Monday, March 22, 2010

Cyclopiste de Preston (iii), south of Somerset


Picture 1 is the view from the Somerset viaduct looking south towards Gladstone and the Queensway. The Otrain track is barely visible in the cut on the right. Most of this land is City owned (a small portion is NCC, but it is not required to make the underpass). At the Somerset end, the right of way is quite wide. It would be relatively straightforward to connect the Somerset bike lane and sidewalk surfaces with the bike route using a slope, although a switchback might be required. A 16' drop requires 320 feet of ramp, plus some flat spots.

To the left of the Otrain tracks is a wooded slope. If you look closely, there is a spur or siding line that used to run up this slope, ending at Gladstone. This provides a ready start for the Cyclopiste to climb the grade from track elevation up to Gladstone Avenue.


Running right through the centre of picture 3 (above), going left to right, is the former siding slope waiting to be converted to a ped-cycling route. The PWGSC warehouse is in the background.


Bits of abandonned rail sidings can be found amongst the garbage and overgrowth along the Otrain corridor.


This is the view from the Gladstone sidewalk,  looking back along the corridor towards Somerset. The Otrain track is to the left, PWGSC warehouse and Preston Hardware are to the right. The former siding located here gives us an ideal slope for the taking the Cyclopiste downslope to the track and then under Somerset.

No comments:

Post a Comment