Multi-use pathway to be open by fall
Designed for biking, walking and skiing, it should end Flats' image as `a barrier'
A new, one-kilometre-long multiuse pathway coming to LeBreton Flats will be the first public-realm project in the development of the 29-hectare site, 1.5 kilometres west of Parliament.
Construction of LeBreton Flats pathway is to begin in early August and should be open to the public in late fall of this year.
It's part of the LeBreton Flats Master Concept Plan, approved by the National Capital Commission board of directors in April. The plan envisions four districts in LeBreton Flats, with a mix of residential, entertainment, office and retail use. The path, which will connect through the future Parks District, will be the first piece of the master plan's parks and public realm strategy.
“Much of our city was planned around car infrastructure and putting cars before people,” said Jen Stelzer, EnviroCentre's director of community sustainability programs.
Pathways such as this one are intended to make biking and walking a central feature of city life, Stelzer said, and she's glad to see more emphasis on active transportation.
“It's so nice to see that happening at the planning stage and not trying to fit it in afterwards,” she explained. “Seeing this stuff being put in ahead of time, or in conjunction with a planning project, is very proactive and exciting.”
The pathway consists of two parts. Segment 1 will connect Pimisi Station's lower plaza to the Capital Pathway on the Ottawa River, going through the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway underpass. This section will have cycling and walking lanes, and will include a slow zone west of Pimisi Station for sitting to view the aqueduct.
Segment 2 will be a four-metrewide multi-use pathway running parallel to the O-Train Confederation Line between Pimisi and Bayview stations. The path will stretch along the north side of the O-Train tracks and connect with the Trillium Pathway.
The area has a strong walking, biking and transit corridor along Scott and Booth streets, Stelzer said.
“For so long — like decades, literally — LeBreton Flats has been a barrier, a place that you had to go around,” Stelzer said. “It's pretty exciting that we're seeing this connection happen.”
According to the NCC report of Jan. 22, construction of the pathway will involve:
■ installing construction fencing; demolishing and removing materials;
■ grading and drainage work; paving;
■ landscaping, including planting 21 trees and seeding with native and naturalized species;
■ adding wood fencing, seating areas and lighting, and
■ restoring the aqueduct's guardrail.
The area around the new pathway is a brownfield site with soil contaminated from previous industrial use, including a landfill. The NCC's public-consultation report says soil in the pathway's slow zone will be replaced to remediate that area. Remediation of the rest of the brownfield soil will occur when the area surrounding the pathway is further developed into the Parks District under the master plan. Until then, fencing and landscaping features will keep users on the pathway.
Public consultations for the new pathway project were held between December 2020 and February of this year.
The public consultation report says participants highlighted the importance of “interpretation of local heritage and history, including that of Indigenous peoples and LeBreton's industrial past.”
In response, the NCC report says heritage interpretation panels will be considered when the master plan's heritage and culture strategy is implemented.
On the subject of winter maintenance, some respondents urged the NCC to keep the path cleared, while others endorsed integrating it into the surrounding winter trail network.
Proper winter grooming and snow management can satisfy everyone, said Dave Adams, head groomer and project manager of the SJAM Winter Trail, which will be renamed this fall.
“We work with snow, and we make it nice for any human-powered transportation,” Adams said. That means walkers, bikers and skiers can share the same pathway.
Adams has groomed part of the pathway site to test its viability, and said Segment 2 will be included in the winter trail network going forward.
According to the public consultation report, the pathway's design includes the width and fence gates needed for grooming equipment to access the trail.
The NCC's emphasis on active transportation is consistent with the winter trail's goals as a multiuse urban winter pathway, Adams said.
“We're trying to animate the space together,” he said.
The LeBreton Flats sector has varied terrain with some hills, while most of the winter trail network is flat, Adams said.
“It gives us an opportunity to cater to the university racer, or even the more advanced skier,” Adams said. “They can just get a really high-quality work workout in downtown Ottawa.”