Report that pothole to 311 with Neappoli
Reading Time: 3 minutesReporting potholes is now a breeze with the new Neappoli app. Send location and photos right from the location with your cell phone.
Advocacy
Elections 2018: Ward 9 Knoxdale – Merivale
Reading Time: 8 minutesOver the last two months, the Advocacy Working Group of Bike Ottawa put together a survey among all candidates for councillor and mayor for the 2018 elections to see where they are standing on traffic safety and particularly cycling. They were asked questions about connectivity, budgeting and if they actually cycle themselves. Good news There is a lot of good news. The vast majority of the candidates cycle and believe we need more connections to parks and facilities, stores etc. They also believe that winter ploughing of pathways for pedestrians and cyclists would promote active transportation and many think we [Read more…]
The mystery of the Adàwe Crossing cycling numbers
Reading Time: 3 minutesGone are the days that councillor Fleury walked through the Rideau river on his way to university following a self imposed desire line. Now there is the Adàwe crossing. And it is hugely popular. To get a better idea of its success, I took a belated look at the 2016 and 2017 data of the cycling and walking trips on the new bridge. The data is available from the City of Ottawa Open Data repository. (update: after I connected with the city about the suspicious data, it turns out the data the city provides in the spreadsheets is not correct, [Read more…]
How About a 2nd Billings Bridge in Old Ottawa South?
Reading Time: 3 minutesA hotly debated area for safe cycling in Ottawa is the intersection at Riverside and the Billings Bridge, built in 1916. According to BikeOttawa’s website, the intersection at the south side is the one that has the most reported collisions in Ottawa, including a deadly one, when Meg Dussault was waiting on her bicycle at a cramped sidewalk/MUP and a right turning truck caught her bars. Vision Zero From a Sustainable Safety or Vision Zero point of view, this intersection needs to be changed, so that this can never happen again. There are plans to build a path underneath the [Read more…]
Harmer Bridge Replacement: Lack of Clear Policy
Reading Time: 5 minutesFor 55 years, the Harmer bridge over the Queensway served walking and cycling citizens on both sides of the Queensway, but this month it will be closed and removed in order to build a new bridge. The old bridge over the Queensway will be removed overnight and the new one eventually put in place overnight. The replacement will take two years though, ‘because two new ramps need to be build’. (The 12 km LRT, partly underground, will take just under six years) No alternative to Harmer Bridge Unfortunately, there is no close safe alternative to cross the Queensway. The initial [Read more…]
I Cycled with an Astronaut through Downtown Ottawa
Reading Time: 5 minutesUpdate January 21, 2121: the GG resigned after allegations of creating a toxic work environment. Wednesday June 27, I got a phone call from the office of the Governor General of Canada.: if I would like to join GG Julie Payette on a short bike ride on Canada Day. The Governor General is the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II in countries that recognize the Queen as Head of State. Which Canada does. The role of the GG is ceremonial and they are appointed every four years; sometimes a fifth year is added. Astronaut Payette The current Governor General is [Read more…]
Cycling in Quebec: don’t get caught without reflectors!
Reading Time: 6 minutesIn Quebec province a new law aims to make cycling safer. More reflectors on your bike, cycling with prudence on cross walks, no more demerit points for cyclists, no more signalling of an intention to stop for cyclists, hands on the bar override signalling when needed. Read more about the details here: some good and some questionable regulations. July 2, 2018 UPDATE from Steve Truttmann: Out cycling on the Quebec side yesterday morning, a QPP officer kindly told me that I must now remove my ear buds, law is now in effect. I was advised they will crack down on [Read more…]
The downside of el cheapo free bike lights
Reading Time: 3 minutesBike Ottawa, Safer Roads Ottawa and others have been handing out free bike lights for many years now. As I often volunteer, somehow I always end up with yet another set of lights. I am using the lights myself, or hand them out to visitors who arrived by bike and forgot to bring a light. The lights last about a year and run on two CR 2032 batteries. Turtle lights This week, I was emptying out our kitchen drawer and collected a dozen turtle lights. Most of them didn’t work anymore. I was going to replace the batteries but it [Read more…]
The Maitland Overpass: the cycling issue with on ramps and slip lanes
Reading Time: 6 minutesLast week I spent some time at the Maitland overpass open house at the most unknown arena in Ottawa, the J. Alph Dulude arena. When you Google his name, nothing but arena results come up, plus 48 restaurants ‘near JA Dulude arena’. So if you know more, let me know. Update: Christopher send me this information when I put this blog out: It was a small and quiet open house, with only a handful of panels. However, I did manage to talk to a few staff, councillor Jeff Leiper and Giacomo Panico (not in function, he stressed), as well as [Read more…]
Ottawa’s inner greenbelt bike commute approaches 5%
Reading Time: 7 minutesOttawa is a large place. We have a photo of my wife’s father standing in front of a row of brand new houses. The trees behind him look about 5 years old at the most. He is four years old and the neighborhood is called Old Ottawa South. ‘Old’ was likely added later as there was no New Ottawa South. Ottawa stopped at Billings Brickyards, now Billings Bridge Mall; Altavista didn’t exist. We are talking about the mid 1920’s. The automobile was just 40 years old. Amalgamation Through amalgamation Ottawa is now ridiculously large. Several small European countries fit together [Read more…]