Implementation of ‘complete streets’ policy a matter of steady baby steps, panel of councillors say
By Shaamini Yogaretnam, Ottawa Citizen March 29, 2014
OTTAWA — The idea of a “complete street,” designed to benefit all users from autos to bikes to walkers, is part of the Transportation Master Plan (TMP) approved by the city last year, but it needs to be more than just policy and put into wider practice, says a city councillor.
“If you look at the Transportation Master Plan, you will see there is this great policy discussion on complete streets and then there are six pages of road-widenings, 12 roads per page, so 70 roads to be widened from two to four and four to six (lanes) and we have this nice pleasant policy discussion on complete streets,” Coun. Diane Holmes said Saturday.
“It’s a big improvement and we are getting somewhere,” she said, but there is still work to be done to make more streets more things for all variety of road-users in Ottawa, thus making it a complete street.
Complete streets — from design to use — consider everyone who uses them and all possible methods of transportation.
Holmes was one of five councillors speaking on a panel organized by Ecology Ottawa, a not-for-profit group that is trying to make Ottawa a greener nation’s capital.
Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson said the city is “putting huge amounts (of money) into transit right now.” But, she said, transit is just one part of the idea of a complete street.
“We have to have a better balance, I think.”
The idea of that balance was incorporated into the TMP, which was passed unanimously by city council, said Coun. Keith Egli, but though there was support for the plan, the importance of a complete-street attitude isn’t something all councillors share.
“There are some out there that may not be as gung-ho as others. It was unanimous and all city council, all 23 of us and the mayor, fully supported putting that into the Transportation Master Plan. I think part of the issue is, and Coun. Wilkinson hit on it a little bit, a complete street in Kanata is not a complete street in Centretown or in Barrhaven or in Orléans,” Egli said. “It’s going to be different for every community. It’s going to be different for every ward.”
While all city road construction projects that require sewage and water overhaul will have to consider what can be done to make the street more complete, there are financial challenges because the city won’t and can’t pay for it all, and structural ones, because there are rules about what can be done and where, said Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury.
Coun. David Chernushenko spearheaded the proposal for the city’s first complete street. By the time it’s complete sometime in 2016, Main Street will have had traffic lanes removed in parts, sidewalks widened and bike lanes added.
Chernushenko said the vote on the Main Street overhaul, which took place in July 2013, could have been seen as a referendum on the whole policy. If it failed, it would have been thought that council were not ready to support the idea anywhere.
“We needed suburban and rural votes (on council). This could not be a downtown-versus-the-rest scenario,” he said.
The vote passed but still, some of those in the audience at the panel questioned how the transportation divide in urban and suburban wards could be changed.
“How do we convince those councillors, or all of Ottawa, to make that link, so it’s not just theory, it’s practice,” an audience member asked,
“It’s baby steps, and that’s why Main Street was so important,” Egli said.
“Once it’s in place and it’s working, I think we’re going to see a lot more acceptance.”
syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com
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It's being built above of the LRT tunnel so it's in addition to improved transit and connections.
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