Roads/Bridges projects/issues

[Ottawan]

By attending a public consultation about the Bronson reconstruction, I have somehow ended up on a Diane Holmes email list. In any case, she has sent out some (I feel good, but at least interesting) news about the project:

Hello there,

In the last few months, you participated in the consultations for the Bronson Avenue reconstruction project. You have attended the open house, written letters to the mayor and the project manager, and signed the petition at RescueBronson.ca. These efforts were not in vain: I have received word today that the City’s traffic department has abandoned their plans to widen the lanes on Bronson Avenue. (See forwarded message below)

This is welcome news that will allow residents to keep their front yards, and will require pedestrians to spend less time exposed to traffic while crossing Bronson Avenue. While it isn’t a road diet, it does give us more flexibility to improve the landscaping along Bronson Avenue so that it is a more pleasant street to walk along and across.

I will be meeting with the project engineers next week to discuss the opportunities to further improve the design with pedestrian safety in mind, and the community representatives on the Public Advisory Committee will be meeting in February. The project team will be holding a Public Open House sometime at the end of February to inform the public of the construction timelines. Work is expected to begin in early March.

Thank you for your hard work in standing up for our community, and helping to turn Bronson Avenue back into a more liveable street.

Sincerely,

Diane Holmes
Councillor, Somerset Ward
(613) 580-2484
Diane.Holmes@ottawa.ca
www.dianeholmes.ca

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Phone 3-1-1 (311@ottawa.ca) for general inquiries including street and sidewalk maintenance, garbage pickup, recycling and by-law enforcement.

From: Schepers, Nancy
Sent: January 25, 2012 6:15 PM
To: Holmes, Diane
Cc: Newell, Wayne; Ghadban, Ziad; Gleason, Connie; Pineau, Miriam; Swail, Chris; Rupert, Jake; Akben-Marchand, Charles
Subject: Bronson Avenue Renewal Project

Councillor Holmes,

Further to our discussions regarding the proposed pavement width for the Bronson Ave renewal project, I asked staff to further review the proposed widening. I provide the following update:

During design of Bronson Avenue it was realized there would be impacts on existing Hydro plant in moving to a wider pavement width of 14 metres, but the extent of these impacts were not completely known until very recently. Relocation of the plant is challenging and costly for certain portions of the roadway.



Based on this recent information and further consideration of the very constrained corridor, location of adjacent buildings (including stairs, porches and entrances), varying road widths and sidewalk widths at pinch points, it has been determined that maintaining the existing width is acceptable.

It should be noted that this pavement width would normally not permit on street parking in accordance with City guidelines, however, since council has previously approved parking on this section of Bronson Avenue, that direction will continue to be followed. This was also an important fact in our final determination.

Therefore, I have instructed staff to proceed with the renewal based on the existing pavement width.

Staff will present the new geometry design at the construction open house, which will be scheduled for late February. Staff will also meet with you to provide an updated overview prior to the public meeting.

Nancy

Nancy Schepers
Deputy City Manager
Infrastructure Services and Community Sustainability
City of Ottawa
110 Laurier Ave., W, Ottawa, ON K1P 1J1
Tel: (613) 580-2424 x12230
Fax: (613) 560-6028
E-Mail: nancy.schepers@ottawa.ca

It seems that the engineering difficulties yielded this change as much (or more) than the community activism. Furthermore, the fact that the issue is the Hydro infrastructure, which in my mind should be buried, is ironic. Nevertheless, widening the road was going to harm what little opportunity there is to make Bronson pedestrian-friendly, so I do feel this is a positive development.