound bus layby just east of William, so there would be no room for it to remain on the north side.