Old Ottawa Tech gets a facelift

My grandfather was a student at the former Ottawa Technical High School, after which he headed to the U of O to study Engineering. The school, located between Albert and Slater at Bay Street, has long since ceased to be used as a such, though its facilities are still maintained for various different activities. Its yard, between Albert and Laurier, is well-known for sporting elaborate graffiti murals on the South wall, which can be a break for transit users' eyes as they come off the subterreanean Transitway.

Last September, the upper-level windows on the South wall of the building got a fancy new glass facade. Here's a shot of that under construction.


I noticed last week that some barricades have been arranged along the East wall, perhaps a hint that they will be doing that one next. You can see the completed South wall in this photo.



I expect transit users must enjoy the sleek new glass facade in place of the old, ugly brown that used to mark the entrance into downtown.

An interesting tidbit: The sidewalk along this stretch of Bay is designated as a shared sidewalk for cyclists to ride down, as indicated by this sign which reads, "Shared sidewalk / cyclists yield to pedestrians". As a law-abiding cyclist, I never noticed the sign until someone pointed it out to me, because I never had occasion to be looking in that direction on Bay street!



You can tell by the clutter on the asphalt portion of the sidewalk that nobody takes it very seriously. From what I understand, cyclists ride down it, then continue South on Bay street after the "shared sidewalk" ends. Not the best cycling facility.