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  #461  
Old Posted Nov 23, 2020, 5:33 PM
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Originally Posted by hipster duck View Post
I don't mind the way University Ave is currently set up with its Park Avenue median, but there needs to be significant changes to the way the median is set up itself.

The monuments are historic and shouldn't be removed or even moved, but the hardscaping and landscaping is looking very haggard and needs a revamp.

I would also take the opportunity to completely redesign the width of the median in some places since there are places that could benefit from having a dedicated left turn lane at certain intersections, which could then allow one of the general purpose lanes in each direction to be converted to a cycle track plus additional sidewalk space.

Right now, left turns are done by hiding in the cove formed by the median, perpendicular to the street itself, and then advancing when it's safe. It reminds me of the setup of those 4-lane rural Prairie highways when you want to turn off and go down a range road that intersects at grade. The difference, of course, is that it works there because the traffic volumes are a magnitude lower and the berth is wider.
Enough with removing traffic lanes in Toronto for cycle tracks. The theory is sound. It's just not practical for Toronto at this stage when hundreds of thousands of transit commuter travel in mixed traffic. I've seen and, unfortunately, been on transit that went from free flowing to stuck in traffic hell with the removal of traffic lanes for cycle tracks that see more tumbleweeds than cyclists.

University is one of the widest avenues. A cycle track would have significantly less impact than slashing rush hour traffic lanes by 50% as with the of majority cycle tracks built in the city. My "enough with cycle tracks" is non specific to University. It's more frustration ignoring practicality for the desire to be more Dutch. Our cyclist city councilors also put their preference at the forefront traffic planning instead of balancing all forms of travel. Cyclist have always gotten the short end of stick. It's not a cause to respond in the extreme. I feel the same with planning around transit hubs. It's basically build as much density as you want in recognition that the city has a substandard network of high capacity, grade separated transit over investing in better transit.
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  #462  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 1:48 PM
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Rideau Street renewal. Almost complete. The project is a wrap-up of years of disruptions with the Confederation Line construction and Rideau Centre expansion.

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Originally Posted by Glenlivet Ave View Post
Pictures from today.

Looks like they'll be opening the road soon? Only missing signs, benches, bus shelters...



Rideau Street renewal in the 80s, after the Transitway was built. Compare subway vs badly planned busway (at least downtown). Those heated shelters invited the homeless, drug dealers, public urination and much more. Needless to say, they weren't around for very long. The nearby Village of Perth purchased them and they are now a central part of their Market Square.

EDIT: Someone noticed the "Canada 125" fags, which would date this image 1992, a year before those shelters were removed.


Last edited by J.OT13; Dec 7, 2020 at 2:44 PM.
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  #463  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 2:43 PM
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I guess I'll have to wait until spring, but I find that it looks rather stark.
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  #464  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 2:54 PM
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I guess I'll have to wait until spring, but I find that it looks rather stark.
Not a fan of the beige paving. Otherwise, not too bad. Far better than any other version of Rideau Street post-streetcars.
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  #465  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 4:35 PM
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Rideau Street looks awesome. That weird switcheroo they did with the bike lanes seems questionable though..



A lot is happening and about to open for the Calgary public realm, here's a few that I have recent pics of...


Elbow Islands Park - habitat restoration: south channel of the Elbow restored, mid-island breach restored, new fish spawning habitats under Mission Bridge - New Pathways - Flood-proof staircase designed by local artist - Benches, chairs, and mid-island bridge designed by local artists


By me

By me

By me

By me

By me

By me



Century Gardens - Total replacement of infrastructure - restoration of brutalist fountains - new splash pad - new amphitheater - new cafe's with controlled access to upper level of fountains



By me

By me

By me

By me



Mission Cliffs - Formalizing Pathway - Construction of stairs - Refreshed upper viewpoint


By me

By me

By Govertical on SRC



Flyover Park - Entirely new public space - activation of expressway underpass


By me

By me

By me



Fifth Street Underpass - Restoration/beautification of rail underpass - Bike lanes raised and separated - Fourth of seven underpasses to be done

Photos coming today


By me

By me



Jack Long Park - Transformation from a 60% of a city block of just grass into programmable park space



By SurrealPlaces on SRC



Humpy Hollow Park - Complete replacement and reimagination of the space

Photos coming today


By me
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Last edited by Chadillaccc; Dec 8, 2020 at 2:04 AM. Reason: Humpy Hollow
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  #466  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 5:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Chadillaccc View Post
Rideau Street looks awesome. That weird switcheroo they did with the bike lanes seems questionable though..
Those are some nice Calgary projects. The City seems to have a lot going on in recent years.

A bit of background on the strange Rideau bike lane situation; the east-end of Rideau was completed about a decade ago before bike lanes became a "must-have" on every street, so the City doesn't want to rip that out. By having it cross the street and end where it ends, cyclists will, I guess, disembark and reach future bike lanes on Besserer towards the east and down Nicholas to the decade old east-west Laurier bike lanes. Far from ideal, but a big improvement over the what we had before.
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  #467  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 5:13 PM
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It's really been non-stop for 20 years at this point. The next ones to go ahead are Eau Claire Plaza and the West Eau Claire Beach and surfing area.


Hmmm, well I guess that sort of makes sense... it's just bad. No cyclist will be disembarking at that point, unless tickets are issued frequently.
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  #468  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 10:11 PM
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Originally Posted by J.OT13 View Post
Rideau Street renewal. Almost complete. The project is a wrap-up of years of disruptions with the Confederation Line construction and Rideau Centre expansion.



Rideau Street renewal in the 80s, after the Transitway was built. Compare subway vs badly planned busway (at least downtown). Those heated shelters invited the homeless, drug dealers, public urination and much more. Needless to say, they weren't around for very long. The nearby Village of Perth purchased them and they are now a central part of their Market Square.

EDIT: Someone noticed the "Canada 125" fags, which would date this image 1992, a year before those shelters were removed.
Perhaps it's too early to judge but it looks quite sterile and uninviting. London did a far superior job on Dundas.
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  #469  
Old Posted Dec 7, 2020, 11:49 PM
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Perhaps it's too early to judge but it looks quite sterile and uninviting. London did a far superior job on Dundas.
I agree. Some trees could go a long way there by the looks of it.
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  #470  
Old Posted Dec 8, 2020, 12:01 AM
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Calgary has been doing a lot of nice stuff lately. I'm glad to see the Century Garden reno maintains the 1970s essence of that space, especially after the travesty that was the Devonian Garden revamp.
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  #471  
Old Posted Dec 8, 2020, 12:07 AM
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Originally Posted by J.OT13 View Post
A bit of background on the strange Rideau bike lane situation; the east-end of Rideau was completed about a decade ago before bike lanes became a "must-have" on every street, so the City doesn't want to rip that out. By having it cross the street and end where it ends, cyclists will, I guess, disembark and reach future bike lanes on Besserer towards the east and down Nicholas to the decade old east-west Laurier bike lanes. Far from ideal, but a big improvement over the what we had before.
Yikes. Not great planning if people on bikes are required to dismount just to continue their journey.
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  #472  
Old Posted Dec 8, 2020, 2:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout View Post
Calgary has been doing a lot of nice stuff lately. I'm glad to see the Century Garden reno maintains the 1970s essence of that space, especially after the travesty that was the Devonian Garden revamp.
Yeah that's my favourite part of it, along with the cafe.
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  #473  
Old Posted Dec 8, 2020, 1:38 PM
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Originally Posted by ssiguy View Post
Perhaps it's too early to judge but it looks quite sterile and uninviting. London did a far superior job on Dundas.
I agree Rideau looks a bit sterile now. I wish they would have used darker/warmer pavers.

I took a quick look on Google, but wasn't able to find recent images of Dundas in London, ON. Could you post a picture?

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I agree. Some trees could go a long way there by the looks of it.
14 trees will be planted along the street. A few more might have been preferable.
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  #474  
Old Posted Dec 8, 2020, 7:57 PM
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Ogilvy Square. The former Ogilvy Department Store (not to be confused with Montreal's Ogilvy) was demolished in 2014-2015 to make way for the Rideau Centre expansion. A replica (using the building's bricks, windows and detailing) of the 1907 façade was mounted to the expansion. That façade represents about 1/4 of the ultimate 1934 building.

As part of the Rideau Centre project, the City shut down that stretch of Nicholas Street for the new plaza.

Rideau Centre by Ottawa Film Office, on Flickr
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  #475  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2020, 12:05 AM
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The new pedestrian-only blocks around the Rideau Centre are pretty great, if only because they feel like the natural way to manage an area with high pedestrian traffic. That's how you do pedestrianization right – block by block, not by creating a long mall like Sparks Street.
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  #476  
Old Posted Dec 9, 2020, 1:09 AM
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^Jeez haven't been to Ottawa in a while. Looks like there's a lot to get up to speed on.
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  #477  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2020, 8:21 AM
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Ottawa will be getting two automated outdoor public toilets in 2021 as part of a $20 million joint Federal/Provincial Covid infrastructure fund. Of that, the toilets are $430,000 each. About 70 other random projects were approved yesterday to spend this fund.

One will be on Sparks, the other in the ByWard Market. No word on exact locations.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...lion-1.5845849

On Rideau, ready to open this weekend! Minor details left to complete, like street furniture and custom bus shelters (the ones installed are temporary).









https://twitter.com/MathieuFleury/st...70998224932864


https://twitter.com/MathieuFleury/st...16389894152197

And William is also reopening, but even more needs to be complete, like the lampposts (the ones installed now are temporary) and centenary lighting.

From Fleury, with some William Street as well.




https://twitter.com/MathieuFleury/st...06005366370305

Interpretive plates on the ground, doubling as drainage. The mistake has been pointed out several times.





These are not the final lamposts.




https://twitter.com/MathieuFleury/st...94729876844544

Concept plans.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RogueNacho View Post
William Street looks terrific. Very much in line with the original concept images. I look forward to seeing it fully animated in the spring/summer with patios, the catenary lighting, and the trees in bloom.



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  #478  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2020, 8:24 AM
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Local Councillor talking about the new Rideau and William.

Video Link
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  #479  
Old Posted Dec 19, 2020, 10:28 PM
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I hope the auto-toilets work for Ottawa. The ones here were open daily for the first while, now they have been closed for years other than during events, due to people shooting up/ODing in them.

I think the one on 17th might still be open daily though.
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  #480  
Old Posted Dec 20, 2020, 12:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Chadillaccc View Post
I hope the auto-toilets work for Ottawa. The ones here were open daily for the first while, now they have been closed for years other than during events, due to people shooting up/ODing in them.

I think the one on 17th might still be open daily though.
That's unfortunate. Apparently there are some washrooms with time limits/alarms which could discourage such behaviour.

Nowadays, we also see many public washrooms with needle disposal boxes, which could help prevent incidents for the next person using the washroom.

Looking forward to see the washroom eatures, how the City plans to handle drug use and other behaviours, and where they will be installed.
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