Balloon view of west side Ottawa

Aerial shot of the west side taken from the CTV balloon on Sunday. Double click to enlarge. The view is looking south, the islands in the Ottawa River and former paper mills are in the foreground.

Place du Portage in the foreground, Parliament beyond.

Thanks to Danielle for the photos.

Ye Olde LeBreton Flats

click to enlarge

Notice Britannia Terrace (parallel to Duke street) which is now disappeared. The new Claridge condo on the Flats is right on the ACE of Terrace.

Note Queen Street is not shown as jumping over the cliff, but Maria Street (now Laurier Ave) apparently does. Suitable for Nanny Goats maybe.

Slater Street ends at Bronson (then called Concession). It was later extended just below the section of Albert that is shown on a diagonal. The extension was to permit the streetcar (Ottawa Electric Railway) to connect to Albert, which accounts for the narrow right of way on the part of Slater. The foundations of the old houses shown between Albert and Slater are still visible as depressions and hollows as you walk up Albert towards the downtown.

Note too that Empress, by the Good Companions centre, was called Nelson Street.

Bridge Street was later extended south over the aqueduct to incorporate Cortland Street, and after demolishing lots 22-27 became Booth Street. I remember when the five sided intersection was still operating at the corner of Albert-Rochester-Broad-Wellington (called Richmond Road here, when west of Broad).

Preston Street is barely visible below the parcel of land marked John Rochester (after whom the whole area was called the Village of Rochester, or Rochesterville as it is put on my original house deed as surveyed by N Sparks). The Rochester lot became a huge building, demolished c1982 (I have pictures of that somewhere) in which the transatlantic cables were woven and taken by rail and ship to Halifax and Newfoundland. It was the largest or longest building in the British Empire at one time.

Primrose Street was then called Maple, I have a "for let" sign used to rent the house I now live in, the sign refers to the address as Maple Street. Primrose used to be only the section above the cliff, it was changed to Primrose below the cliff (the only flower in the forest of street names) when the city incorporated the Experimental Farm which got to keep Maple Lane.

Notice how close Nepean Bay (the Ottawa River) is to Albert street on the far left. Huge portions of the bay were filled in in the 50's to create the land for the parkway.

Navy Monument Sod Turning

2010 is the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy. This accounts for all the banners and display panels on Confederation Boulevard and down by the war memorial.

A monument is being errected to this anniversary at Richmond Landing, the original origin point of Richmond Road, at the Ottawa River below Chaudiere Falls where the Bronson Creek/Tailrace/Kayak course enters into the Ottawa River.

The banners behind the tent are some of the ones decorating Confederation Boulevard.

There was a large collection of navy-types there. I haven't seen this many navy uniforms in decades (a navy brat, I grew up down east).

As for the monument itself ... well, it hasn't been constructed yet, but they hope to have it finished in 2011, which will be less-late than the navy gets its new gear. I asked a couple of the old salt types at the ceremony what they thought of the monument [slightly curved concrete wall with gold ball stuck on the top edge]. Let's just say they missed the symbolism, meaning, representation, purpose ... and so did I. Old Salts still have a good vocabulary.

city map, 1895

Double click on the map to enlarge it, and scroll around it for a bit to explore Ottawa in 1895. Notice the area called "Dalhousie" - our community name goes a long way back.

Notice that a number of streets have the same name. The Queensway is still a railroad right of way. Carling Avenue is simply "Macadam road"(Macadam invented asphalt paving). Notice that Gladstone doesn't exist, but many of its segements do, which goes some way to explaining why that street twists and curves the way it does as it connects up bits and pieces of older streets on not-quite-matching grids.

I also like seeing the lost creek that exits Dow's Lake and travels down what is now Preston to Nepean Bay. At some point, this creek was swallowed up into the brick sewer built under Preston Street about 1898. The construction of the Somerset Viaduct just west of Preston raises the ground level enough to prevent the entire Preston basin from continuing to drain towards the River, which resulted in a century of flooding basements during heavy storms.

Gates of Lemieux Island re-installed

The access road to Lemieux Island water plant has been badly torn up for the construction of the high pressure water mains to the Island. Finally, the road is reappearing, although as you can see from a careful examination of the photo the new road is relocated to the left. During the construction, the ornate gates -- which look like they belong to Her Highness the GG instead of here -- were removed and this shows the eastern side gate and pailings reinstalled.

On the Path

This tiny mole (vole?) was trying to cross the Ottawa River bike path. Which goes to show that bike paths can be dangerous in their own way when the creatures are very small. The tiny puddle may have indicated it was hurt, and it wasn't scurrying off to safety. I stopped. It seemed to be unhurt, so I picked it up and put it in the bushes a few yards off the path.

NCC Oversight ?

roof deck


spiral ramp up



in all its majestic ugliness


Scene of the crime: Remic Scenic Overlook, along the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway at Tunney's Pasture, between the parking lot and the river
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Object: brutal concrete round structure with spiral ramp up to viewing area on its "roof". The Guggenheim museum it is not.
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Function: cobwebby door to interior. Sound of large pumps or motors working constantly. Probably pumps cool Ottawa River water through heat exchangers to chill the cubicle farms located in high rises immediately to the south (in area called a "Pasture").
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Worth climbing to viewing platform? No, not really. The roofscape is ugly, utilitarian. The view not worth the climb.
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Alternative attractions: geese, ducks in river. Sculptures in river. People watching. Picnicing while warding off gulls. Bird feeding. Smooching. Social relationships unfolding in the surrounding bush areas.
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Not known as The Canadian Area 51. No recent sitings of UFO's.
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Conclusion: the NCC has forgotten this ugly structure exists. Our national gardeners could not possibly view this structure as an asset to the site. It is too brutal, too man made, too coarse, too plopped down.
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Audacious Hope: NCC garden crews are on their way, sirens blaring, bearing truckloads of shrubs to plant around this abandonned foreskin and hide it from civilian eyes. If they cannot afford shrubs, then the old perennial fallback to hide architectural blots on the landscape should be dragged out: boston ivy.

Double your bike paths ....

Double your pleasure, double your fun, double your bike paths ...



Our society is prone to leap to solutions before clearly identifying problems or examining alternatives. Recent blogs on safe injection sites, green roofs, intensification ... all have elements to me of being solutions searching for a problem.



Before we go off parallelling our bike paths with yet more asphalt, we should examine the success of those segments of paths that are already segregated. Pathway apartheid may or may not work.



For many years, the bike path along the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway was on the inland side of the freeway from a point near Island Park all the way up to New Orchard Avenue. The riverside path was reserved for pedestrians. Turns were sharper, there were even the odd stairs. Cylists still preferred the waterside route, ignoring the no bike signs. At Westboro Beach, there was even no paved path over the sands.



Then, the NCC widened the river side paths, and fixed the geometry to better suit cycling (gentler grades, gentler curvers, long sight lines). As part of this, they built a number of new segments suitable for cycling but left the pedestrian-only paths in place. The best example of this is from Island Park to almost New Orchard where the path is almost completely double-tracked, ie there is a bike path and a pedestrian path.

I still see cyclists on the pedestrian paths, and pedestrians (espcially joggers) not using the pedestrian only paths. We should determine why users use which path they do, and not install acres more asphalt and then wonder if we did right.

Aligators amongst wildlife in Ottawa River ...

Mother Goose better watch her feet in the Ottawa River !

Bird sightings along the Ottawa River

The first photo shows a black cormorant ( I think ... I googled the name and it seems to me to match) on the Ottawa River near Lemieux Island. If I recall correctly, cormorants are rapidly becomming an invasive species and are moving en masse into the Ottawa area having already over run the Great Lakes. It seems bird populations have bubbles just like our economy. Back in university, didnt they call it the boom/bust cycle? I first saw these birds about 3 years ago, there were a lot more last year, and this year I see them by the dozen, especially on the islands frequented by gulls between Parkdale and Lemieux Island.

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The second picture shows another type of comorant, the mechanical yellow one, on search and rescue mission along the Ottawa River.

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Unfortunately I do not have a photo of the birds that excited me the most. Whilst taking the 95 to College Square along the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway, I saw two wild turkeys. Just west of Dominion Station, they were in the median feeding, and were simply huge. Much larger bodies than the Canada Geese so common along the paths. Upon seeing them my mind went through the quick ID list: crows? too big. Geese? too black, too big. Then I saw the wattles, and in profile the birds look just like the ones drawn on kids' colouring sheets at Thanksgiving time. Now, if I had been on my bike instead of the bus, I would have had time to get out the camera and take a picture, instead of talking of them.

Blue Herons along the bike path

It is probably necessary to double-click on these pictures to enlarge them. There is a large blue heron under the overhanging willow tree, and a second one sitting on the rocky point. A third one is out of view on the other side of the tree.

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The NCC most conveniently provided an interpretation plaque at this very site to educate the viewer on the habits of the blue heron. This is along the NCC bike path just west of the Carleton St underpass... and east of the Island Park parking lot.

NCC vs City Maintenance Practices

city aquaduct

city aquaduct

NCC maintenance

The NCC landscaped the area along the bike path behind the new War Museum and east of Booth Street, shown in photo 3. Along the riverside chain link fence the NCC planted rose bushes and other shrubs, then applied mulch. Mulch does not stop all weed growth. The picture shows little piles of weeds and grass pulled out by NCC contractors. They picked them up just after I took the picture. By removing the weeds, the rose bushes will have more chance to grow stronger and bigger and choke out future weeds. And of course it just plain looks better.

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Compare the NCC maintenance to the City's maintenance of the rose bush plantings and other shrubs along the City-owned aquaduct that runs through LeBreton Flats, shown in the first two photos. The landscaping looks similar to the river edge, as both were designed and installed by the NCC. However, the aquaduct plantings were transferred to the City. I cannot recall ever seeing any maintenance activities along the aquaduct. The result is a weedy, overgrown slope. The desired roses, lillies, and other shrubs struggle to survive. It desperately needs some TLC, but will the City give it?

Prince of Wales Bridge

A while ago I questioned the lack of visible maintenance on the Prince of Wales railway bridge over the Ottawa River from Bayview Station to Gatineau. This is an important link in interprovincial transit.

Apparently the City is preparing a maintenance plan. The plan will cost 1.8 million; the repairs or rehabilitation another 20 t0 40 million dollars:

M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E




To / Destinataire
Mayor and ToMembers of Council
File/N° de fichier: File Number
From / Expéditeur
Wayne Newell - FromDirector, Infrastructure Services Department

Subject / Objet
SubjectPrince of Wales Bridge
Date: 18 June 2009Date4 June 2009

On 4 March 2009 Transit Committee passed the following motion:

That the following Motion be referred to staff:

WHEREAS the Chaudière Bridge has proven to need rehabilitation and that supplementary corridors might be needed to assist in short-term inter-provincial transportation demand management;

AND WHEREAS the implementation of light rail on the Prince of Wales bridge would allow reallocation of the current bus fleet to provide additional service across the city;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT City staff be directed to immediately develop a Class A estimate for the rehabilitation of the Prince of Wales Bridge and associated track for light rail use;

AND THAT City staff be directed to report back to Committee and Council on the outcome of the Class A estimate.

The Prince of Wales Bridge is formed by two structures (north and south) separated by an island – comprised of six spans in the south structure and seven spans in the north structure. The clear width of the structure is approximately 5 m carrying one track only. The total crossing length is 989m. The structures were built in 1879 and were last rehabilitated in 1926.

In May 2005, the City purchased this bridge as a possible future transit crossing from Canadian Pacific Railway as part of the NS Light Rail Transit project. Prior to the purchase, the City conducted a visual inspection and condition assessment of the below water piers and abutments. A visual structural analysis was also conducted for the superstructure.

In January 2007, an inspection of the rail infrastructure on the south portion of the structure was carried out.

This structure is currently "out of service", but not abandoned. Capital Railway’s Daily Operating Bulletin (the City’s operating entity) indicates that the Lemieux Island Spur (the track that crosses the Prince of Wales Bridge) is out-of-service.

Transport Canada was consulted regarding regulations for structures “out-of-service”. Bridges on an “out-of-service” rail corridor do not fall under the Railway Safety Act (RSA) and the railway's Bridge Safety Management Program (BSMP) since they do not affect safe railway operations. However, the railway (i.e. the City) inspects these structures from a public safety and liability perspective. Transport Canada advised that before being placed into active service, we will need to inspect the structure in detail to ensure its safety for the operations that are being proposed.
Without a detailed condition assessment it is difficult to estimate the cost or extent of renewal, however based on the information available the cost could vary between $20M and $40M.Scheduled future work

To be able to prepare a Class A estimate - tender ready - a detailed inspection of the structure and rail infrastructure would be required to define the needs, followed by preliminary and detailed design, including seismic evaluation. This work would take approximately eight (8) months to complete at an approximate cost of $1.5M.

Without a detailed condition assessment it is difficult to estimate the cost or extent of renewal, however based on the information available the cost could vary between $20M and $40M.

This structure was identified under the Federal Stimulus Package for rehabilitation of the piers and abutments. The estimated budget for these repairs was $5M, however this project was not approved. The renewal will be undertaken as part of a future budget request.

The structure is also scheduled for new inspection for year 2010.

Should you need further information please contact me at extension 16002.

original signed by W.R. Newell


W.R. Newell, P.Eng.
Director, Infrastructure Services


Author
Author’s InitialsPrepared by Initials
cc: Nancy Schepers, Deputy City Manager - Infrastructure Services and Community SustainabilityGary Craig, Manager, Deputy City Manager's OfficeAlain Mercier, General Manager Transit Services DepartmentJohn Jensen, Manager Transit Rail, Safety and Development BranchAlain Gonthier, Manager Asset Management Branch

Green Cycling

A few days ago I was cycling back from Loblaws, along the Scott Street multipurpose pathway. My panniers were full of groceries. I noticed that my front tire glowed green as a I cycled. I have to admit I admire those cyclists who whizz by with green or red tire rims, they look so neat, so fast. Not like me, another elderly cyclist on my Cdn Tire six-speed. I stopped at the light at Lanark Avenue.

Hmm, I looked more closely at my front tire.

I reviewed my route. I had cut accross the grass at the end of Clifton or McRae Street to access the path. Were these grass stains?

Nope. It's ground-in goose shit from riding along the Ottawa River pathways. My tires are permanently dyed green.

I do love Ottawa.

Multipurpose Paths for Everyone / Every creature

In addition to the cylists, pedestrians, joggers, wheelchairs, walkers, and geese (and their poop) on the multipurpose pathways along the Ottawa River, I have met turtles, rabbits, chipmunks, skunks, beaver, foxes, and snakes. This snake was near Mud Lake, travelling west in the correct lane of the path.

NCC Ottawa Riverfront regeneration

click to enlarge and see details


The geese along the Ottawa River are pretty oblivious of cylists and pedestrians at the best of times (unless they see you with a plastic bag - then they are eager to be fed) but for several days they have been in tighter groupings on the grass and usually facing the NCC workers busy digging holes in their favorite lawn areas along the river edge. In the area downstream from Island Park, the NCC crews have been planting multiple rows of small shrubs along the shoreline. Presumably it is to protect the shoreline from erosion and add greenery, and is not some nefarious scheme to discourage the wildlife.

Logging Days & Les Raftsmen on the Ottawa

click image to enlarge

These two concrete structures sit in the middle of the Ottawa River west of the Chaudiere Falls dam. They are on very small stoney islands, most likely man-made.

Years ago, I vaguely recall that there were some small houses/work shacks out in the river for logging crews to use. I can recall they had sloped roofs. I was wondering if these are the walls of the buildings (ie, they were concrete buildings) or if these are the remaining foundations, and the wooden buildings used to be on top of them. This goes back to the log-boom days when the river was used to transport logs downstream. My far-back memories include seeing big-prowed logging boats on the river, used to push or nudge logs into place. Of course, my imagination may be overactive, and these are just anchor posts for the former log booms or worse yet, hydro-electric pylons. Remember the money that used to have a picture of the log booms, back when money valued people working?

One of the modern features I like about the Chaudiere dam is the log boom made of steel pipes that are, I presume, to retard the movement of canoeists and others over the falls. Don't want people clogging up the electricity turbines, do we? But the steel booms have a secondary role as reminders of the historic wooden log booms that once were so common on the river.

I would love to find some pictures of these little work shacks when they were still there, and would like to know if others find them of interest. Perhaps the shacks could be reconstructed on the islands, historic sites, reminders of the past. If we cannot have the buildings back, perhaps a plaque along the bike paths would be appropriate.

Royal Mis-treatment

The Prince of Wales railway bridge is owned by the City of Ottawa. Built in the 1880's it should be declared a heritage structure. It sits unused just north of Bayview O-Train station.

Does the city have any maintenance plan for the bridge, or are they going to let it rust away until it collapses or requires more expensive repair? I do not know if the rust is just a surface effect to not worry about or if it is corroding away the bridge. But I do notice that other city steel structures are rust free. Just north of this bridge is the Lemieux Island bridge, pristine and rust free. While cycling around I tried to find other steel bridges that are owned by the City, but could not find a rusty one.

So, does the City have an asset maintenance program or not?

Along the Ottawa River bike path

There were hundreds of these plants in bloom along the Ottawa River bike path on Monday, with thousands more about to bloom. These plants, about 6" tall, grew in the undergrowth of shrubs. I suspect they are orchids. Anyone have a name?

Royal lunch

click on photo to enlarge & read inscription

Along the path on the north side of the War Museum on LeBreton Flats is a tiny plaque commemorating the planting of some trees by Canadian royalty. The tree bark has become lunch over the winter for the inhabitants of the area.