Highway to nowhere

The city's roads department has its signals branch located on Gladstone on either side of the O-Train cut. The yards are full of signal poles and light fixtures. Mostly these lights are "out" at night; but one recent evening there were multiple heads cycling through red-yellow-green.

 Immediately behind them is a dense patch of bush, through which a ped path winds that will someday become the cycling path along the Otrain corridor.

Bushwacking for cyclists

Last week a group of concerned citizens participated with the City and its consultants on the routing exercise for the O-Train corridor cycling path (cyclopiste de Preston). Participants represented the NCC, Dalhousie and Hintonburg Community Associations, CfSC and Cycle Vision Ottawa members, a landscape architect, engineer, planner, and others.

The cycling arterial will connect the Ottawa River cycling paths to the Otrain at Bayview, run along the tracks behind the City Centre complex, under Somerset via a new underpass, behind the PWGSC complex at 1010 Somerset, and come out at ground level again at Gladstone. Then a short overground stretch would take it beside the city signals yard annex, under the existing Qway overpasses, to Young Street, where it would join a rebuilt existing path along the east side of the Otrain cut all the way to Carling. The NCC person was present on the bushwacking expedition to consider, amongst other things, where it goes at Carling and how it connects to the Farm paths.

The areas behind the City Centre and 1010 Somerset proved to be very dense bush, with constant surprises hidden in the tall grass, weeds, and shrubbery: the odd half truckload of asphalt or cement, bits of rail, sleeping bags, laptop computers, etc. It is difficult to imagine a safe-feeling path there given the area's current appearance, but with tree thinning, opening up vistas, improved fencing, path lighting, and some suggested alignment and elevation mods, it will work well with current and future developments proposed along the corridor.

The cycling underpass under Somerset is also planned to handle the possibility of a LRT station at that location. If all goes to plan, the underpass would be constructed in 2011 with the path completed in 2012.

If you click on the word cloud to the right of this blog posting, select Cyclopiste de Preston to read earlier posts on each segment or use the search button.

Preston street truffle hunt

Seen growing along the Cyclopiste de Preston trail along the O-Train corridor. Maybe they are truffles ... it is Little Italy after all. 

Integrating streets, sidewalks, with ped-bike paths

There is a pedestrian-cyclist path along the east side of the Otrain cut from Carling to Young Street. Hopefully this path will be rebuilt and extended next year (a study is underway) to become a really useful cycling link "Cyclopiste de Preston".

Some careful thought needs to be given to how the path will connect to the sidewalks and pavements of the adjacent dead-end streets - there are many of them.

Currently, only one street has its sidewalk (and only on one side) properly connect to the recreational path. This works well for pedestrians, but what are cyclists supposed to do? Walk their bike? (unlikely); ride on the sidewalk then swerve onto the road? (likely) and the movement is even more awkward for those going from the street to the path as the connection is only on the wrong (left) side of the road.

For many of the side streets, there simply isn't a proper connection between the city sidewalk and city pedestrian path a few meters further along:

And sometimes the informal goat trail connection cannot align well with the sidewalk at all. These trails are muddy, some are steep, all are awkward and unmaintained.

Cyclopiste de Preston (vi)

Most of the photos in the previous posts on this cycling route showed the path in winter or early spring. That is not the most attractive time of year. Here are a few shots in summer, to show what a pleasant route the Cyclopiste de Preston could be for cyclists and pedestrians; for recreational, short-haul and commuter users; and for easy access to and from the Preston mainstreet.

Cyclopiste de Preston (v): Young to Carling

From the turning circle where Young meets the Otrain cut, there is a convenient bridge over the train. Note the lack of curb dip on this end for cyclists (there is one at the other end of the bridge). A similar but wider and more friendly overpass is planned for Hickory Street, a few blocks south near the Otrain station at Carling Avenue.

Looking south, the stonedust path passes between the backyards of houses and the Otrain cut. The path needs to be widened and re-covered with stone dust which is worn down to the mud in some spots. There also needs to be a curb dip to access the path. Throughout its length, the current path lacks dips.

In the two pictures below (taken summer 2009) cyclists arrive at Beech Street and hesitate, looking for a sidewalk dip to cross the street. They decide to go east, riding on the sidewalk, to the first driveway dip a number of yards away. They then faced an awkward and dangerous sharp turn onto the street (having to similtaneously look over the shoulder for overtaking traffic on the road). But once onto the street, they discovered there is no matching curb dip on the other side of the road, and had to cycle some distance the wrong way on the road before giving up, dismounting, and lifting the bike over the curb, to ride on the sidewalk back to the continuation of the path. Is this an official city cycling route?

The last portion of the path is  lit and paved, from Sidney street to Carling Avenue, by the Otrain station and Dow Honda:

Once at Carling, the continuation of the path is visible on the south side, this time illuminated by the NCC:

Crossing Carling is a bit of a problem. The city advises cyclists to dismount, walk their bike a few hundred yards east along the sidewalk to the intersection of Preston, walk across the crosswalk, and then walk the bike back west along the far sidewalk to the resumption point of the path. Of course, I just dismount, walk my bike straight across, and wait in the wide median for a break in the other direction to cross the far lanes. A curb dip would make it even easier. The City claims it cannot put traffic lights here as it is too close to Preston. An underpass is a more expensive option that might be feasible if the Otrain is double tracked for the LRT and needs a wider underpass.

Cyclopiste de Preston (iv) Gladstone to Young

The Cyclopiste de Preston is a cycling arterial running from the Ottawa River - Bayview - under Somerset - cross Gladstone - under the Qway using an existing underpass - and joining the existing ill-maintained path running from Young Street along the Otrain corridor to Carling and then further south. The path is in the Official Cycling Plan, but since work started in 1962 has been stymied by lack of an underpass under Somerset street. Detailed design work for the underpass is underway now, as part of Somerset reconstruction. If enough people support the idea (tell your councillor!) the underpass would be built in 2010-11 and presumably the missing bits of paths too.

Previous posts covered the distance from Albert/City Centre Ave (the temporary north end of the route pending the East-West LRT construction) to Somerset, under Somerset, and slightly upslope to Gladstone.

Once the cyclist or pedestrian crosses Gladstone, there is already a well used informal goat track along the route:

The path proceeds south between the city signals storage facility (on the left) and the Otrain cut (on the right). Despite looking rather narrow and maybe a bit forbidding these tire marks indicate some cyclists know about this route. I cycle it numerous times each summer:

The path approaches the existing Qway underpass from the south, but first it has to make it way past the unpaved (and uncleaned up) parking lot on city land behind the St Anthony Soccer Club. This is an important parking lot for events there (despite its disorganized and dirty state) so I expect the cyclists will simply use one paved aisle of the parking lot to cross it:

The city has kindly installed signs to remind cyclists and parkers that this is city property. Somewhere along here, a Gladstone/ Preston LRT station is planned. It would be down in the cut, with access up to ground level at various locations.

The picture below shows the underpass under the Qway. It is wide but bleak and forbidding; some imagination will be required to make it more attractive and user friendly:

Lastly, the route comes out at Young Street, which has a turning circle, and a convenient pedestrian-cyclist overpass over the Otrain cut into the Civic Hospital neighborhood, and a short jaunt east to the Preston Square/Adobe office complex on Preston:

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.

Cyclopiste de Preston (ii)

 The first photo was taken mid-winter, from the area behind the City Centre warehouse complex; the Otrain track is on the right, going south under Somerset viaduct. This shows there is considerable open space on the east side of the track for a cycle path. A cycling and pedestrian underpass would be straight ahead centre in the photo.

The underpass, a precast concrete "box", would be a few feet above the current track level, and set back from the track far enough to allow for a LRT station on the far side (southside) of Somerset, should one be installed. There are currently no plans for such a station, this is just good planning to allow the space for one.

The new tunnel would be both a cycling path and would permit pedestrians and users of any future LRT station to walk under Somerset and directly into any future City Centre redevelopment (recall the site is zoned for 5 or more towers, up to 22 floors or so)(not that any redevelopment is planned soon).

Photo two was taken from the Somerset Street level. It also shows how much space is available. A second rail track will be laid immediately to the right of the Otrain. There might also be "storage" tracks here for trains waiting to begin runs through the downtown and east. Provided a small berm and some landscaping is installed, it should be quite pleasant to cycle or walk along the corridor, given that the path will be set back from the moving trains and about one meter above the track level.

The City centre complex follows a curve as it goes north (the curve, of course, is defined by the curvature of the railway tracks that used to be under the elevated roadway and further west and north of the building). The cycling path would follow this curve and come out onto City Centre Avenue just north of Albert street, from which cyclists would have easy access to the downtown (via Albert) or to the River (via the Preston extension). Eventually, should Jim Watson fail to block the LRT project, the path could run north along the tracks to Bayview Station and the River and eventually the Gatineau Hills.

The chain link fence shown is not necesarily on any property line. When I was a tennant in the City Centre complex, they told me the lot line was right at the base of the concrete pillars. Presumably the fence would be relocated as part of installing a path.

Personally, I would be perfectly happy with a stonedust path. It could even double as a service road to the tracks or warehouses, given the low volume of truck traffic that would entail. Eventually, as the LRT tracks are developed, I would expect the path to be paved and lit to be attractive to all types of users at all times of day and evening.

Cyclopiste de Preston (i): Cycle Path along the Otrain Corridor

The Carling-Bayview community design plan calls for a bike path along the Otrain corridor. So does the City's official cycling plan.

Parts of the path were built in the early 1960's when the NCC removed the street-level railway tracks and consolidated them into the new "cut" dug from Carleton U to Bayview, where the Otrain now runs, and the furture southwest LRT lines will run. The path has trees on both sides (moreso on the rail cut side) and a variety of views into back yards and small industries along the Preston side of the path. These walking and cycling path sections are remarkably nice, and largely unknown:

                            Existing cycle path; Otrain cut is to the right, Carling in the distance.

The corridor ends at Young Street, even though there is a right of way under the Qway to Gladstone. But the big impediment to continuing the path north of Gladstone to Albert Street, Bayview station, and the Ottawa River pathways, has been how to get by Somerset Street, which is high up on an earthen embankment called the Viaduct.

As part of the Somerset reconstruction process, road works are supposed to be implemented to permit other bits of the official plan to go ahead. In this case, there should be an underpass put under Somerset during the reconstruction of Somerset process to permit the cycling and walking path to be completed

The new cycling underpass would be separate, to the left of the Otrain underpass. This view from the upper (west) deck of the City Centre complex

. The project engineers (Delcan) have confirmed there is room for an underpass similar to this one under the Champlain Bridge (although it would be under a higher road than shown):

The reconstruction of Somerset having been in the works for years ... and the sections connecting to West Wellie largely completed after two years of digging ...   the city realized that the Otrain underpass was coming up. So now, with road construction starting next month, the City is dealing with the cycling issue. Apparently, the city has extended the Delcan contract, so they are doing the detailed feasibility study for the underpass, how to access it, and bike route location on either side of the underpass.

If the city build the ped-cycling path behind the City Centre complex, it would probably come out at the intersection of Albert/City Centre Dr (shown) until the LRT Bayview Station is completed in 2018 and then it could be extended to join BikeWest along Albert/Scott, and  the Ottawa River pathways.

The city has not committed to actually installing the underpass in 2010-11 during the Somerset reconstruction process. Next time you see your councilor,

tell him/her you want the Somerset underpass built now, not in some far off future date when we are all dead. Or email your councilor.