Gladstone and Parkdale Avenues under construction this summer
ala...@twobikes.ottawa.on.ca
* Gladstone Avenue will be under construction in 2006 from mid-June to the
end of November, between Melrose and Bayswater. In 2007, it will be
under construction from Bayswater to Booth. Gladstone in this area is a
designated cycling route. On the bright side, this should fix the
endemic potholes (as well as sewers, sidewalks, and watermains).
For most of the section being reconstructed, there's enough room for two
shared lanes (one in each direction), each 4.25m wide -- which is the
standard for sharing between cars and bikes. The one exception is the
blocks right around Irving Street, where there isn't room without taking
out people's living rooms. There the lanes will be 3.75m wide. The
sidewalks will range from 1.8 to 2m wide, which is a slight improvement.
For the 2006 construction, Gladstone will be closed to all but local
traffic. The designated traffic detour will be Bayswater to
Somerset/Wellington to Parkdale. The bus detour will be Bayswater to
Somerset/Wellington to Rosemount to Gladstone: cyclists may want to use
that. Cyclists going south of the Queensway may want to take Bayswater
to Young to Fairmont. The city (i.e. Robin Bennett) should be
advertising bike detours.
For the 2007 construction, Gladstone will be open to through traffic,
but I can't imagine most cyclists would want to go down the Booth hill
when the road is a mass of large gravel and holes. There's no detour for
cyclists yet determined, but IMHO there will need to be one.
Parkdale
--------
* Parkdale Avenue will be completely closed between Sherwood (just south
of the Queensway) to Carling from April 10 to September. It will be
completely reconstructed, but the road design will only be tweaked in
minor ways (the alternating bulb-outs will remain). Local traffic will
be allowed, and traffic will be able to cross the street as necessary.
The alternative route (and designated cycling route) is Holland Avenue;
other alternatives are Carling or Sherwood.
--
Alayne McGregor
alayne at twobikes.ottawa.on.ca
"I saw in Germany and Czechoslovakia that the law is destroyed first and
then, after the law is gone, the freedom of the people is destroyed. The
thing about [Sen. Joe] McCarthy that bothers me is his disrepect for the
due process of law." -- Edward R. Murrow