Light rail can be used to make Ottawa more friendly to pedestrians
As Ottawa’s light-rail system gets up and running in the years ahead, it will change the way many people get around in this city.
What may be less obvious to the public, but top-of-mind to municipal officials and those in the real estate business, is how much potential there is for this new mode of transit to shape the way the city looks and feels at the street level.
With the city looking to increase density as much as possible to avoid more suburban sprawl, there are no better places than around light-rail stations to pack in residences and businesses real tight. It’s easy to get high volumes of workers and people who live there in and out without traffic jams or the need for more roads.
There was a fair amount of discussion about this at the recent Ottawa Real Estate Forum.
Coun. Peter Hume, chairman of the city’s planning committee, told development industry representatives, who might be thinking of building along the LRT line, that the city would make it as easy for them as much as possible.
‘Transit acts as a magnet, as we all know, to development.’
JIM WATSON Ottawa Mayor
Hume said the city has found capacity for the creation of 40,000 residential units and three million square feet of non-residential development around six future LRT stations to the east of downtown — Lees, Hurdman, Tremblay, St Laurent, Cyrville and Blair.
Mayor Jim Watson told the real estate crowd that “transit acts as a magnet, as we all know, to development.”
George Dark, an architect with Urban Strategies Inc., from Toronto, told the Ottawa audience there are busy areas in his city, like the corner of Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue, that had virtually nothing there before the subway was built in the 1950s.
This particular event was held at the Ottawa Conference and Event Centre, which is attached to the Hampton Inn at the corner of Coventry Road and the Vanier Parkway. It’s within walking distance two of the future LRT stations and stops for the current bus Transitway. Yet, it is a long way from being a convenient or pleasant place to travel to or around without a vehicle.
I was covering this conference for a real estate news website. I should have driven my car there. The only reason I didn’t was because I mixed up “Conference Centre” with “Convention Centre” and ended up downtown.
I was at the wrong place before I realized it and hopped on another bus and headed east. The extra bus ride was relatively easy.
It’s less than 10 minutes from the Rideau Centre to the Tremblay Road stop that’s at the city’s main Via Rail station.
It would have been simple to get from this station to the Conference Centre, which is right next to the Ottawa Stadium, if the pedestrian bridge being built over the Queensway was completed. But it’s not, so I walked over to the Vanier Parkway, which has a bridge that goes over the Queensway.
Along the way, there were a few intersections with Queensway onramps where the pedestrian is the lowest of priorities. Walkers have no right-of-way at these junctions and it is up to them to make sure there are no vehicles speeding up to get on the freeway while they cross, lest they become roadkill.
Then again, you feel guilty complaining. It’s not like there were any other people dumb enough to be walking the streets around there.
As you approach the Vanier Parkway side of the Conference Centre, there is plenty of signage to let people know where they are. There’s an outdoor resting area right there for those who need some fresh air or a cigarette. But there is no apparent entry point from the sidewalk.
Why would there be? The parking lot is on the other side. I crossed through some bushes to get in.
At lunchtime, I took a walk in search of food. I headed east on Coventry toward St. Laurent Boulevard. I only had an hour of spare time, so I fairly quickly gave up hopes of making it to the St. Laurent Centre’s food court. The construction made the walk extra unpleasant, but there wouldn’t have been much to go to or see within a reasonable walk anyway.
A chip wagon in the parking lot of Canadian Tire was my only option. I had to improvise my seating arrangement in the parking lot.
The few picnic tables that were there were taken. I guess a few other people couldn’t find anywhere else to eat either.
It made me wish the event had been downtown at the Convention Centre, where shops, restaurants and interesting walks are just outside any door.
It should be noted that I was in an area relatively central to Ottawa, on the cusp of the downtown core, near transit and in the vicinity of some fairly dense residential areas.
Hopefully the coming of light rail does indeed spark more pedestrianfriendly development in this area and other places like it.
And for future city planning, even if it’s nowhere near light rail, let’s stop working on the assumption that walking is an outdated activity, otherwise it might become one.