General Road and Highway Discussion

[Thenewsroom99]

Coming from downtown. But I forgot, with the Avalon Pl bridge going in it will make the Laurentian trail accessible without going through any of the roundabouts or on busy roads.

I remember on ATAC they discussed the intersection of Ottawa and Westmount. What a surreal meeting. The consultant told us (and I am not paraphrasing here) that council made a very unusual ask of them, that council asked them to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders OVER that of motor vehicles. They felt this was wild and unprecedented. They then proceeded to explain, without a hint of irony, how they were going to install a traffic circle in order to meet the needs of projected traffic flow. I asked them, but you know this traffic circle is worse for pedestrians and cyclists, and they explained that they had no choice because it was needed for traffic.

I have never had a conversation more literally close to this parody from Chuck Marohn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9BUyWVg1xI

I live in the area of Westmount and Ottawa and a lot of neighbours around me are very upset about the roundabout. For the most part, everyone agrees that Ottawa from Westmount to Fischer-Hallman is in rough shape and needs to be rebuilt. But, given how dense the area is with pedestrians and people who are relying on cycling and transit to get around, it really does feel like the Region once again prioritized vehicles and traffic throughput over the safety of everyone else. 

The original traffic study (if one was done, I can't find the results) would be from 2018/2019 when the project was first proposed and the PCC was held. 

https://icreate7.esolutionsgroup.ca/1111...ackage.pdf

Did the Project Team consider improvements to the existing signalized intersection of Ottawa Street and Westmount Road? Why was a roundabout selected instead? The existing signalized intersection is a significant traffic bottleneck with severe levels of congestion and queues at various times of day. The Project Team considered several signalized intersection improvement concepts, ranging from minor geometric improvements to major expansions. A traffic analysis of various alternatives indicated that even with a major expansion of the intersection, the underlying system bottlenecks would prevent any meaningful improvement in the performance of the intersection. Additionally, pedestrian crossing distances and transfer distances for GRT users would increase substantially. In contrast, a detailed traffic analysis indicated that the intersection performance could be increased substantially through implementation of a two-lane roundabout.

If the data is 5+ years old, I'd say that a lot has changed since then.

I also reached out to Jason, the Project Manager for the project and asked if enhanced safety features would be introduced at Ottawa/Westmount given the number of pedestrians in the area, two busy plazas, two schools, etc. My email was forwarded to someone on the Engineering team who sent me a standard, boilerplate response and did not address my questions:

Currently there are plans to install flashing lights at four existing roundabout crossings, which may help pedestrians cross, but studies will have to be undertaken on their effectiveness before they are implemented at all crossings.  The Highway Traffic Act (HTA) will also be have to be updated Provincially before things can be finalized.

Please note that the Region has installed Level 2 Pedestrian Crossovers, Type D, which constitute regulatory signs and pavement markings, at all roundabouts on both the approach and leaving legs at all roundabouts within the Region.  Motorists are required by law to stop for pedestrians when they are crossing the roundabout. 

If motorists are not stopping at a location, please contact the Waterloo Regional Police Service to consider enforcement of the signs via the following link:

https://www.wrps.on.ca/en/services-repor...ting-.aspx

I've reached out to my local Regional Counsellors but I doubt anything will change.