Manifesto Multilinko
Interesting links and notes on updates to my main website.

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Friday, April 01, 2011
Downtown Ottawa Mobility Overlay

The Statement of Work for the Downtown Ottawa Mobility Overlay will be presented at Transportation Committee on April 6, 2011.

The background text says

The focus of the integrated study will be the streetscape environment for pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders following completion of the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT).

This will be a very important study for the future of a walkable downtown Ottawa.

In Broader Issues to be Addressed they state

The City has the opportunity to rebalance its priorities and to improve its streets. The current design of Ottawa’s downtown streets reflects past pressures and priorities of addressing vehicle traffic. Allocation of space has not only been based on the proportionate size of the various users of the street, but also on our own rather dated biases. The bias of the 20th century was towards expansive suburban growth, car-oriented travel and efficient vehicle movement into, and out of, the downtown. This has resulted in the greatest amount of space on the street being allocated to cars, trucks and buses, while the more vulnerable users, such as pedestrians and cyclists, have limited space on the periphery of the street. As a result, the quality, safety and attractiveness of our major streets – as experienced by pedestrians, cyclists and the adjacent communities – have been compromised.

I also found the following paragraph interesting, considering they have loaded up the Bank Street sidewalks with all this junk, even post-redesign (the giant ugly ad monster tower things are the worst offenders, but there's lots of other stuff in everyone's way too).

Generally narrow sidewalks are further encumbered by signs, lamp poles, newspaper boxes, traffic signal poles, trees, sandwich boards, benches, planters, parking display machines, waste receptacles, etc.

Key Mobility Overlay Milestones

  • Prepare a study outline and seek staff endorsement - Fall 2010
  • Scope of Work to Transportation Committee for approval - April 2011
  • Award of contract for consulting contract - June 2011
  • Initiate study and launch consultation strategy; organize PCG, BCG and ACG - September 2011
  • Mobility Overlay consultation in co-ordination with refinement of LRT station design - September 2011
  • Prepare recommended strategy - January 2012
  • Consult on the strategy - February 2012
  • Refine strategy - March 2012
  • Propose strategy and final consultation - September 2012
  • Committee and Council approval of the strategy - December 2012

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