Welcome Guest! In order to take advantage of all the great features that Waterloo Region Connected has to offer, including participating in the lively discussions below, you're going to have to register. The good news is that it'll take less than a minute and you can get started enjoying Waterloo Region's best online community right away. Login or Create an Account
Quote:Reevely: Ottawa looks to save builders (and buyers) millions on new subdivisions
We can save millions of dollars on new suburban roads by building bike tracks next to them instead of painting bike lanes on them, the city has realized.
It’s part of a big package of ideas for making Ottawa’s new subdivisions cheaper to construct that planners and developers have been working on for years, and probably the most obviously smart.
Roads for cars and trucks are paved atop layer after layer of stabilizing foundation; they have to withstand years of pressure from thousands of pounds of rubber and glass and metal. A cyclist weighs a couple of hundred pounds at most, and there’s no point, the city has realized, in building a road extra wide only to reserve a metre on either side of it for bikes. Cycle tracks next to sidewalks, on beds built to the lighter sidewalk standards, are good enough.
Better, in fact, because most cyclists prefer to be up and away from car traffic, protected from motor vehicles by more than a line of paint. So the city can save $41 for every metre of road we build by doing what cyclists want anyway.
Hopefully this discovery will lead to more off-road bike paths along major arterials. While I may use an onroad bike lane when biking solo, I refuse to dare to pull a children's trailer along an onroad bike lane.
Quote:Reevely: Ottawa looks to save builders (and buyers) millions on new subdivisions
Roads for cars and trucks are paved atop layer after layer of stabilizing foundation; they have to withstand years of pressure from thousands of pounds of rubber and glass and metal. A cyclist weighs a couple of hundred pounds at most, and there’s no point, the city has realized, in building a road extra wide only to reserve a metre on either side of it for bikes. Cycle tracks next to sidewalks, on beds built to the lighter sidewalk standards, are good enough.
Better, in fact, because most cyclists prefer to be up and away from car traffic, protected from motor vehicles by more than a line of paint. So the city can save $41 for every metre of road we build by doing what cyclists want anyway.
On new roads this makes sense. On existing roads, though, it's probably more expensive than reusing the main road surface. (Not to argue that it wouldn't be better, though.)
(06-04-2017, 08:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: So I just noticed, the committee meeting tomorrow for Kitchener has on it's agenda, a tender for reconstructing Mill St. from Ottawa to Courtland.
(06-04-2017, 08:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: So I just noticed, the committee meeting tomorrow for Kitchener has on it's agenda, a tender for reconstructing Mill St. from Ottawa to Courtland.
06-05-2017, 10:28 AM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2017, 10:39 AM by panamaniac.)
(06-05-2017, 09:50 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(06-05-2017, 09:46 AM)panamaniac Wrote: No mention of sidewalks either, it seems.
I think it does mention sidewalks. Are there not currently sidewalks on that section?
I hope you are right. There are no sidewalks on the "north" side of Mill between the Joy townhouse development and Ottawa St (!), or on the "south" side of Mill between Heiman and Stirling.
06-05-2017, 10:43 AM (This post was last modified: 06-05-2017, 10:47 AM by panamaniac.)
(06-05-2017, 09:33 AM)Coke6pk Wrote: Just came back from a weekend in Ottawa, and I saw these for the first time. (If they are not new, then I just haven't noticed them):
Bike lanes have their own traffic signals: (Sorry for the lack of focus)
The traffic signals can be prioritized with sensors in the pavement for you to park over:
Coke
From a motorist's perspective, it is a bit daunting to turn left across that new two-way bike lane (I know that I proceed with maximum caution). There was an accident and some other incidents when it opened earlier this year, but things seem to have settled down. I think the bicyclists approaching from behind realize that a car signalling a left turn may not have good visibility of their approach.
(06-04-2017, 08:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: So I just noticed, the committee meeting tomorrow for Kitchener has on it's agenda, a tender for reconstructing Mill St. from Ottawa to Courtland.
(06-04-2017, 08:09 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: So I just noticed, the committee meeting tomorrow for Kitchener has on it's agenda, a tender for reconstructing Mill St. from Ottawa to Courtland.
