Part of Byron Ave in Ottawa recently went through an integrated road, sewer and watermain upgrade. The city used that as an opportunity to upgrade the road with separate bike infrastructure. Rebuilding a road with proper infrastructure for everyone doesn’t cost much extra when the whole road has been pulled up anyway. Let’s have a look.
Preliminary images
The work is not completely finished yet, but as it is past mid November already, I didn’t want to risk that a snowfall is going to spoil my photos. I jumped on the bike last week (yes, in November) to take some pictures of the new raised bike tracks. It might be striped (road paint) by the time you read this, but if the weather turns, the final striping and bike signals at the protected intersection at Kirkwood may not happen until spring.
Where on Byron Ave are the tracks?
Going west to east, the separate bike tracks start a block east from Churchill, itself the first street in Ottawa with permanent separate raised bike tracks back in 2014 as far as I know. I wrote about the Churchill raised bike tracks in November of that year:
From just east of Churchill, the track runs nearly continously until Hilson, a block east of Kirkwood.
The road received a complete overhaul with new 1.80 metre/6 ft wide bike tracks and 1.8 metre wide side walks for a total of approximately 650 meters on each side. The road has two speed humps built in. From what I remember there are two signalised pedestrian crossings.
A break at Byron Ave at Tweetsmuir
Oddly, and I am not entirely sure why, at Tweedsmuir, the bike tracks veer back into the ‘car’ lanes and after the intersection and the pedestrian crossing, they start again as separate bike tracks. I don’t think the intersection is different from the other side street intersections though.
In fact, the road widens but where pedestrians cross you should narrow the road in my opinion, not widen it, so I am really puzzled here. You’ll find a raised asphalt crosswalk at Tweedsmuir, crossing Byron. I have asked the project manager for more insight in this unsafe oddity on November 16. 2023 and will update with an answer here.
Churchill Ave intersection at Byron Ave
I am sure the City will build a proper connection to the Churchill intersection eventually, but it was not part of the sewer replacement and therefore not part of the project. We’ll have to find another budget to cover that (hello, red light camera income).
A nice improvement is the new protected intersection at Kirkwood. As you already saw, the final touches still have to be done. Despite the new intersection, Kirkwood north of the Queensway is not a nice place to bike though.
My usual route is Laperriere and then south on Roosevelt or some variation. Only when I saw the mid rise building built in the back of the Great Canadian Superstore parking lot on Richmond, I realised I hadn’t been here for several years as this was the first time I saw the 6-7 storey midrise.
Resisting a sidewalk off Byron Ave
The project file shows that not everyone was happy with a planned sidewalk on Athlone Ave. Athlone is a dead end street for motorized traffic that continues north as a path through a park towards Clare St. The questions section shows some residents wondered if it isn’t safer to have cars, pedestrians and cyclists to mix on the road rather than separate them. They fear that separation will increase speeding. In a way they are talking about a woonerf, without talking about a woonerf.
Ignored desire line
There is a desire line underneath the hydro lines that crosses Byron towards the Superstore. Unfortunately, the road design doesn’t accommodate this desire line, and I already saw someone crossing there anyway. I also saw a person cycling the wrong direction on the one way bike tracks, because that is simply much shorter than going to the next light and then backtrack. I don’t think it is something to lie awake about though.
The raised tracks are stand alone. They are not connected to other separate cycling infrastructure, although at the Churchill end it is only a block away. But it might serve a neighbourhood purpose. Let me know if and how you would plan to use the raised bike tracks on Byron. Or will you keep riding on the road?
Interested in how Ottawa -Gatineau’s cycling infrastructure looks like? you may want to take a peek here on Ottawa Cycling Maps, with an overview and several maps.
Previous Cycling in Ottawa blogs
- November 7: opening new bike lanes with Ariel Troster
Reading Time: 3 minutesThursday November 7 at 11 am, ride with councillor Troster in Ottawa - Off the Couch: Protest Ride Today
Reading Time: 5 minutesToday, we’ll protest against the new law that forces municipalities to ask permission to build a bike lane if it hinders drivers. And worse, to remove existing bike lanes. - Inaugural Ride in Almonte for 200 km CycleMORE route, June 29, 2024
Reading Time: 3 minutesCycleMORE, the Mississippi and Ottawa Rivers Experience will hold a short ceremony to launch the region’s newest 200 kilometer cycle route at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 29th. Cyclists will begin an inaugural ride from the parking lot of Hummingbird Chocolate in Almonte. - New Rideau River foot bridge is finally open
Reading Time: 6 minutesIt has been a long time coming and part of the time the bridge was just sitting there in place. But since yesterday we can now enjoy a shortcut across the Rideau River at Carleton University, avoiding Billing’s bridge. Read the full story. - The new pathway at the historic Hartwells Locks
Reading Time: 4 minutesLate 2023 a new pathway opened near the Hartwells Locks, but not everyone appears to know about it yet. - Looking for some social, local cycling events this weekend?
Reading Time: 2 minutesIf you feel like going out and socialise on your bike this weekend without donning a jersey and spandex for a ride to Toronto and back, here are some local ideas for casual rides and events.
Great post. I think the design at tweedsmuir has to do forcing cyclists on the bike track to also respect the pedestrian right of way at that crossing. At all other crossings, all three lanes are equal and thru traffic has right of way to any turning traffic. At tweedsnuir, pedestrians turning the cross have right of way and the other two lanes (bike and car) have to cede.
One problem I notice already on the south side, where the houses are, is that the total width of the sidewalk, bike track and small grass section now allows some homes to park a second car there. Even if only briefly, it still forces pedestrians and cyclists to go around sometimes even stepping down on the road to pass. In that sense, the old narrows sidewalk was better for safety because it was so narrow that it did not allow for people to park a second car, so it stay unimpeded.
Even when cycle tracks and new sidewalks are installed, the primary driving force of the design is…car drivers. There is no recognition of the desire line behind loblaws as it isn’t a permitted car movement, there no other mode of travel needs to be considered.
I suspect the odd design of interrupted intersection at tweedsmuir has to do with the lack of traffic signals for cars.
The sign showing an intersection with cycle crossing to the right is subject to various mis interpretations.
I ride in the area frequently but I am not fond of the Byron (especially Tweedsmuir) design. I have been sticking to the old path on the north side of the road. Maybe with some extensions, improvements and time I will change my mind. I feel very vulnerable on those raised tracks (Churchill) when I approach an intersection, I don’t trust impatient, inattentive drivers and I worry that I will be right hooked.
another great post! Bedankt