living in ottawa

Ottawa’s inner greenbelt bike commute approaches 5%

January 9, 2018 Hansonthebike 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…]

Canadensis Ottawa

A Visit to Canadensis at the Experimental Farm

September 15, 2017 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutesBetween Hartwell’s Locks, the Fletcher Wildlife Garden and Prince of Wales is a small corner of land that is being used for Canadensis, a small botanical exhibit with several art installations themed around nature. Karen and I have been cycling past it dozens of times and recently we finally decided to park our bikes to check it out. (It’s free after all). We had noticed the banner from the road, but we were always on our way to something or someone. It is a true gem. Access is from the Experimental Farm pathway that leads off Prince of Wales towards [Read more…]

Dafne is an athlete from the Netherlands who holds the 200 meter world record sprint (photo Lee Jin-man/AP)

“Dafne Schippers” Bridge Ramp Built over a School

April 6, 2017 Hansonthebike 2

Reading Time: 3 minutesMark Wagenbuur wrote about it already a while ago when the bridge was being constructed, but now the new Dafne Schippers bridge in the Netherlands is officially in use. The bridge crosses the important Amsterdam-Rijn canal, connecting Amsterdam’s harbours with its hinterland in Europe. The canal is a considerable barrier and with a growing number of people living across the canal, this bridge was needed as part of the bike route from Leidsche Rijn (I loosely call it a suburb) to Utrecht Centre. The Amsterdam Rijn canal is a 72 km waterway and opened only in 1952. The part north [Read more…]

Dream start of 45th NCC Sunday Bike Day Season

May 18, 2015 Hansonthebike 4

Reading Time: 5 minutesIt seemed like everyone was out cycling yesterday. Sunday May 17 was the first day of the Alcatel Lucent NCC Sunday Bike Days. The weather couldn’t have been better. Sunday, sunny, low humidity (under 40%) and 24 C/75F by 5 pm. And the numbers showed it: over 5000 bike rides were counted near Canal Ritz on the Sunday before Victoria Day Monday by the underground bike counters, and many more were cycling on the road as the paths were overcrowded. It was one of those perfect days in Ottawa. The NCC (a federal agency) closes 25 km of roads in [Read more…]

South Keys, Ottawa: the End of the Parking Lot?

May 7, 2015 Hansonthebike 3

Reading Time: 5 minutes  In my previous blog, I wrote about ‘Retrofitting Suburbia’, a 2009 book by Ellen Dunham – Jones and June Williamson. They describe how older suburban malls from around 50 years ago, when the car was still seen as the solution to many perceived problems, rather than the cause of many problems, can be successfully retrofitted into new town centres, including housing, entertainment, work spaces etc. 3000 parking spots A number of US mall owners have been rethinking the traditional model of the mall as we know it. They are interested in intensification; this naturally leaves less surface space for [Read more…]

An infographic with data on Cycling in Ottawa

Infographic: Cycling in Ottawa

January 21, 2015 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 4 minutesA few years ago, I wrote -as president of our local bike advocacy group- a letter to City Council in which we mentioned that (I believe) 23,000 bike rides were counted on Laurier Bike Lane (at Metcalfe) between November 2011 and March 2012. These numbers were collected by in-ground bicycle counters. At the next council meeting (or perhaps Transportation Committee, I don’t remember), one councillor asked about these numbers; he refused to believe the numbers and city staff was tasked to come up with the numbers instead. Of course, we were using the same data source and city staff must have rolled [Read more…]

Central Experimental Farm Under Threat Once Again

November 17, 2014 Hansonthebike 0

Reading Time: 7 minutesSo another part of the Central Experimental Farm is lopped off. I thought that heritage status would have protected the Farm from further deterioration, but no, it appears that heritage status means nothing. I have been cycling over the Farm for years and it is by far the best part of my commute. The maximum speed is 30 km/h but most drivers go faster. I’d like to see that enforced better, as it is a working farm,  but five cars on a three km stretch is still a great cycling experience. But what is more important is that when you pass through [Read more…]