03-20-2017, 09:48 AM
(03-20-2017, 09:32 AM)Section ThirtyOne Wrote: Went for a ride yesterday and was very surprised to find that the rebuilt Courtland Avenue has not included any bike lanes. Is there going to be a MUT or something that is not yet finished?
It was a lovely day for a ride!
Sadly no plans to include any trails AFAIK. Worth remembering about the LRT is it saw most of the scoping and planning nearly 10 years ago, before we really had modern bike plans. It's still an unfortunate oversight, and I think long term there is some wish for some infrastructure, but given that the road has been rebuilt, it'll be a while.
In the nearer term however, the trails along Courtland from Bedford through to Hayward will be upgraded, paved, and improved very soon (before the end of this summer). The LRT project includes a MUT along Hayward, and then there is another trail south through the Peter Hallman Ballyard, which ends rather abruptly. The plan is to continue this trail to meet Manitou, and also connect with the new-ish trails around Balzar Rd. I hope that the plan will also include connecting the Hydro corridor trail (along the LRT ROW), to Balzar Rd., and then the area will have pretty good off road connectivity, and I think the need for a Courtland connection will be reduced. But we'll see if that actually happens.
In other news, due to the nice weather, I also went out for a ride and checked out the new bike lanes on Ottawa, and the new lanes on Manitou. I have uploaded video of the lanes, and will follow up this week with a blog post on my analysis. Short answer, is, they're pretty good, especially the segregated lanes, but the region still has a few bad design habits.
Manitou:
https://youtu.be/8JUEZCg0rzI
Ottawa:
https://youtu.be/2EzO6aiICAQ