Greenbank pathway repaved
I biked out to see how the freshly paved Greenbank pathway looked like. It is not a place I go often, but I do remember it was in very poor shape. Here is a before and after picture. The before picture was made by Heather in 2017 for Mapillary.com. You can find many photos of pathways in our city on Mapillary.com, courtesy of local cyclists who photographed pretty much all pathways (and roads!) in Ottawa and many in Gatineau.
On my way back, I passed a spot along Hunt Club, east of Woodroffe (I was cycling on the parallel pathway) where an 18 wheeler got off the road, over the curb, into the bushes and through a sound barrier. Be glad you didn’t bike in the bike lane there when that happened. Allthought the paint should have protected you.
‘Don’t Walk your Bike’ signs in Quebec
I have noticed now in several locations that Quebec is not too concerned about sharing a crosswalk with cyclists. They even have signs to tell you that you can do so. I think it is a good idea: it is a simple solution that doesn’t cost a thing and immediately takes away a lot of irritation. It doesn’t have to be at every crosswalk, just the ones that are on bike routes.
Walking your bike on a crosswalk is silly, few people do it and from what I have observed over the years, it is just fine. Just spent some time on the corner of Prince of Wales and Preston. On the other hand, I do notice that Quebec often put ‘Walk your bike’ signs out at bridges with a wooden deck, but I think that is more out of concern for a slippery surface when it is wet and/or freezing.
Ottawa – New York Railway comment
Once in a while I am getting feedback on my website. It is nice to see that real people read about Ottawa rather than just bots hitting the website. Here is a comment from someone who enjoyed my article about the fairly short lived Ottawa – New York Railway.
A truly superlative dissertation on the Ottawa & NY Railway which has always interested me. I worked for 28 years at uOttawa in Colonel By Hall which is located on top of the former railway terminus!
You can find a remnant of the route in Russell and Embrun, where the railway right of way has been turned into a path running quite central through the villages, linking neighbourhoods, schools and a sports arena.
Yellow dots
I am that guy who likes to educate people about the yellow dots. Despite that those dots have been around for a while and since several years even accompanied by signs with instructions, I noticed cyclists still push the pedestrian button to get across. I have heard that ‘the yellow dots don’t work‘ (it is actually the wire underneath the dots that senses the metal of your bike) but I personally have not encountered that. It is just that you have to be super patient (I know) sometimes.
In fact, stopping at the dots at Hartwells Locks where you cross Prince of Wales, the dots (the wires) are faster (as fast as 15 seconds sometimes) as it assumed you are a Farm vehicle that needs to get across. Pushing the pedestrian button lets you wait longer. Remember, if you leave the dots too early, the signal controller assumes you turned right and that you are no longer waiting at the light.
Repaving Grant Carman
Grant Carman is a road behind the Merivale malls on the east side. It is part of the Greenway, that runs mostly parallel to Merivale. The route allows you to bypass Merivale relatively safely and to access the malls via the several side streets. It was recently repaved and restriped. The difference is that it used to be a wide lane for cars each way, measured from the centre of the road, and whatever was leftover was bike lane, even if it meant it was only 3 feet wide in places. Coun. Devine’s office turned it around and asked to paint the bike lanes first to a standard size of 1.80 meter and what ever was left (more than enough by the way) is now car lane. It feels like car traffic is slower now, but I can not prove that obviously.
This is a nice example of the councillor stepping in. It didn’t cost a penny extra and allows for wider bike lanes. Drivers being drivers, some cut corners in the somewhat wavy road, but several Flexiposts will be installed in the near future (next spring?) to make sure that doesn’t happen.
New underpass at Churchill
You may have passed it already, but a few weeks ago I went to check out the new underpass at the north end of Churchill Ave underneath the Parkway, connecting Churchill Ave with the Ottawa River pathways. There used to be a path where you could cross the parkway, but obviously while that worked in the seventies, it did not in today’s age anymore. I am less excited about the graffiti, but I guess I am just getting old.
The first trans continent drive
We stumbled on a Ken Burns documentary about Horatio Nelson Jackson, the first person to drive across the US. It is worth watching it for free on Kanopy.com (via your library card) or PBS, if only to see stretches of the US without any roads (particularly in the West), and this in a time when my grandfather was already alive and only just over 30 years before my own father was born. Jackson took lots of photos, which are cool to see on their own, with people looking at a car for the first time in their lives. It made us realise how incredibly transformative the car has been in just over 120 years. Naturally, lots of ‘Ken Burns effects’ in the documentary!
NCC Bike night
Inspired by Montreal’s popular Tour La Nuit event, this special nighttime bike ride along the Queen Elizabeth Driveway and Colonel By Drive welcomes cyclists of all ages and experience levels. We have had a few Bike Light Nights before, but organising it is a lot of work for a handful of volunteers. (Shout out to Richard Louch for past events). Starting in Confederation Park on September 13 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Registering is encouraged but not mandatory. Bring all the lights you have in your drawer. This is a free event. Details here.
Coming up on October 8 at 5 pm: Bike Day on the Hill.
Trailer for hire
Bixi in Montreal very recently added a small fleet of locally built trailers to their assortment of bikes. I just happened to see one when I was in Montreal last week. They are designed so that they can fit in the same locked racks as the Bixi bikes. That heavy looking upright part is part of the trailer and is necessary to lock the trailer in. The trailer attaches to the bike with the usual arm to the seat post. If you look carefully, you can see the arm hanging down in the rest position: you pull it up when you are going to use it.
Ottawa Public Library
If you haven’t been downtown recently, here is a photo I took yesterday of the new Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. The scaffolding is gone, so this is pretty much how it will look like. On the left you can see the multi use pathway. It runs down to halfway the hill, then you are supposed to cross to the other side. But you can’t for a while, because there is construction happening at the other side of the road, and the pathway and sidewalk are closed. Extremely confusing. On that topic, I wanted to bike underneath the Portage bridge along the Ottawa River towards the War museum, but that too was closed. Was that announced in advance when you can still choose to take another route? No. (Edit, Maria of Escape Bicycle Tours informed me if you follow the path towards the Navy monument and then hang left, you can cross underneath where the Mill St. Brewery parking lot is and then continue).
Don’t rely on social media alone for your cycling information
Traditional media in Ottawa rarely report on cycling anymore. But there is a lot happening. Stuff is being built, advocacy events are being organised. Have a new post delivered right in your inbox by subscribing below. It is free. Because it is so easy to end up in a negative echo chamber.
Some posts about cycling in the Netherlands
- A Bicycle Shed in Your Front Yard
Reading Time: 4 minutesCycling through Dutch towns, I started to notice more and more bike sheds in front yards. Back home, I took a look at the Dutch rules for building them and they are pretty relaxed about them. Let’s see how they look like and what is allowed. - You can now see the ‘Fietsberaad’ website in Canada
Reading Time: 2 minutesFor the longest time we were not able to access two important Dutch cycling websites, but this has now changed. And you can sign up for their newsletter. - Dutch health experts increasingly vocal about helmet use
Reading Time: 6 minutesDutch authorities are increasingly worried about the rise in traffic deaths among seniors on e-bikes. They would like to see Dutch seniors and children starting to wear helmets. That’s not an easy task. - Escape from Amsterdam: Zutphen
Reading Time: 4 minutesMost of the cycling images you see on social media are from the western part of the Netherlands. But let me take you to a much more laid back part of the Netherlands. - Cat eye lights built into a road (with video)
Reading Time: 2 minutesRecently I was driving and cycling in the Netherlands and I noticed a very cool and cheap safety solution: cat eyes in the road. - A boat and bike trip in the Netherlands
Reading Time: 10 minutesBoat and Bike tours are popular in Europe. We tried it for a few days and were positively impressed: while you travel, your hotel travels with you.
Discover more from Hans on the Bike - Cycling in Ottawa and beyond
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Love your news letter.
Too bad the LRT is closed all weekend, getting from downtown later in the evening would have been so much easier after Bike Lite Night.
Thank you. Yes that is too bad. Would the bike racks on the bus be an alternative?
I love that Quebec allows cyclists to use pedestrian signals. I saw places in Ontario that had to use bicycle signals to achieve the same thing, and it sometimes looks so cluttered as a result! Our HTA is seriously out of date.
I personally would prefer that the crosswalks that bikes are allowed to use also have elephant’s feet on the sides so that pedestrians can tell that bikes also use the crosswalk, and people riding bikes know which way the pathway goes.
Elephant feet are always better, but I suspect it requires bike signals, which means at least two on each side (failover) and the cost just goes up quickly. And that is just one crossing.
Fair. I’m not famailiar with Quebec’s rules regarding this kind of stuff.
I’ve that Ontario doesn’t actually required dual bike signal heads anymore, though. I’ve heard that this part of Reg 626 has been cited as an exception. “A bicycle traffic control signal installed at an intersection shall be located on the far side of the intersection from which vehicles are approaching and an additional bicycle traffic control signal may be located on the near side of the intersection from which vehicles are approaching. O. Reg. 408/15, s. 1 (2).”
The Ontario Traffic Manual says that there “should” be two bicycle signals if there’s a separate bicycle phase, but if bikes and motor vehicles proceed concurrently they can just be treated as auxiliary vehicle signals, meaning that one may be sufficient.