Category Archives: Laurier Ave

Sherbourne Ave segregated bike lane, Toronto

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In 2012 Toronto converted some painted bike lanes on Sherbourne Street to a segregated bike lane.

Sherbourne runs parallel to Yonge Street, and is about 8 blocks east of Yonge, running from Bloor to Front Street. A walk along the bike track proved interesting.

Immediately south of Bloor, the track commences as a curbside painted lane, that then drifts out from the curb and becomes green painted. There is an orphan bit of black asphalt between it and the curb, with faded zebra hatching marks on it, but I was unable to determine if this was a right turn lane (awfully narrow) or a side boulevard or ….  Perhaps just being a rube from the hicks blinded me to its obvious purpose, but it did make me wonder just how other motorists, visitors, and many not-too-bright drivers might see and interpret this situation.

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The stopped taxi in the picture above didn’t seem too concerned about where he might be and questions about the legality of the situation ..

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A short bit further south, the situation became much more apparent. A low concrete mound-like curb appeared, to separate the cycle track from the motorist road. Where there is a segregating curb, the track was not painted green. Here is a close up of the mound curb, which was covered with skid marks and tire tracks, showing evidence of abundant and frequent vehicle crossings, no doubt a goodly number by Grand and Toy and UPS trucks:

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Maybe it is apparent to transportation planners what all the different bits of road markings mean, but on site I thought there were way too many things to interpret: solid green paths, green lined paths, raised curbs, flat curbs, dotted merge lines, yellow bits, sharrows, diamonds … surely it would have been easier for everyone to have just painted the thing green everywhere! In this case, there was so much noise in the messages that the key points were lost.

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Bicycle tracks on the west side

A new sign has appeared on Albert Street near Empress (by the Good Companions, aka where Albert and Slater meet). It directs cyclists south along Empress, and up the stairs to get to Laurier.

Now I recognize that this is a way to get to Laurier. And more specifically, the Laurier SBL. But after you hike your bike up hundreds of stairs (using the bike trough on the side of the steps), you arrive at the bottom of a steep hill. Walk up that, and you are at Primrose. Go east one block, north another block on Cambridge, then east again a short block to reach Bronson and the start of the Laurier SBL. Which promptly goes back down the hill.

It seems to me to be a lot of effort and circuitous perambulations to get to a point that is just a few hundred feet east of where you started on Albert. For not much benefit. Here’s an historic photo I stole  from Urbsite that shows what a straight line Laurier is (from the top of the hill) to the section of Albert on the Flats down below. A staircase up this hill might have been worth it, but not the circuitous one now suggested by the city, which sends one on a long detour to get to this spot. The merits of this route is discussed in http://denvan.ca/wp/nanny-goat-path/

(above: the three-porched-row house at the bottom of the concrete wall is now where Good Companions is. )

Personally, I’m not thrilled with either route. They are very uphill, only to go downhill again a block later. I consider myself an expert at finding the flat route between points. Cycling routes that don’t consider the grade, just don’t make the grade for me.

It’s much less hill climbing and descending to simply ride along Slater (if you like that sort of vehicular cycling). Or cycle up the Albert contra flow lane or even the sidewalk (I don’t mind, if you do it carefully). Both these options take you a more modest grade.

And in the City’s longer term traffic plans (ie beyond 2018), the Slater alignment will be abandoned, and Slater moved over to share the Albert right of way, which will be unnecessarily wide once the transitway is removed. There is a drawing of this realignment at http://westsideaction.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/civic-gateways-absense-of/     Logic would suggest that the old Slater right of way would make a great, gentle slope bike path along the edge of the forested escarpment, while keeping a bit separated from heavy road traffic. Sounds great to me.

Ahh, but then how to get to Laurier? Typically, you can’t get there from here.

At least, not until the bike path is constructed on some sort of diagonal through the old Tech High School playing fields to reach Laurier around Percy Street. Sigh. At least there is some sort of possible linkage, given time, will, and funding.

So, back to the staircases.

The Empress staircase has the “old model” trough for wheeling a bike up (or down) the stairs. Over on Bayview, the City widened the short concrete stair there by about 18″ to permit the installation of this trough, which comes complete with Zebra Stripes. I saw some teens riding their bikes down this trough, which would be tough to do on the Empress stairs.

But in case someone wants to try, here is the view down the Empress stairs. Navigating the bumps and chicanes at each landing merely adds a frisson of challenge to the task.

Look closely in the above photo, and you will see a cyclist approaching Mount Staircase. Do they expect the magnitude of the climb ahead of them?

Digging up the Laurier SBL

Cyclists on the Laurier separated bike lane (SBL) should have noticed some discrete trenching going on in the lane.

Apparently using a saw blade, a narrow trench is being cut along the curb that separates the lane from other traffic:

The work is being done at night, so trench itself constitutes the evidence. Every so often, there is another cut at right angles, going towards an adjacent building. To keep debris out of the trench until the cables can be installed, a plastic cap is put on:

The  fibre optics cable that is being installed by Globility (Primus) and they have pretty much  finished their work on Laurier Ave.     The project includes Laurier as well as Albert, Slater, Kent, Bank, O’Connor and Metcalfe.  The entire project should be completed by mid September.

 

 

The City is monitoring much more than cycle traffic on Laurier

The Citizen reports today * that the City and Carleton U are monitoring cyclist and motorist behaviour along the Laurier separated bike lane (SBL). They are using video equipment to record behaviour of individual users and interactions amongst users.

The citizen story doesn’t tell us HOW they are doing this, or give us the larger picture. Here is a photo overview of one video camera installation. The camera set up was used to record 100 hours of the intersection, then moved to the next, til all 8 Laurier intersections were monitored.

(above): the recording device consists of some equipment boxes at the base, a yellow clamp attaching it all to a stationary object, and the very tall thin pole. The camera is at the top of the pole, as shown in this pic:

(Above) looking way – way – up, Jerome, the monitoring camera is quite small at the top of the pole. Coincidentally, the regular signal pole right beside it has a much larger real-time camera used by the traffic signals branch to monitor traffic congestion and modify the light sequences to speed up rush hour traffic.

Here is a close up of the equipment at the base. Presumably the battery pack and recording or transmission equipment:

The equipment pictures above were taken 12 October, 2011, when I first noticed the equipment along the Laurier SBL. I asked Colin Simpson what was being monitored and why, the city told me basically what is in today’s Citizen story, and the City asked me not to write about it since knowledge of the observation might influence the subjects’ behaviours.

But the observation of behaviour is not limited to the Laurier SBL. It is being conducted at other intersections too. For example, I saw the same equipment installed on different sides of the Rideau – King Edward intersection.  I recall the King Edward installation well because I was with a city infrastructure official at the time, and we speculated what was being monitored. I have seen it installed elsewhere too, but cannot recollect just where.

There is no doubt much to be learned about the behaviour of motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, tourists, cycle couriers, delivery truck drivers … I wonder how detailed the analysis would be since overall categories like “cyclist” or “pedestrian” can have numerous subsets that will affect behaviour. For example, female cyclists are now widely seen as an indicator species of infrastructure perceived safety. No doubt tourists behave differently from resident pedestrians, who might differ in behaviour by function (going to work vs lunch stroll vs walking to a meeting vs going home).

I hope that one day we will get the whole story of what was seen and learned, and not just the Laurier SBL which continues to be the focus of media attention.

*  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/News/Ottawa/Video+analysis+will+reveal+impact+Laurier+Avenue+bike+lanes/6995862/story.html

Major changes coming to downtown streets

The current downtown Ottawa is rather blah. Some might even call it bleh. Over the decades, it has become a motor-vehicle-oriented environment, with the fast movement of vehicles the main only priority. We all know about the walls of buses. And the priority given to automobile commuters over pedestrians. Trees: rare as hen’s teeth. It has become a downtown one goes to because you have to. It is not a shopping, or even much of a recreation destination. All rather sad.

When the LRT is opened, there will be major changes. Most OC Transpo buses will be off the Albert and Slater bus lanes. What do we do with the freed-up space? Recall too that the current bus stops disgorge pedestrians at many locations; the LRT will deliver huge crowds, all at once, at limited locations.

So Council directed that the Downtown Moves study be conducted, to integrate urban design and transportation strategy, and to restore the balance among street users [in council's actual words]. Most people can understand that a vibrant downtown doesn’t  come from wider roads, faster traffic, or “getting everyone out” as quickly as possible ( I exclude from this understanding some select minority voices).

The Downtown Moves study isn’t about just tinkering with the core. It’s a major rewrite opportunity, to reallocate space, to refresh the downtown sidewalks and streets for the next 50 to 100 years. Thus far, the working teams have not been timid. So it is time to look at some of the suggested streetscapes.

Note: these are working documents only, in progress sketches, and may not be the final designs. They will evolve under pressure from various factions. So how well are we moving towards the grand statement:

“Our downtown is about to undergo a transformation that will define a new identity and be the foundation for its prosperity for coming generations. The investment in Light Rail Transit will open and sustain a new pursuit of civic and national pride in the urban quality of our capital City. Our downtown streets will be reoriented to favour and comfort pedestrians, cyclists and transit users, recognizing that all travellers end and start their trip on foot. With this healthy and active orientation, our streets themselves will begin to be praised as among our city’s most coveted public spaces that in turn spark investment and that are befitting of the highest quality of buildings and open spaces along them”.

Queen Street will be a key street to the future. Currently the only two-way street downtown, it is a fairly claustrophobic, narrow canyon. It is a minor street destined to become the main pedestrian experience. The north sidewalks are very narrow east of Bank Street. The exit stairways and elevators to the underground stations will come up in what is now the parking lane on the south side of Queen (pic below).  There will be loss of some on street parking and planners have to figure out how to disperse crowds of 5000 people per hour. The sunny side of the street is the north side.

The sketch below has been marked up in a workshop focus group. The north parking lane is gone, replaced by wider sidewalks and pedestrian amenities. The south side parking lane is now paved in the same material as the sidewalks, and may even be at the same level as the sidewalk, separated from it by removable bollards, so that the parking lane can be incorporated into extra-wide sidewalks for events like Canada Day. Cyclists mix with traffic; and in the distance you can see a typical stairway entry to the LRT just beyond the two parked cars. Street furniture (ie mail boxes, benches, light posts, signs) will be all aligned with the trees to maintain the clearest possible sidewalks.

 

Two blocks north is Wellington. In the working sketch below (and remember, no decisions have been made…) there is a two-way bike lane suggested on the north side of Wellington. This helps make a more complete network of bike-friendly streets in the downtown connecting the major tourist points (bixi-bike tourism) and the major paths that approach the downtown but seldom connect with each other (this bidirectional bike lane would connect the Confederation Boulevard bike circuit, to the Alexandra and Portage Bridge bike lanes, etc). The two way path alignment was selected to minimize conflict with turning vehicles (the north side has few turn opportunities, and will apparently have fewer in the future as the Parliament Hill security perimeter expands) and to preserve sight lines to the Hill. Eastbound buses (and the whole STO route problem/scenario remains unsolved as yet) will stop at the curb; but what about westbound STO buses and tour buses? Tour buses in particular want to deliver passengers as close as possible to the destination. Bus riders may be let off onto islands between the bike lanes and bus lanes, but total available road width is a constraint. Double left turn lanes may be a thing of the past. The suggested public space configuration in the sketch will help remove the sense that Wellington is a huge barrier separating the downtown and Parliament:

Albert and Slater will be changed drastically once the main bus routes are removed. It seems uncertain just how many fewer buses will be there.  Some objectives along these streets are to integrate the public sidewalk space with the building setbacks and available private spaces along the street. Intersections will get much wider crosswalks. The parking lane is on the right side of the street, paved to match the sidewalks. It would not be a rush hour traffic lane. There would be bulb-outs at the intersections and midblock locations for trees. The bike lane is on the left side of the street, placing the cyclist close to the vehicle driver’s field of view and not hidden on the “far side” of the vehicle. There may be opportunities to squeeze in delivery bays between the bike lane and traffic lane. But essentially, the bus lane space has been given over to non-vehicular uses. Remember, though, that bike lanes have a higher capacity than car lanes.

The only north-south street that has been sketched out thus far is Metcalfe, and only north of Sparks. No analysis has yet been done for O’Connor, Kent, Lyon, etc. And as far as I could tell, they hadn’t yet addressed what to do south of Sparks. Frequently suggested is returning the streets to two-way status, the traffic planning fad of one way streets being largely past its acceptable date. Such a major change is beyond the mandate of the Downtown Moves plan. When examining the N/S streets, several new factors come into play. First, most of the parking spaces north of Queen are closed much of the time for security reasons. They can be repurposed a bus loading zones or para-transpo zones. Tourists walk slower and in wider groups than office workers, so the sidewalks connecting Sparks to the Parliamentary precinct should be wider. Then we might as well continue the wider sidewalks down to at least Albert to help disperse the commuter hordes arriving from the LRT stations. These north-south streets are also major locations for street vendors, so might as well plan for them now.

What’s next?

The Downtown Moves teams will be refining the sketches/scenarios for public space downtown. They have to run them by the traffic people to assess what it does for vehicular movements, goods movement, safety, special access needs, security, taxis, etc. They have to run them by the various downtown private sector groups, such as hotel owners, office building managers and owners, etc. They do have numerous photo examples of similar changes done successfully in other cities.

Hopefully, with continued leadership from the politicians (ie, no wavering in face of NIMBY’s who might lose a parking space or who believe cars rule) there can be a balanced discussion and evaluation of the transportation and urban design possibilities.

The Downtown Moves team will read the comments you make to this post, so fire away. And tell your councillor if you like the direction the study is moving, but save him or her the nit picky details as the study is still early on. We need to encourage the process towards a better downtown and not bog it down.

Mr Clean’s Magic Eraser hits Downtown streets

Installing the separated bike lane (SBL) on Laurier Street downtown was a new experience, with lots of little details to figure out. Fortunately Laurier had just been resurfaced, so City staff had a clean slate to work with. Less aesthetically, the lines were painted on the street, changed slightly, repainted, shifted again, repainted… leaving a rather confusing mess.

At the last minute, just in time for the SBL opening,  work crews painted over the ‘wrong’ lines with black paint. This was obviously a short term fix, since the first thing to wear off would be the black paint, revealing the white lines again, which would take even longer to wear off. In the picture above, note the dual stop lines, the multiple cross walk lines, and the ever-lasting little dashes they put down to show the crews where to paint the real lines which somehow wear off much faster than the guide lines.

So here we are midwinter, and the black paint has worn off. The above pic is just a week or two old. But since then Mr Clean has arrived in Ottawa (no, not Larry of Spic and Span fame). Using his Magic Eraser ™, in this case an asphalt grinder, he removed many of the false lines:

And here’s a close up of the bit of cross walk ring left behind after cleansing:

Motorists on cross streets can actually feel these groves if they are braking, so they might have some collateral benefit of improving stopping distances, to the (theoretical) benefit of cyclists on the SBL.