Snow removal on Bank Street (video)

On the left, the snow accumulation on Bank Street's west sidewalk from the previous snowfall. On the right, the mostly-bare road and sidewalk minutes after the City took the same snowbanks away from the east side of Bank Street last night:

I described the process in more detail in my 2012 post, "Snow removal on Kent." In summary, some very deft sidewalk plow operators push the snow from around various obstacles on the sidewalk into the road. Then graders like this one go by to arrange this snow into a straight row on the roadway:

Then, of course, the big snow blower machine comes by to whisk the snow (and ice!) all away with ease, while a lineup of trucks follow in wait of their turn to collect the snow from the blower:

I took a video of the blower going by. Watch it in stunning HD:

As described at a briefing last week at the City's Transportation Committee, snow removal (that is, physically removing it from the road and taking it someplace else, as opposed to snow clearing, which is just pushing it aside) makes up the biggest part of the City's winter maintenance budget. Of the $11.8M spent to clean up after the December 20 storm, most ($7.2M) was spent on snow removal. By contrast, $873,000 was spent on sidewalk clearing during and after that storm, which amounts to about a dollar per person for that one storm.

Peds on Weds: Part 4: A history of sidewalk design in Ottawa

Today for the fourth and final entry of the sidewalk-design series, I'm going to give a history of sidewalk design, starting at the establishment of the original City of Ottawa, in 1855 (and earlier!). In part 2 of this series, I already gave a "little history" of the Toronto-style sidewalk design, relating specifically to how they became standard back to the establishment of the current amalgamated City of Ottawa in 2001. This followed part 1, in which I described "Toronto-style" sidewalks and the problems they're meant to address, and part 3, in which I discussed some of the issues the Toronto-style sidewalk itself has faced.

Today's entry starts with the West Ward Market, built in 1848 by Nicholas Sparks. This was used as Ottawa's first City Hall, roughly where the NAC is today.

r

The first municipally-built sidewalks in Ottawa actually predate the City of Ottawa's 1855 incorporation: by-law number 37 of the Town of Bytown, approved the 23rd of September, 1850, was "To authorize the expenditure of £75 in making a Plank Sidewalk, S. side York Street":

Bronson reopens for the last time

After two years of construction, Bronson Avenue reopens to through traffic today, whereas it had been closed between Laurier and Somerset (the headline of the linked PSA wrongly states Gladstone). I thought I'd post some snapshots to summarize the progress.

As with last year, the reopening isn't necessarily something to celebrate, as Bronson will no doubt return to its status as a traffic sewer for hasty drivers with little or no connection to Centretown, the roadway is the same width as before the reconstruction (despite the Community's strong desire to get it rebuilt otherwise), but without all the potholes to slow them down. There will hopefully be some degree of relief on the side streets which have been host to cut-through traffic when Bronson was closed.

Recall how disruptive the closure was to road users of all modes. Not only did it disrupt the patterns of people who were just passing through, but when the intersection of Somerset and Bronson was closed, bus riders had quite a walk to get to the nearest bus stop. Customer traffic to the businesses along Bronson slowed to a trickle when Gladstone was closed. There were some attempts to maintain temporary sidewalks for pedestrians also, as seen here in the muddy mess of a street, looking north along the former east sidewalk:

Bixi's back for 2013

As of today, Capital Bixi is back in action! For subscribers like me, that means my key should work for the remainder of my one-year subscription (which I bought last June). And for you readers of my blog, that means I'm going to blog about it!

I never got around to blogging my Bixi photos last year (and the year before, my season-opener blog post used photos from the 2009 pilot), so I get to include some of those with this post. For example, the one above was taken last June at the Museum of Nature's east lawn, at Elgin and McLeod. On Saturday night, the bikes had been re-installed, though it was decidedly snowier:

Peds on Weds: James Street

The canopy tree canopy over James Street, looking east from Lyon toward Bank. No particular reason, it just looks nice (I boosted the saturation a teensy bit). When cycling or walking, I find the side streets are much more pleasant to walk along than the major roads (with fewer lights, to boot).

I remember stopping on my bike and turning around to take a photo along this block, but I thought it was just a couple of weeks ago. The timestamp for this photo actually puts it at four months ago! Time sure flies! I honestly can't remember if I took this photo because of the trees, or because the light in that pedestrian signal on the right is out... ah, I see now: the blue car is driving the wrong way!

[Tune in on Wednesdays at noon for a new pedestrian-themed blog post. View the Pedestrians label for previous Peds on Weds posts]

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Post-and-ring bike rack update

Before I start, you may have heard the news that I've stepped down as President of the CCCA to work in the office of Somerset Ward Councillor Diane Holmes. I sent a message to the CCCA's members and followers on Wednesday night. If you're wondering, yes I'll still be blogging, yes I'll still be involved in community activities (perhaps even moreso), and yes I'll still be tweeting. I still want you to join and get involved with the CCCA, and to attend the AGM on October 25, 2011, at 7pm at the Beaver Barracks (464 Metcalfe, at Catherine). I won't be working regularly at City Hall until the last week of October.

With that out of the way...

I've written many posts about the City's insufficient provision of secure bicycle parking, particularly in the removal of parking meters. About a year ago, I gave the example of Elgin Street, which went from having many parking meters per block, per side, to one or two post-and-ring racks for both sides.

Back before they even started, I'd reviewed the City's list of where to put the bike racks that were left after removing most of them. In addition to noting locations where it was recommended not to replace parking meters, I also pointed out that bicycle parking shouldn't be limited to commercial areas and big condo buildings. I've often arrived at someone's place in Centretown to find that there was nothing in sight to lock my bike to, not even a street sign.

That's for short-term parking. It's even worse for many apartment-dwellers, like the ones along Frank street whose bikes were parked in the video in this post, and who don't have space in or outside their building to keep their bikes.

There is often a bike locked to this signpost on James Street at Kent, just across from St. Barnabas church:

What I suspect happened here is that someone unbolted the sign and lifted the bike over the post. Another related trick thieves use is to find a post that can be lifted out of the ground, so make sure to immobilize your wheel (i.e. don't just lock the frame to the post), and check to make sure whatever you lock your bike to is securely attached to the ground.

The number of bikes in town has grown significantly, even since last year, and these people need places to park their bikes. I've been told that a second round of post-and-ring racks is being installed soon (perfect timing given the imminent removal of the blue Velocity bike racks for the winter), and that Elgin is one of the streets that will receive them, after its recent resurfacing.

Whether this will include residential areas, I'm doubtful, but if there are people or stores you normally visit that have no secure place to lock your bike, please leave a comment!

(PS: As part of the Rescue Bronson Avenue project, I'll be meeting with the consultants on the Bronosn Avenue reconstruction to tell them where they can stick their bike racks.)

(Subsequent edit: In October 2012, many more bike racks were installed in Centretown, including 60 or so along Gladstone, which didn't have parking meters to begin with! Apparently the comments I had submitted a year or so earlier were consulted.)

[Look for more one-photo posts under the label Singles]

Another repair: McNabb Park

In mid-October, I noticed a problem with this sign for McNabb Park at 320 James Street:

In case you can't see quite what the problem is, here is a different view showing how warped this sign has become. Give it a bit more time and it'll break, leaving us with either a neighbourhood in tatters or a bill for an expensive new sign.

I sent the above photos to Councillor Holmes' office, who then forwarded them to the appropriate person in the Parks, Recretation, and Cultural Services department in early November. In less than two weeks, the signpost had been realigned and re-welded:

These little easy-to-do repairs are just another thing that the City can do to keep Centretown functional and looking good. All it takes is a call to 3-1-1 or e-mail to 311@ottawa.ca, and occasionally a follow-up. Once they know about these problems, they're fixed pretty quickly!

More Yellow

After last week's post about a new yellow house on Arlington Avenue, I realized I had photos of other yellow houses in Centretown, which I'd might as well share.

But first, some updates on Ottawa's most famous (and most yellow) Yellow House...

As has been documented elsewhere (specifically at Watawa Life, twice, and at Neatorama), a black zig-zag stripe was painted on the Cambridge Street North side of the house, with the words, "Grief Ain't Good," a reference to Charlie Brown's shirt and his catchphrase, "Good Grief!"

The text was painted over shortly thereafter, but the black stripe left a bit longer. In this shot, with the two dormer windows, it looks more like a yellow Pac-Man ghost. I think the yellow sticker on the parking sign is a nice touch.

The stripe was painted over also, leaving what should be a blank yellow canvas, but what is really a patchwork of miscellaneous yellow blotches.

A couple weeks ago, I was heading down that way near sunset. The light and the sky had some very vivid colours. You can also see that the crackled paint on the window leaves some interesting shadows on the inside far wall.

On that visit, I noticed these two books in the front window, amusingly titled, "Don't Wait to Buy a House - Buy a House and Wait." Looking back at my old photos, these have been there since at least May 2009, which is the earliest photo I have of after October 2008, when the windows were still painted.

The uniformity of the yellow masks some of the architectural elements of the house. But the low angle of the sun also brings them out. Like the arch above the front door:

Which makes for a decent enough segue to the first of the other yellow houses in Centretown:

This one is Fresco Cielo, an Italian bistro on Elgin between Waverley and Frank. Not only is the building yellow, there is a yellow car driving by! (Pure Gelato, next door, also has a yellow storefront, but only on the first storey.)

The building is technically not a house, it's a restaurant. Prior to this restaurant being founded in 1991, my sources tell me this building previously housed a greasy spoon, a Chinese restaurant, and a firehall. (Note: I haven't bothered to verify this information.)

The next house is the home of Pierre Amelotte International, a hair loss treatment centre, right next to the Rama Lotus Yoga Centre. It used to be an ordinary enough red-brick house, until it underwent extensive renovations to add floors. The transformation isn't quite as stark as the Echo Drive house, as the original parts of the building are still red brick.

This house made some cameos in this post on the Metropolitan Bible Church demolition, and its yellow rear is visible through a driveway off McLeod in this Hallowe'en 2008 post.

The next one is on Bay at James: Powers House, built around 1887. It was renovated extensively in 1915 by architect Francis C. Sullivan, who added his distinctive Prairie stylings. This is just a sneak peek of the narrow side of the house; I'll do a more extensive post on this house another time.

It was this photo that I saw in my "unsorted" pile that got me to write this post. It's 857 Somerset Street West, in Chinatown (technically in Dalhousie, not Centretown). It's next door to the Somerset Travel Agency.

This building stuck out at me very prominently when I took the photo in June, and I assumed it had recently been painted yellow. But to my surprise, the yellow was always there, hidden in plain sight by a red awning banner for Pho Bo Ga King, as revealed by Google Street View, whose photos are from Spring 2009:

I must have just never seen it zipping down the hill on my bike, or struggling back up it.

As such, there are probably other yellow houses in Centretown that I've missed. I'm only counting the garish painted-yellow ones, not yellow-brick buildings like this pretty one at 307 Gilmour, which houses law offices. Its brickwork was repaired last winter:

If you know of other yellow houses in Centretown, leave a comment below!

Bank Street Phase III, Intro and part 1

Last year, I posted a single post on Phase II of the Bank Street reconstruction project, between Laurier West and Somerset West. This year, there's much more to post about: The new bike racks are up, and there are so many more blocks of construction to blog. I already blogged about the streetcar rail ties dug up from under Bank Street back in May.

While paring down last year's set was hard, I took many more photos of this year's work. In September, I selected the best photos, printed out thumbnails, and sorted them into groups over a cup of Earl Grey at Bridgehead:

Then I got busy, and by the time things had died down, I had taken many more photos that I wanted to incorporate into the series.

I've finally gotten around to sorting them out for posting. Click below to go to the relevant post:

• Part 1: Sidewalks (below)
• Part 2: Lights
• Part 3: Trees
• Part 4: Benches
• Part 5: Surfaces
• Part 6: Bike racks
• more to come....

Part 1: Sidewalks

Old sidewalks meet new on Bank near Catherine Street in this photo from last week. In the background is the Bank street Queensway underpass:

Here's a reminder of what the sidewalks looked like on Bank before the recent reconstruction. This shot looking South from Bank and Gloucester in front of the Tim Horton's shows a rather rather cluttered, claustrophobic, uncoordinated corner--and that's after they moved the newspaper boxes away shortly before this photos was taken in October 2007. Many intersections had an engraved stone block with the name of the intersecting street laid into the pavement. The one at this intersection had long been removed and filled in with asphalt. Another at Gladstone (photographed in this post) had been broken up through wear and tear.

Construction on Phase three of the five-phase Bank Street Reconstruction project began a year ago this week, with the removal of the sidewalk at the plagued South-East corner of Somerset and Bank.

Most of the other sidewalks down to Catherine survived until the majority of the utility work under the roads was complete. These squares of sidewalk in front of the James Street Pub were being delicately removed in late May.

Once the old sidewalks were removed and a bed of foundation gravel was laid at the right height, the new sidewalk was outlined with a guide rope suspended from a series of posts. In this mid-August photo at Bank and Gilmour, the bulbout outline is clearly visible, and guarded by yellow caution tape. The spool for the rope is visible in the foreground.

The wire is used to line up the wooden concrete forms, as shown here on Bank and MacLaren in front of the Quizno's restaurant. A gas-operated tamping machine is used to compress the gravel underneath to avoid damage to the sidewalk caused by settling.

On long, straight sections of sidewalk, they don't use wooden forms, but instead a curb-laying machine such as this one in front of the Rogers Plus store on Bank and Gilmour. It's faster, smoother, and more consistent. Eric Darwin has photos of one of these machines in use on Preston Street over at West Side Action.

Here's a closeup of the working end of the machine:

Here's the old sidewalk in front of Hartman's, looking South from Bank and Somerset. This was always a narrow block to walk down, especially where the Bank Street BIA's big black advertising box occupies a good portion of sidewalk real estate. (The old round Bank Street Promenade sign is also visible on the post in the foreground, and others are visible in the background in various rotations) This photo was taken in early December 2008.

During construction, the sidewalk had been removed. By mid-August, you can see some wooden stakes beginning to mark the new sidewalk outline on the other side of the Modu-Loc construction fence.

At the end of August, the curb was poured, and another tamping machine sits in this nighttime photo waiting to compress the gravel under the sidewalk to be poured.

Two days later, forms have been installed for the sidewalk, and a moving assembly line of Local 527 workers pour, level, and smoothen the sidewalk. The worker in the blue helmet is holding a paintbrush, which he's using to add a border around the street lamp.

And here's the finished sidewalk. The traveled portion of the new sidewalk is as wide as the entire old sidewalk, and there's an extra section for furniture to be installed. On the North half of the block, it's even wider. A new bus shelter was installed in the wider part of the sidewalk in the last couple days, which will be welcome to the many, many people who wait at that stop. Grooves increase traction at the intersection, and double as a guide for the visually-impaired.

I think the construction process was refined over last year (Bank will reopen two weeks ahead of schedule). For example, the section pictured in the photo below shows some squares of sidewalk yet to be poured in the Phase II part of the project between Laurier and Somerset. There's an earlier photo of that block in the aforementioned post from last year, showing just how many people walk through this block looking North from Gloucester:

These squares of sidewalk hold the foundations for the street lamps, and are reinforced with steel rebar. The sidewalk in front of Hartman's doesn't have rebar, and the squares with the lamps are poured at the same time as the rest of the sidewalk.

But the really peculiar thing with this stretch is that temporary wooden pole in the middle of the street!

Here's another peculiarity I spotted yesterday: six sewer grates are built into the sidewalk across from Lewis street. Six. One presumes a lot of water collects at this corner during storms. This in-curb design is great (pun unintended) for cyclists, because you don't have to swerve around them into traffic. Since they aren't in the asphalt portion of the street, cars don't run over them and break apart the surrounding asphalt, meaning they don't require repair nearly as often, meaning less patchwork of asphalt to be broken up. Sewer grates on the roadway make for vicious cycling.

All in all, the new sidewalks are much wider, fresher and cleaner than the old ones. Here's another old-and-new shot of the sidewalk in front of Herb & Spice at Bank and Lewis, December 2008:
And September 2009. Finally there will be room for adequate bike parking!

The Google Street View car went down Bank street in March, before most of the work was started. Pop a step or two down the cross-streets for a later view. While you're waiting two days for the next post, why don't you take a few minutes to check out what Bank Street used to look like on Google Street View, then take a stroll down Bank Street and notice the difference.

Tune in Tuesday for the Part II: Lights

A James Street Metamorphosis

Images of Centretown has recently been added to Blogawa, a tracker of Ottawa-related blogs. It's good to be aboard. I had added a few posts in late August, but Erigami didn't have time until September 1 to add it to the blogroll. Then I was too busy to post! I've been too busy enjoying Centretown, I guess. ;)

I quite like construction, and I'd post more photos of the various big construction projects in Centretown, if only I had the chance to wade through my hundreds of photos of each one! So when I saw this smaller residential renovation on James Street, I felt it would be more easily blogged. The work also appears to have finished, so it makes for a nice complete story.

Of the many houses on James that are being renovated, this one has had the fastest and most noticeable transitions. Here is a shot I took when I first noticed the porch had been removed in late May. Note the grass line and the last post still stuck to the wall:

This next shot is from mid-July. A tasteful patio walkway has been installed, and work was well underway on a new porch.

Incidentally, a small stretch of sidewalk was repaired next door in this timeframe as well. I thought I had a photo of it being worked on, but my camera memory cards seem to indicate otherwise. Here's an "after" shot of the sidewalk:

In a few days' time, the porch was complete. It looked very nice, although the ghost of the old porch on the front wall of the house was a bit grotesque:

Evidently, the owner agreed, as the whole building was painted biege in late August! Instead of making the house more bland, it actually brought out the geometric accents in the brickwork, giving it a modern, yet cozy, appearance.

Finally, the reason for all this beautification became apparent yesterday, when a "For Sale" sign appeared on the front lawn:

I hope the person or people who purchase the house will come to enjoy Centretown and feel welcome!