Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Eade
Well, I think we may have to agree to disagree on where the tunnel should go: Your idea of putting it under Queen because it is closer to the pedestrian realm of Sparks Street is fundamentally different from my thoughts of putting the tunnel closer to where the people actually are – not where I’d like them to be.
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Our difference in opinion touches on the fine line between urban planning and urban design. One can picture the commute as a daily drudgery of getting to and from a desk chair and should be made as fast and as short as possible; or it could be seen as a chance to regularly connect with the city you live in — grab a coffee/newspaper/breakfast before work or shop and linger on the way home.
Commuting time and effort is elastic, it is different for everybody. People adjust to it and a couple of blocks is negligible to get to somewhere necessary like work. However, it is a completely different case for elective activities like shopping and leisure, where a block or two, or even the line of sight makes a huge difference whether people choose one place over another. The LRT stations will be magnets that can significantly change the patterns crucial to retail and social habits.
One of the frequent complaints in this city is how dead Sparks street is after hours, and it's probably the main factor responsible for perpetuating the wide-spread perception that Ottawa is a boring town. Putting transit stations closer to it will give it much needed critical mass and new purpose to underused commercial and pedestrian infrastructure already in place — not just the ped mall but also buildings like the WEP, Place de ville, 240 Sparks, MetLife centre, D'arcy McGee building, etc. These complexes already have food courts and shopping concourses that sadly start to shutter up after 3:30 pm. Having the transit stations on Albert will shift more commercial activity away and risk the further deterioration of downtown's traditional shopping district, putting it at the fringe of the catchment rather than at its centre. This is what I meant about aiming for the heart and not the navel.
Digging the tunnel on Queen also has the advantage of leaving the Transitway arrangement on Slater and Albert intact during construction, which is definitely one less headache.