DOTT plans affect west side residents (vi): Bayview Station revised

Currently the transitway passes over the railway tracks at Bayview with a simple high level overpass. At the east side, it widens for the Bayview station, which is built on a downslope into the LeBreton Flats area. The only access to the Bayview transit station or OTrain station is from the east side of the overpasses.

Passengers can transfer to the OTrain tracks which are on the east side of the railway right of way, simply by walking down the sloped asphalt paths (being careful not to fall off the broken up edges of the path). Recall that the OTrain service north terminus is at Bayview.

The transitway will be converted to LRT use. Earlier plans showed the new LRT station located roughly where the existing transitway station is now located, but with slightly revised elevation and alignment. The new plan proposes major changes to that scheme. The existing transitway overpass will remain in place, but will be widened by about 20' on EACH side, and the station will be on this elevated structure directly over the OTrain cut.

The west end of the station will be on the existing embankment with elevators down to the new OTrain platforms that would be relocated to the west side of the cut, about 100' west of the current OTrain platforms. Presumably the west end of the LRT Bayview station would also have access onto Scott Street, although this is not yet shown (plans are not fully developed). The Otrain platforms are being moved west to open up the area under the overpasses for future LRT construction and possible Rapibus terminal.

The east end of the station will be on the embankment where the current transitway station is now. However, the embankment itself will be gone, replaced with an elevated concrete structure to hold up the tracks and station. Pedestrians will walk over a pedestrian bridge from Albert Street to a mezannine level under the tracks, and then up escalators to the side platform station. Or, from the mezannine, they could go down one level to the future LRT station for the north/south LRT should that be built (currently converting the OTrain line to LRT service is phase 3 of the LRT system buildout). Until the N/S LRT is built, or LRT service is extended to Gatineau via the Prince of Wales Bridge, they may be going down to a Rapibus terminal instead.

The new station location preserves and serves all the necessary options for LRT service to Gatineau, to the south along the OTrain alignment, and east-west. It permits transfers and continuous service by the same LRT vehicles from the downtown to points north, west, and south. It seems a logical design, if expensive and years ahead of living up to its major full potential.

Given that so much bridge widening will be necessary at Bayview, it is time for cyclists and community associations to lobby for improved cyling access from the Albert Street rights of way to the Scott Street corridor rights of way. The simplest thing is to widen the transit bridge on the south side to include a bi-directional segregated bike route. If this link is not built (and during transit construction is the best time to do it) then the dreams of efficient and safe cycling from the west to the downtown will be thwarted as there are no plans to widen the Albert Street overpass over the cut.

DOTT plans affect west side residents (v): when the transitway ends at Tunney's

The first phase of the LRT system extends as far west as Tunneys Pasture. It may always terminate there, or may be extended further west as phase two of the LRT system. Until it is extended, a major transfer facility is required at Tunney's for bus users from the west who need to transfer onto the LRT vehicles for the continued journey through the downtown. (The design of that station will be subject of another post.)

Most of the users of the 95 and similar buses from the west will get off their vehicles at the new transfer station to be built to the north of the current station at Tunney's, and have grade-separated direct access onto the LRT station platforms in the cut. The LRT will take them through the downtown core. For users going beyond Blair, they would have to transfer again onto the east end of the 95 route.

However, for 95 users who wish to go to the OTrain or City Centre employment node, or wish to go to Gatineau, it would be frustrating to have to transfer to LRT at Tunneys and then transfer again at Bayview onto the OTrain or Rapibus (more on that! in another post), or at Booth onto a Gatineau-bound bus.

The solution the city proposes is for every third or fourth 95 bus to extend beyond Tunneys along Scott to Bayview and along Albert to Booth, and then turn north and go to Gatineau. Presumably,this may also apply to 97 and some other bus routes. These route extensions would run for as long as the LRT ends at Tunney's and is not extended west (ie 5 - 20 years, possibly forever). We have no word yet on how many buses will be permanently routed on Scott / Albert but we already know intersection widenings will be required/demanded for this at Booth and maybe elsewhere.

DOTT plans affect west side residents (iv): closing the transitway during construction

The new LRT line runs along the existing transitway alignment, with some slight variations. During the construction period of 3-5 years that transitway will have to be closed to buses to permit construction of the new LRT stations and tracks. Where will the buses go?

Earlier plans by the city to move all the transitway buses onto Scott and Albert, starting at Tunney's Pasure, have been abandonned. Thankfully. The additions of 1000 buses per day per direction on Albert and Scott would have horrendous social and environmental impacts.

Instead, the City is proposing to totally rework the bus routes that currently use the transitway. Some will be shifted onto the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. A temporary bus station along the Parkway at Tunney's is being considered. Other buses will be diverted to the Queensway and Carling Avenue. It is unclear what routes these buses would then take into the downtown core. The Parkway buses for example may take the Parkway/Wellington all the way to the core, or may exit the parkway at Bayview and switch to Albert, which will be unpopular with Dalhousie residents. Of course, many buses will still be diverted onto Scott/Albert  as that route directly parallels the transitway. Planners see an advantage in having commuters see the progress as the new LRT line and stations are being built. We know there will be intersection widenings and new stack lanes at Preston, at Booth, and possibly at Bayview. Will buses on the Qway exit at Rochester to head downtown? Will Carling buses be added to an already congested Bronson (which will be partially closed and rebuilt over the 2011-2012 construction seasons).

Traffic engineers have a thankless task during the construction period. Buses cannot simply be moved onto Scott/Albert, the road cannot handle the volume. So the bus traffic detour "pain" will be shared by a number of neighborhoods. A bus commuters will also suffer as more routes means a lower level of service on each route, and lengthier commutes.

Note that construction of the tunnel itself from a point just east of Booth will not interrupt transitway service much. However, the construction of the LeBreton, Bayview, and Tunney's stations are complex and lengthy. We can expect continued transitway service as far as Booth for the first two years of LRT construction, then the bus commuters will be detoured elsewhere for the final two or three years of construction for the tracks.

DOTT plans affect west side residents (iii): Albert Street widening planned

tailback of cars on Booth going to Gatineau, evening rush hour at 3pm

tailback of cars extends back to Gladstone, every single vehicle had only one person in it

The intersection of Booth / Albert fails for several hours a day. Mostly this is due to our city policies of catering to single occupancy vehicles. Drive them by the thousands,  and we will widen the roads for you! Right now the "tailback" or long queue of vehicles trying to get onto Booth to go to Gatineau extends back to Preston on the west (often blocking that intersection) and back to Empress or even Bronson on the east. On Booth south of Albert, in the heart of a residential neighborhood cruelly sacrificed by the city traffic engineers at the altar of car supremacy , cars stack up in a line that always goes back as far as Somerset and sometimes back as far as Gladstone.

Right now there is one turn lane for cars to stack up in. The left turn lane from Albert eastbound is constrained in length by the need to have a turn lane onto Preston. The City proposes to "ease" the situation by constructing a double turn lane on Albert. One lane will be the same length as the current stack lane, the other will likely be the entire block from Preston to Booth. The planners justify this construction as being necessary to move the bus traffic through the intersection once the existing transitway is closed. However, the additional stack lanes will be permanent, not temporary, and there is no word of making a stack lane specifically for buses. Instead cars will clog up the lane and transit users will be able to proceed only as fast as the slowest single-occupancy motorist.

This proposal strikes me as ill-thought-out. We cannot continue paving over valuable downtown development land for such low value uses. The stack lanes are justified as being for transit, but offer transit no special advantages. The widened Albert Street will simply deliver more cars to an already failing intersection at Booth / Albert. This part of the LRT plans definately needs a rethink based on principles of traffic demand managment (instead of coping with cars, figure out a better way to move people through the area / intersection).

While details are not available, the decision to build the Preston Extension will likely require the construction of  right and left turn lanes on Albert on both sides of Preston. Why do ostentiously transit-oriented projects result in so much road engorgement for commuters? The future Albert is looking a lot less like a city street and more like a mini-freeway.

Note to critics of LRT costs: the construction costs of the new Preston Extension and Booth / Albert intersections and Booth overpass over the transitway, primarily of benefit to single occupancy cars, will be billed to the LRT project rather than having some apportioned to the general transportation budget. Transit users and tax payers get hosed once again, car users get more hidden subsidies.

DOTT plans affect west side residents (ii): Tunnel entrance

 The new LRT  LeBreton Station is to be located roughly where the current transitway station is at Booth. The entrance to the tunnel portion of the new LRT service under the downtown core will be immediately east of the station. Its location and design is in accordance with the Escarpment Plan that outlines how the adjacent lands are to be developed.

During the tunnel construction period of 2-3 years, tunnel boring machines will eat their way through the limestone bedrock six to ten stories down under the street level of the core. All this chewed up rock has to come out of the 3km tunnel somewhere, and that somewhere is the entrance on LeBreton Flats. Running 24 hours a day, the boring machines themselves will be quiet and unobtrusive. But the tailings -- the chewed up rock removed to make the tunnel -- will be dragged out on mine cars 24 h/day and then lifted up and the rock contents dumped into dump trucks, that will rumble off at all hours of the day and night.

The tailings may be trucked to a site on LeBreton Flats to be piled up and stored, and later ground up to make construction gravel and for other uses in constructing the LRT system (a lot of fill, for example, will be required for a lengthy embankment at Hurdman). The contractor may install gravel crushers on the Flats to grind the rock. A similar setup was installed years ago during the transitway construction and the dust fall on the residents was noticeable and unplesant. The contractor may even install a temporary cement plan on site to make concrete to construct the stations and access shafts.

Residents of the Dalhousie area between Bronson and Bayview have seen the "land take" of much smaller projects. The high pressure water pipeline constructed over the last 3 years saw large areas temporarily fenced off to store equipment, supplies, and dirt. Similarly, the sewer regulator chamber currently being constructed at the intersection of Old Wellington and Booth has required large fenced off areas, road diversions, and conversion of space for temporary bus turning loops. The tunnel construction impacts for will for much longer time period, and involve much larger quantities of materials and crews. Imagine a snow-dump type operation running 365/24/7 !!

Planners for the LRT are aware that noise mitigation features will be required. It will be up to the community to demand sound and dust attenuation. Possibly we can ensure that some of the features are permanet, eg improved landscaping along Albert.

DOTT plans affect west side residents (i): Preston St

The city will hold an open house on Monday afternoon for the "final" recommended plan for the downtown Ottawa transit tunnel and LRT line from Tunney's to Blair. It has a number of modifications and changes from previous editions of the plan.

As somewhat expected but never expressed in previous versions of the plan, it has proven too difficult to keep the Booth/transitway intersection open during the construction period. Recall that the new station will be directly under Booth Street. The new Booth  will be elevated onto an overpass that crosses the LRT line and the aquaduct. It is simply not possible to build the station and the overpass at the same spot at the same time and keep the road open to traffic.

Therefore the plan now recommends that the Preston Extension be constructed first. This would have to be constructed in the very first year of the LRT project, similtaneous with the starting of the tunnel construction.

Preston Street currently ends at Albert, with some old pavement (closed to cars, open to cyclists and pedestrians) extending north to the transitway where there is a legal crosswalk to the bike path and riverfront parklands to the north. About a hundred meters further north and slightly east is the intersection of Vimy Drive (main vehicle access to the War Museum) and Wellington / Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. It was in the long-term build out plans (2030) for LeBreton Flats to build the Preston extension, but now this link will be accelerated to the early phases of the LRT project.

There is good news and bad news for local residents and cyclists. The good news is that the link will be made permanent, soon, giving residents and cyclists continued and permanent access to the Flats and riverfront paths and parkland. It will give improved access to Bluesfest and allow attendees easy access to the businesses along Preston Street and Chinatown.

The bad news is all the single occupancy car traffic that will hit the Albert / Preston intersection. Will the intersection need to be widened? It is likely, given the current and proposed width of the Albert / Booth intersection. Widenings are likely to include a left turn lane -- or two -- from Albert eastbound onto the Preston extension, and a right turn lane --or two -- from Albert westbound onto Preston extension. Will these widenings become permanent? I hope not. We cater to cars too much already.

The Preston extension itself as shown in the LeBreton plans was to be two lanes of traffic plus two parking lanes (which could, of course, be converted into traffic lanes in the future). If it is to replace Booth for the three years it takes to build the new Booth overpass, I can guarantee the Preston Extension will be four lanes plus lengthy turning lanes from day one. Will we ever be able to undo that damage?

Roger Geller, Portland's Bike Experience

Roger Geller, cycling coordinator for the city of Portland, OR spoke last evening at the CfSC meeting held at Tom Brown arena. Here are some of the points he raised in his PPT presentation on cycling in Portland.

1. There is a continuous interplay of facilities, ridership, politicies/politics, and funding. It is akin to a virtuous cycle, with any improvement to cycling facilities leading to increased ridership, more political support, then more funding of improved facilities, etc. The most common spot for the cycle to be broken is the policies/politics phase. He advises cycling advocacy groups to go for simple, easy to implement facilitiy improvements first, and then nurture the cycle onward.

2. Portland has an auditor that measures what the City does. Thus they have impartial counts of cyclists at a number of points -- particularly bridges, since they focus cycle traffic onto a few routes -- over a number of years. Thus the facts on the ground indicate to political and bureaucratic decision makers the payoff of their decisions. Geller cited numerous charts and graphs to show that each dollar invested in cycling was yielding a bigger and bigger return as the cycling momentum grows.

3. Portland has an economic model that shows the impact of cycling on the city budget. Rather than just looking at cycling expenditures as "expenses" they show that cyclists consume fewer road resources than motorists. If all the cyclists switched to cars, they would have to increase the road budget by $1.2 billion dollars (annually or one time expense? - not clear). Furthermore, since all expenditures on cars and their parts leaves the city (there is no auto parts or assembly plants) the replacement of cars by bikes frees up $800 million anually to spent locally.

4. He had a pithy expression of the city's saving: cycling is cheap. It is perhaps the cheapest expenditure the city can make to deal with travel. It makes it easier to sell cycling to politicians and taxpayers as it is so cost effective. He had other stats too, that claimed each dollar spent on cycling infrastructure saved health dollars or each mile of cycling saves one dollar of health expenditure.

5. The city has a number of innovative cycling measures it is currently working on.
- pavement with green plastic imbeded in it so it appears to be painted green. This gives clear visual signal to motorists and cyclists.
- bike box - a green square on the pavement ahead of the automobile's  stop line, so cyclists jump to the front of the queue and get first crack at moving through the interesections. Ironically, his illustrative photo of a bike box in operation showed the cyclist had moved ahead of the box and partway into the intersection, foot down to the ground, straddling the pedestrian crosswalk.
- they invest in custom bike signals, signage, passing lanes for bikes on hills (ie a slow lane and a fast lane for cycling, side by side)
- they are always having to go back to widen the bike lanes as traffic increases. Their lanes are now 3m wide per direction
- make bike lanes visible and separated by taking over car lanes. In built up areas it is seldom possible to add cycling infrastructure to a street, it is generally required to convert road infrastructure to cycling infrastructure

6. He showed pictures of businesses that favour the removal of on-street car parking from in front of their businesses to be replaced by on-street bike corrals, replacing each car with up to 20 cycle parking spots.

7. to get more cycling in a city, it is necessary to build facilities to increase cycling attractiveness

8. the population consists of
1% - strong and fearless cyclists who are willing to compete with cars in vehicle lanes (these cyclists will not move onto segregated paths)
25% - enthused and confident cyclists, who very much want cycling lanes/routes
51% - interested in cyling but concerned about safety, routes, etc
33% - no way, no how, will not cycle

9. Geller identified 5 principles for improved cycling;
- comfort (cycling in the middle of a vehicle lane may be safe but it is not comfortable)
- safety (measurable and perceived safety)
- attractive facilties
- direct routes
- interconnections that are known (so riders are confident they can get there from here)

10. He showed a slide of a miniscule dusting of snow on a road (not enough to be plowable) with cyclists to illustrate that cycling is doable year round.

11. He did not discuss the vehicular model of cycling (cyclists mixed with traffic) vs segregated lanes. I do not recall any slides showing segregated lanes.

12. Political support is key. His city is in competition with other cities to be the most environmentally "green", the most bike friendly, etc. and thus the cycling measures have a boosterism or marketing element.

Geller's presentation was interesting and overlapped in many points the previous evening's presentation by Suzanne Lareau at CycleVisionOttawa. He mentioned that Portland has a population of 500,000 in a metro region of 2million. He did not mention if the municipalities representing the other 1.5million residents shared downtown Portland's enthusiasm for cycling. I wondered if the modal split numbers would be as attractive if they included the surrounding more-suburban areas. Picture for example what Ottawa's cycling and pedestrian numbers would look like if they only included the inner city areas and excluded post-1960 suburban growth.

Portland is well known for its city policies, "smart growth" mantra, transit and cycling measures, etc. It is rewarding to research the controversial nature/impact of these practices, since the impacts are not always what is expected. His presentation was definitly worthwhile seeing and I look forward to one day visiting Portland.

After Geller spoke, Councilor Leadman spoke about the importance of cycling initiatives in her ward. She highlighted the 2011 introduction of a bike box at the Churchill / Richmond intersection and one at Bay / Wellington (no date). She mentioned the importance of a Scott Street cycling initiative, once referring to it as BikeWest.

Words of Wisdom from Velo Quebec in Ottawa

On Monday evening over 100 people jammed into a too-small reception room at the Lord Elgin to hear Suzanne Lareau. She is head of Velo Quebec, a cycling lobby and information group. The event was organized by Cycle Vision Ottawa (why weren't they signing up memberships??).

It wasn't just ordinary citizens that came out in unexpected numbers to hear her speak. Prominent in the front row were Roger Geller (cycling coordinator from Portland OR and speaker at tonight's meeting at Tom Brown arena), Vivi Chi and Mona Abouhenidy and Robin Bennet from the City, and Marc Corriveau, new transit and cycling honcho from the NCC. A number of local cycling advocates were amongst the crowd, and a few were noticeable by their absence. Clive Doucet was there, spoke passionately on global warming, sporting a battery-powered red light (not flashing at the time) on his butt.

Ms Lareau spoke for 90 minutes about some of the successes and problems of cycling in Montreal. She had a PPT presentation to illustrate some of her points (could someone please volunteer to take some new photos, ones not taken at 5pm in the winter? No doubt some good points were lost in the murky images). While not minutes of the meeting, here are some of the points raised:

1. Recreational paths are fine and have a valuable purpose, but should not be confused with the importance of having a network of routes usable for day to day activities, like commuting or shopping. (The recreational paths she highlighted in Montreal tended to be circular or purely recreational and differ significantly from the more linear NCC paths in Ottawa that adequately double as origin-destination paths.) Local trips are just as important as commuter trips.

2. The network of routes or links need not be lengthy. Rather it is important to first identify key desired segments where improvements can be made quickly and easily (and often cheaply) which has a cascading effect of increasing cycling traffic in other areas. She cited the example of McGill St (?) in Mtl where the addition of a counter-flow lane (complete with parking between the lane and the curb for traffic going the opposite way to the path!) for a short few blocks dramatically increased cycling rates on dozens of contributing or feeder streets.

3. Chevrons seem to be important. These are painted markings on the street, usually consisting of two thick arrow points ahead of a bicycle outline, painted on the street. In Montreal, they are painted very close to together, just a few feet apart. The chevrons also indicate the direction of cyclist travel. They are painted across intersections to guide cyclists from one cycling lane or position to another. They remind crossing traffic that cyclists are present. They remind everyone of the presence of a counter flow lane or bi-directional lane.

4. There were more painted features. Cycling boxes are a painted square on the lane ahead of the vehicle stop line so that cyclists move to the front of the queue and may have first chance at moving into the intersection. Yellow cross-hatching was painted near intersections to make certain parking or stopping spots illegal, where it was desirable to preserve sight lines of cyclists or of motorists to see cyclists. The usual diamond painted in the lane to identify a bus lane or cycling lane were also visible in some pictures, although some cyclists present at the meeting did not seem to recognize the symbol.

5. Signage: the only Montreal cycling route sign shown was a 3D silouette of a cyclist mounted atop a pole. It had no text at all. It was clean, elegant, not large. It was certainly better looking than the clumsy big signs (in two languages) used in Ottawa that reflect the car-traffic mentality. Similarly, Montreal now has some cyclist-scaled traffic signals -- smaller than those for cars, with the red-yellow-green lights shining through a cyclist outline.

6. Bi-directional paths. The topic of on-street bi-directional paths came up repeatedly during the evening, and it is only by dint of connecting all the single bits of info that a comprehensive view of the situation comes about. I really wished Suzanne had addressed the issue more directly. On one prominent one-way downtown street a single curb lane was removed from regular vehicular traffic and separated by a conrete curb about 18" wide from the rest of the road. The lane was repainted as a two-way bike route (bi-directional). It seems there have been some issues with this route. Ms Lareau stated a preference for having a one-way path on two separate one-way streets rather than the bi-directional path now in place, but upon clarifiication it turns out her ONLY concern with the bi-directional path was that there is not enough width from converting a single car lane into a bi-directional path plus median, but if they lane had been a bit wider, then she was completely comfortable with it. She later clarified that the bi-directionality was not the problem.

7. Bike route types: Ms Lareau was politely scornful of simple claims that making the right-most vehicle lane wider than other lanes was satisfactory accomodation of cyclists. Wider lanes make for faster vehicles -- she was clearly a fan of vehicle calming measures like speed bumps and curb bulbouts and felt Montreal was behind in this respect. Ms Lareau prefers marking cycling lanes, seeing an improvement  from on-street painted lanes to the much-preferable on-street segregated lanes where there is a 18" or wider median separating the cyclists from motorists. Even more useful and safe were photos of intersections where cyclists had priority, better signalling, and even exclusive cycling lanes approaching the intersection separate from car lanes. In the latter case, the improvements will be lost if the wait times are too long for cyclists due to signal light timing favoring cars.

8. Suzanne Lareau emphasized that there were different types of infrastructure choices for different clientelles and functions. The 20km commuter has different needs than the local retiree going to the library or depannier. She admitted she would never take her 9 year old son cycling on a busy downtown street even with bike lanes. The cyclists own perception of safety and convenience is key, not abstract policies of what is right or wrong.

9. Average cycle commute: According to her data, the average Montrealler commutes 8km to work, which is a 20 minute cycle ride. Cycle commuting is therefore feasible not just for a select few but for the majority of the population, if we provided safe and comfortable facilities. An audience member said that Stats Can shows similar data for Ottawa.

10. Timing: like most cities, cycling infrastructure improvements in Montreal are tied to other road-reconstruction improvements, ie the driving force is less the needs of cyclists than the needs to improve motorist's roads. Regretably, sometimes cycling improvements are not made during reconstruction, this is especially true in some boroughs where cycling is not regarded so favorably, and where "old" functionaires rule the roost. What is required is a combination of action: identify high-payoff cycling improvements and lobby directly for them, while similtaneously working for cycling improvements as part of other road projects.

11. Winter  cyling is now a focus of her group's activities. Certain cycling routes are to receive snow clearing in the winter. The problem now is identifying reasonable standards of clearance. Finding equipment is not an issue -- sidewalk plows or road plows do the job fine -- it is ensuring the paths are clear and by what time of day they are clear. Bike racks are now being left in place all year.

12. It used to be illegal to lock a bike to a parking meter post. Now, parking meters are being equiped with simple 1' diameter horizontal ring 30" above the pavement, expressly for the convenience of cyclists to lock their bikes to the post. Such a clean, simple measure with immediate payoff. (Note, Ottawa will shortly be removing all the parking meter posts in favor of pay-and-display vending machines, which cannot be used as cycling posts).

13. Helmets: Suzanne favors voluntary helmet wearing. She cites evidence that making helmets compulsary severely reduces the number of cyclists by making cycling more cumbersome / less easy. She also felt that some cyclists felt wearing a helmet increased their immortality which contributed to more risk taking.

Her presentation was interesting and clearly stimulating to the many cylists present. I would like to see more facts and figures and concrete expressions of policy of the organization. We were left with the impression that things are great in Montreal and getting better, but several times during the meeting I was uncomfortable with what seemed to be left unsaid or glossed over. This was especially true with the Bixi Bike system (short term rentals) which was portrayed in booster terms without any mention of expense or difficulties. The organizers, CycleVision Ottawa, performed a valuable public service in bringing in this speaker. They concluded with a survey of attendees to identify the "first" segregated bike route in Ottawa. (I suggested BikeWest was ideal).

I look forward to seeing if Roger Geller will be as interesting at tonight's meeting.

BikeWest hits EMC Community Papers

The current issue of the EMC news has a story on BikeWest by Rosalyn Stevens: you can read it at this link:

http://emcottawawest.ca/20091016/news/Resident+promotes+west+end+bike+path

Underground City Not Premature, its DOA

"The feeble business response to the city’s plan to create an underground shopping plaza along the proposed downtown rail tunnel is mainly due to lingering doubts about the $1.7-billion project," -- Ottawa Citizen, quoting expert.

There are two possible issues here, and I dont know what was in the city's tentative RFP. (And yes, they should be guaging interest now, even with conceptual LRT plans, rather than once the project is costed with assumptions of connections and revenue).

The first issue is whether the city is looking at what buildings/landlords want to be connected to the LRT system. Here are my comments from 4 June 09: Please do not dream of a connected underground city. Pl de Ville has for decades refused to connect its mall to 240 Sparks, Constitution Sq or other adjacent developments. I suspect other landlords also feel the highest and best capture of revenue and benefits is to be one of the very few buildings directly connected to the DOTT. In this scenario, a shallow station will only connect to the first adjacent building. If the stations are very deep, then a horizontal pedestrian tunnel can be run out north/south (or any other desirable direction) from the mezzanine level of the new station, underneath the nearest building and 'up access' can be built to several building complexes, sometimes a few blocks away.

But what are the probabilties of such connections? I personally think they are very low, for these reasons: First, the downtown office building market is not a open market, there is essentially only one tennant, the Feds. What landlord wants to increase his expenses to land a price-conscious tennant who probably won't pay extra to have a direct link to transit? In Toronto, or NYC, there is competition for tennants, and a transit link is a marketing advantage, that can be paid for by increased rents. Those rules don't work in Ottawa. I hope the (Delcan / Toronto / London )consultants realize that our market is different.

To summarize: I dont think Ottawa landlords will find it economic to spend large sums building deep elevator or escalator shafts to lenthy pedestrian tunnels to connect their buildings to the downtown stations that are 5-10 stories down unless the Fed tennant is willing to pay for it.

This brings us to the second issue. Once the LRT network is given the go-ahead, there should be significant interest in Quickie Marts or similar locating in station mezzanines. This means the downtown stations (Downtown east, downtown west, rideau street, campus) but much less interest in other stations like LeBreton or Westboro, where there are no Quickies now. Some surface stations, like Bayview, or Tunney's that should see huge increases in traffic volumes, might of interest to a convenience store, but the traffic flows can be pretty erratic and the store has to be open long hours. If they also sold passes, that would be a real convenience to transit users. But the rent collected from a Quickie Mart is not going to make or break the economics of the LRT project, and can safely be left for much later in the detailed design process.

Which brings us back to the question of just what was the city's proposal for? Linkages to the stations ... or convenience stores at the stations?

The Broken Promise of Interlock

When interlock paving first appeared on the Ottawa scene back in the early 1970's -- remember those "trillium"shaped paving blocks?-- one of the advantages touted over concrete was that the pavers could be relaid when necessary, individual blocks could be replaced when damaged, without tearing out and throwing away the entire concrete "square" of regular sidewalks.

Of course, what we really got was endlessly heaved and uneven interlock sidewalks, often patched with asphalt. Individual stones are not replaced because labor costs are too high and the block shapes discontinued every few years. Sometimes we get mismatched "repairs" using different block shapes. Concrete removed from walks is now routinely recycled.

I worked for years in or near the Place de Ville complex downtown. When built, the street level plazas were paved in exposed aggregate. As that broke up or cracked, it was redone in interlock. The initial H-shaped blocks heaved endlessly, and wore asphalt bandages like festering sores. Then a decade or so ago parts of the sidewalks were replaced with granite blocks (6" square and 12" square granite pieces).

Every developer seems condemmed to go through a granite paver phase, similar to the marble'exterior building clad phase. Typically, it ends in doom. The granit pavers cracked up under the weight of sidewalk plows and vehicles parking on the sidewalks. The rocked and splatted salty ice water in the winter. Eventually they were removed and replaced with concrete with granite inset strips.

The pictures above show the new sidewalks around the Crowne Plaza hotel at the west end of the PDV complex. Simple white and black concrete. Smooth when laid. Strong, if it has wire mesh reinforcing in it (the city foolishly "saves" money by not reinforcing its sidewalk squares, ergo, they crack). Easy to repair, even if the repairs vary the surface texture or colouring.

Infill on Elm Street

I admire this porch rebuild on Elm Street. It began as a dilapidated wooden porch that was sagging off the house. The new room has new studs, floors, roof, exterior wrap, windows, new door and windows. It short, it complements the house and the streetscape very nicely without being precious. I especially appreciate the care the renovator took to get the porch, columns, and steps. The porch is shallow, perhaps due to setback limitations, not so much useful for sitting on as for storing the blue blox, black box, green bin, and regular garbage bin. So often in this neighborhood, porches are now used as glorified garbage sheds.

Multi-user bike paths

All sorts of creatures use the NCC Ottawa River bikepaths. This user usually shares the path at a wide berth from other users.

It was limping, clearly injured in one leg.

I cycled past it when it did not move off the path and I tired of watching it. No smell.

Another Infill on Cooper

This Cooper Street infill is just a block down the street from the one in the previous post. The cribs are still in place, some in the foundation hole and some in the driveway. The exterior was likely to have been brick on this house, as the exterior cladding has been removed and the house wrapped in fabric for weather protection.

Note that the new foundation has lots of windows, so it will likely be living space. There is also a large addition to the rear. The access to the addition will be along the side yard on the left of the house, as shown in the last picture -- notice the sonotube of concrete to hold up the porch.

Click to enlarge on the pictures, the details are interesting: cut off wiring will need to be patched together, the foundation sills are apparent (pressure treated on this one, regular spruce on the previous house), the sistered joists etc are visible.

As always, the ubiquitous go-hut arrives first and leaves last. This infill project will leave the "new" house significantly higher than its immediate neighbor to the right, although at a similar level to the earlier generation of infill house (with a driveway sloped down to a basement garage) on the left. There is a lot of variation along these blocks with houses up and down, forward and back, on the lots.

It is interesting to me that it is economic for someone to buy the house, gut it, lift it, put in a new foundation, and build and extensive extension, adding several living units. I would love to know the $numbers$.

Infill on Cooper street

There are two houses on Cooper undergoing interesting infill treatments. This older house has been jacked up and put onto a new foundation. The two openings at the foundation facing the street were for the steel beams holding up the house. The process: the house is supported from underneath with cribs, the joists cut off around the old stone foundation, and new joists sistered onto the old ones, along with additional supporting beams. Then the house is lifted, new foundation poured, and the house lowered down again.

In this case, the new foundation under the old house has few if any windows, so it will not be used for living space, which strikes me as curious to put in a new foundation and raise the house without using the space underneath for more than storage. There is a new foundation at the rear, which will be either a big addition or another housing unit(s).

This type of infil preserves the streetscape while intensifying the neighborhood by building in the back yards.

Busy Bike Week

Next week will see two interesting guest speakers in Ottawa on the topic of improving cycling facilities. Both speakers are highly credible experienced individuals with real-world accomplishments.

On Monday, CycleVision Ottawa presents Suzanne Lareau (see poster below) and on Tuesday CfSC presents the cycling coordinator from Portland OR. Portland has a much-lauded cycling network.  Tuesday's meeting is 6pm at TomBrown Arena (right along the proposed BikeWest route!).


Catch the Montreal Cycling Wave!

Meet Suzanne Lareau
The woman who is transforming
Montreal for cycling

A Public Presentation
Monday October 19, at 8 p.m.
St-Laurent room, off the Elgin Café in the
Lord Elgin Hotel, 100 Elgin Street at Slater
Refreshments will be offered

Why you should come:

Discover the vélo culture of Montréal and its great network of

segregated bike lanes. Suzanne Lareau will show how

Montreal is achieving a cycling transformation. Ms Lareau is

a founding team member of Tour de l'Ile, the annual bike ride

on the streets of Montreal that attracts some 30,000 cyclists.

She heads Velo-Quebec, one of the largest cycling

organizations in the world with 80 paid staff.


Come out and be inspired!


Hosted by Cycling Vision Ottawa


RSVP appreciated. E-mail to cyclingvision.ottawa@gmail.com

BikeWest project update

A series of posts on the possibilities of a segregated bike route running from Bronson due west to Westboro was a big hit with readers and CBC listeners who yearn for a safe way to cycle.

The various blog postings have been collected into one, slightly revised document, which you can have for your very own, free, just by asking me: EricDarwin1@gmail.com, or use the comment button for this posting. Be sure to include your email address if you use the comment button, as all input comes to me on an anonymous basis.

EMC newspapers will be running an article on BikeWest this week.

Don't forget the CfSC event next Tuesday, at 6pm, at TomBrown arena (right along the BikeWest route!). Speakers include Roger Geller, cycling coordinator for Portland, OR.

A tale of two neighborhoods

Digging a trench along the old Byron trolleyway park just north of Highland Park for these beasts? That's just slightly less brutal a planning decision than running steam trains through slums in 19th-century Manchester.  -  Ottawa Citizen editorial

Hmm, let's see if I can get this right. As part of its LRT program the City is converting the current bus rapid transit (BRT) roads (the "transitway") to LRT ("the beasts"). A problem arises where the BRT shares road surfaces with the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. It shares the road alignment ... because the original alignment along the Byron transit streetcar right of way was opposed by local residents of McKellar park. So the Byron right of way became a linear park, at first temporary, then permanent, with short sharp curvy paths so they are useless for cycling but great for dog walking. A main impetus for the "park" was to thwart the transitway. The Lincoln Fields station is built where it is and in its current alignment because it is line with the curve from the Byron right of way, before the right of way was killed off.

So the original transit alignment has been forfeited for streetcars, LRT, and cycling, and given over to dog walkers. The neighborhood along the Byron right of way is sort of interesting. It was one time forest. Then farm land. Then a golf course. Then housing subdivisions. It is primarily low density, with a few towers along the river front. There is abundant parkland and lots sizes are large. The neighborhood reads as one large green space, with some tacky commercial developments/strip malls.

So McKeller residents have worked for decades to prevent rapid transit from servicing their neighborhood, first by pushing it onto the parkway. Only problem today is that there is a vociferous group opposed to running the LRT along the parkway. Commuting motorists spewing gas fumes and racing through the frustrated hay fields are to have their riparian views preserved. Transit users are to be forbidden to have views. But if they don't run the LRT along the parkway ... Byron is the most logical choice. Out of this difficulty comes the suggestion that express long-haul LRT service be shoved off to ... Carling Avenue. If that is built, Kanata and Barrhven commuters will have longer trip times, with dozens of stops, and transit service is likely to face numerous interruptions and delays due to conflicts with traffic. None of this is very pretty.

 The attitude expressed in the Citizen editorial bothers me: a grade separated (ie, trenched ) LRT would be brutal for the neighborhood, a decision worthy of 1800's decision making rathe than 21st century enlightened civic government.

 It is offensive to the Citizen to permit a open-cut transit line go through the area. But it is apparently OK that lower income neighborhoods, with the least parkland in the City, get open cut transit corridors. One corridor, the OTrain alignment through Dalhousie, actually has one of its few parks -- a linear path along the track (Carling Ave to Young St)-- to be reduced or eliminated in order to widen the cut.

My prognosis: Byron right of way will the chosen LRT route. The tracks will be cut and covered at great municipal taxpayer expense so dog walkers of the inner suburbs can continue to do their bit up above. The open cut going through Dalhousie, Hintonburg, and Mechanicsville neighborhoods will not be covered, as it is "too expensive" to provide any parkland or recreational facilities to the urban lower classes. The completed LRT network will be a diagram of the economic profile of the city: underground in affluent neighborhoods; in open cuts through poorer ones.

Typical Mismatch

This intersection of Torrington at the Driveway is typical of many in the City. The stop line for vehicles is up close to the intersection but the pedestrian walks are set back a few meters, right at the midpoint of a car. In this case as I walked up to the intersection and stepped onto the asphalt to cross a car had to brake sharply as the driver was focussed on the stop line not the crossing walking.

It seems more logical to me that the stop line be at the sidewalk - and the sidewalk dip - and after stopping the vehicle could inch its way forward to a position where it had adequate views to the left.

But hey, we pedestrians know our place in the transportation hierarchy.

Z6 Condo construction continues

The Z6 residential four-floor condo is underway on Booth Street at Balsam, albeit very slowly. The foundation has been excavated for a single-floor underground parking garage. The square pool is probably the elevator pit.

It is interesting how often it is the toilet that is installed first. Occupancy (for the condos) is anticipated for 2010.

Lotus Court green roof

Lotus Court is a mixed use project by Phoenix DCR developers at the corner of Rochester and Somerset Streets. The upper levels consist of townhouse units and stacked townhouse/loft units that are accessed off a central courtyard 3/4 of a flight up off the street.

Under the units facing Somerset there are storefront offices. Under  the units facing the back (Eccles Street) are another level of residential units. Somewhere under the whole thing is underground parking. Resales seem to be brisk.

The building seems to function well for the location. However, the courtyard and thus the upper units - some of which are single level units - are not ramp accessable. The roof line has a curious metal sheathing, a cross between a mansard and a oriental-tile facade, that merely looks odd. The upper units facing on Somerset have "french balconies", ie patio doors with a planter ledge only and railing, even though they are on a flat roof that could have had very large walkout balconies or terraces.

Begonias anyone?

Nice display of potted begonias on a front sidewalk along the QE Driveway near Torrington.

Greenroof on Gloucester Street

Two blocky apartment towers, one belonging to City Living and the other CCOC share a common podium made up of a city parking garage with entrances on opposite streets.

It's hard to tell from the ground how well the greenspace is doing on the roof of the tower(s) but the trees on the parking garage roof terrace that joins the two towers is obviously thriving. With no south exposure, and a difficult above ground location, this demonstrates that green roofs can thrive in difficult urban environments.

Foundations when ground is soft

Preston Street is the former runoff route from Dow's Great Swamp down to the Ottawa River at Nepean Bay, until Colonel By built the dam that QE Driveway runs along the top of. This means significant portions of the ground along Preston are peat or soft materials.

At the site of a new three storey infill on Preston (six apts above 3 retail) crews bored supporting pipes deep into the ground. The pipes were cut off at the same level down in the future basement. A concrete "box" was poured in place on top of each post. Gravel was poured into the basement between the posts and packed down. Then the footings shown in the fourth picture were poured in place on top of the concrete boxes on top of the steel posts, plumbing was put in, and gravel packed in to make the subfloor. All this, just to get to the basement floor level.

Then the plywood forms shown in the fourth picture were unpacked and set out for the walls to be poured, as shown in picture 5. the basement consists of tiny rooms, probably lockers. Note that the building on the right - Photo Lux - is supported by a steel beam and concrete footings. The old wood frame brick veneer house that previously occupied this site was on such a tilt that it made me seasick just looking at it. Its kitchen must have been crazy  like the one at the museum of science and technology.

Booth Street Infill

This building is located on Booth Street just north of the Queensway. It has been underway for several years, with long pauses in construction. The exterior walls are made of foam blocks that are stacked up and then filled with poured concrete to be load bearing, insulated both sides.

It appears to be three units: a three storey unit facing the side street w/ garage; a three storey unit facing Booth, w/garage; and a stair down to a half-basement unit that runs under both of the upper units.

The exterior parging / stucco is almost complete. A bit of roof flashing has blown loose on the top front vertical wall over the "porch". The bit of sloped roof bothers me a bit, since it has an overhang that is not evidenced elsewhere.

Lansdowne Live

Some misc observations on Lansdowne Live, and in particular the meeting last night at arena Tom Brown arena.

1. Opponents are well organized, sporting custom printed apparel and carry bags (made of recycled hemp, I hope) and handing out reams of photocopied green paper that may have required the souls of every tree in the Glebe. Of course, the Glebe trees are still there (at least along Ralph and Percy when I walked up those streets yesterday) so trees from some other place were sacrificed. Sacrificing somewhere else seems a common theme.

2. The green shirters took off their shirts to sit among the audience or ask questions at the mike, at last night's Live meeting, thus appearing as 'unaffiliated' citizens when they hissed and boo'd answers and people they didn't like. As the meeting ended, the team uniforms were pulled on again. We require lobbyists to register so we know who is meeting whom, it might be nice if citizen lobbyists for one particular cause did the same by keeping their shirts on. (I wore a sweater and jacket throughout the meeting, the air conditioning worked well and continuously despite the crowded room).

3. Cullen, running for mayor, repeatedly referred to Bayview as the best site. He did not mention any alternative sites, certainly none in the Glebe or Ottawa South. He did not mention whether the local residents should have any voice in the matter. He gave every impression his mind was completely made up.

4. I am amazed at the ability of residents and politicians  to call for consultative planning but conveniently ignore the fact that the Bayview site already has a plan for 1600 medium density housing units and a 300,000 sq ft civic building (envisioned in the 2004 study final to be the library, which is now going elsewhere). But no where was a 25,000 seat stadium mentioned. I reviewed this with city planning staff and other community groups, and they confirm a stadium was not on the books. I also reread the Bayview report. Nary a stadium in sight, despite Martin claiming that residents have been consulted.

5. Getting into the Live meeting at Tom Brown was like running a gauntlet of time share salespeople in Mexico, with hyper-ventilating sales people pushing the merits of their real estate dreams. The alternatives to Lansdowne only look attractive because they are not fleshed out, they are conceptual ideas only, being compared to a detailed Lansdowne plan. Of course it is easy to pick at the detailed plan and fantasize about the vague one. Sell the sizzle.

6. I am constantly amazed at the people - politicians, architects, professors - who use one set of words to tell us why Lansdowne is Bad Plan (parking horrors! ugly stadium! sensitive neighborhood!) but then switch vocabulary when suggesting alternatives such as Bayview (civic structure! pedestrian paradise! transit nirvana!).  Residents of the Bayview area may be lower income than the Lansdowne area but we are not stupid.

 7. I am surprised how many people latch onto flimsy straws that support their views without thinking it through. Parking around Lansdowne - now and in the future - will be a problem. So will transit access. So people jump to the Bayview site as solving all this because its on one or more LRT lines (so would the Carleton site, but hey, that's too close to ... ). Well, Bluesfest is located just a few hundred meters east of Bayview, equally right on the transit line, and the neighborhood was plagued with parking problems as thousands of attendees drove to the event and tried to park on lawns, bouelevards, and park space when they couldn't find free on-street parking in the first block off the site. What will make all these people suddenly decide to take transit to the stadium?

8. People at the meeting derrided the park and ride schemes proposed in the Lansdowne Live plan, saying no one would park at Carleton U ($$) or Billings Bridge (because the mall is open 7 days a week and most evenings). But then, how would transit work for Bayview if people aren't expected to park at Lincoln fields, College Square, St Laurent and other shopping centres to take the LRT? Is the City expected to provide new larger park and ride lots for 24,000 cars? If so, shouldn't we consider where and at what cost?

9. Martin proposes a Bayview stadium that is sunk into the ground to partially hide it. As a resident of the Bayview area, and a walker, I can certainly attest to what planners know but seldom boast about: Bayview and LeBreton are low lying areas subject to cold winds from the west and north. They are, in short, thermal sinks. This might be a contributing reason they have always been low income areas. A sunken sadium would be even lower. Can Mick Jagger say "Brr"; Can Kiss-y cats fluff their fur? Surely outdoor concerts would be more comfortable at Lansdowne.

10. And just where does the Bayview parking structure go? Under the sunken stadium, five stories below the River level? And all those people leaving Bayview in their cars ... are they using the Ottawa River Commuter Expressways, even though using the Driveways is disparaged for Lansdowne? Which is it: NCC roads are usable, or not?

11. When the City first faced two competing stadium bids, I was surprised at how quickly centretown residents ruled out Kanata. Much of this is a knee jerk reaction, an antipathy to suburban development which must be derrided as dormitory land and forbidden to diversify. To my mind, the Scotiabank site was pretty attractive: it's far away from me, residents who move in will know they are getting the open air concerts forbidden to the sensitive ears of downtown residents, and it might be enough incentive to extend the LRT to Kanata sooner than later, so we can get rid of BRT in favour of LRT. And it has plenty of parking already.

12. Will the Green Shirt fiscal-hawks be around when alternative stadium sites are being planned for? Or are they really just opponents of a stadium at Lansdowne disguising their opposition in the guise of fiscal and procedural rectitude?

13. If a stadium is bad for established neighborhoods, such as the Glebe/Ottawa South, why is good for other residential areas? Wouldn't honesty require Lansdowne location opponents to oppose stadiums in other residential or urban areas and favour industrial locations? Alas, no such subtle thinking was apparent last night.

14. Questioners focussed on the long term viability of Lansdowne Live: what will become of the stadium in 30 or 60 or 100 years? The obvious answer is that sole city ownership has proven itself a failure as the stadium is crumbling around itself; the Live plan delivers a cash stream to keep the stadium maintained. Would that people were so concerned with the long-term consequences of all city decisions and expenditures.

15. Three politicans were present last night. Cullen took every opportunity to promote himself and Bayview, although Bayview is far from his ward (maybe that's why...). Kitchissippi ward councillor Leadman was there. She represents Bayview area, but said nary a word pro or con Bayview or even that maybe, just maybe, the surrounding community should be consulted and impacts on the area considered. Such admirable restraint! Wilkinson was there too, and did not embarass herself. Holmes was not there to put in a word for her ward which abuts the Bayview site.

16. The city manger Kent Kirpatrick handled hostile questions with grace and skill and in-depth knowledge. It was in marked contrast to the three politicans present. Kirpatrick for mayor !


Finally, a note on my own personal view: I do not think stadiums are easily integratable into urban areas, anywhere. I think stadiums are a component of a vital urban area that offers diverse entertainments and environments, even though I cannot recall ever attending a Lansdowne stadium event.  I am not adverse to looking at Bayview as a stadium site. I am adverse to being stuck with a stadium because an affluent bureaucracy-savy neighorhood gets a below-mediocre council to suddenly jump off a hot stove onto the nearest, ill-thought-out alternative. If Lansdowne Live is killed, what is the alternative?

Festival Asia parade on Satuday

No Chinatown event would be complete without dragon dancing. On Saturday, there were three dragons, plus drummers and cymbals.

Gentlement always wear skirts kilts.

Umbrellas were brought for rain, but the son shone.

Sword fighting.

Stilt walking troupe from China. The only child member seen here at the front left is only 8 years old. After the parade, they performed complicated dance routines, hopping, and acrobatics on stitlts.

Yours Truly pays due homage to China Doll's 90 carot diamond ring.

Dance routines on the City stage.

All photos by M.Lafontaine.

Man's Best Friend

Small dog at the Red Friday rally at Dundonald Park.

Dogs are loyal, friendly, patriotic, and do not look bored when politicians speak.

Red Friday Rally at Dundonald Park

Pleasant folk songs in Dundonald Park.

The ever-popular Andrew Lay's SunnyDays cart catered the event. Andrew's cart was missing from Bank/Sparks for two years while he lived - and catered - in China. And got married. In the background, Igor Gouzenko's apartment building.

The Federal plaque manages to avoid mentioning his defection started the Cold War in earnest.

The City plaque manages to be unreadable.

The Gouzenko's apartment building on Somerset beside The Beer Store.

The composition of the Glashan girls school choir reflects the Dalhousie neighborhood: all religions, creeds, nationalities, ethnicities.

Neighborhood MP Paul Dewar welcomes the rally. A military brat, it turns out. MP Royal Galipeau also spoke. He is chair of the Canada-Arab World Parliamentary Association.

President of Dalhousie Community Association welcomes attendees. A navy brat, this time.

Baird on the Ottawa Transit Tunnell

Last evening there was a banquet in Chinatown. It had several purposes. It was a birthday celebration for the 60th Anniversary of the current ruling regime in China, and the Chinese ambassador was present. It was a fundraiser for the new archway that will grace Somerset St at Cambridge later this year, and for that welcoming beacon and sign of the Chinese-Asian presence in the Dalhousie neighborhood of Ottawa, significant funds were raised. The final arch design was revealled: it is a royal arch, because Ottawa is a capital city, as is Beijing, which is contributing to the archway here. It will be the only royal arch in a Canadian Chinatown (hello Toronto, Vancouver ...). It also launched the weekend Festival Asia. There was drumming and three ornate dragons danced through the crowded tables of attendees.

Of course there were politicans present: John Baird, Jim Watson, Larry OBrien, Diane Holmes, and (ex-politican) Richard Patton, all seeming glad to be in each other's presence. Their mutual delight radiated throughout the room. With politicians, there are speeches.

Jim Watson told of his mayoral visit to Beijing. John Baird related his visit to a number of Chinese cities this summer past, particularly focussing on the number of transit projects he saw underway. Light rail, heavy rail, urban and interurban, he recited an impressive list of transit projects, their lengths, and time frames for construction, all from memory. He then commented that it made an interesting contrast to all the fuss about Ottawa's short tunnel and initial few kilometers of rail.

There was no way it could be interpreted as negative about the Ottawa project's funding or feasibility. It sure did not sound like he was about to pull the plug.

Rabid Sewers

The foam caught my eye first. Then I heard the roaring sound of falling water under this access point (aka manhole), where one sewer pipe cascades "water" into a lower pipe.

Now, we've all heard that Ottawa's sewage is cleaner than that in most other cities (due to the NCC buying out most industrial land users, and due to the large amount of relatively-clean storm water we stuff into our sewage-sewers) but I did not expect to find soap suds cleaning the pipes.

Centretown music practice

By coincidence, having just finished reading several books set in the Scottish highlands, I came across this collection of bagpipes and government vehicles in a downtown parking lot one Saturday.

Imagine rural peasants in the medieval period who never experienced the world more than 5 miles from their home village. The loudest sounds they heard were thunder and coos (that's "cows" in English). Now image the excitement of being rounded up for duty in some military action: new countryside to see, castles and fortified manors, and then over the hill comes the enemy group, with loud drums and making really loud noisy music. I am sure it would have been terrifying.

The sound echoing off high rise buildings in the downtown was impressive.