Sparks Street

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Casablanca

I think there are still lessons to be learnt from successful pedestrian malls that have remained successful. You just have to look more carefully at what brings people there, rather than having a simple list of changes that have been made to improve usage.

That is a good point, but the divergence point was about 1950. Trying to get from one timeline to the other would involve undoing a myriad of decisions at enormous cost (and removing the other benefits those decisions had).

[MarkR]

Originally Posted by roger1818

I'm confused. Are you wanting to open up a road to allow cars to drive down the hill from Spark Street? With Spark Street only being open to vehicles for 1 block east of the split, I don't see the value in that.

For pedestrians and cyclists, there already is a pathway through the Garden of the Provinces (as shown by the blue dotted line below). It may need to be spruced up and the connection at the bottom of the hill will need to be improved, but the new Central Library will help with the latter (see second image below).





As for the Garden of the Provinces being barren, I suspect part of the problem is it is on the edge of town and there is no reason for anyone to go there. With the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats and the building of the new Central Library, the Garden will become more centralized and thus more likely to be used (it will be a short walk from the new Library for example).

No, not so much to have cars drive down there, but just to make that area much more visible as a connection to the Flats. Yes, peds. and cyclists can make their way through the "garden" but as you say it's not very obvious. There of course used to be a full road connection into the Flats via Pooley's Bridge, but ever since Wellington got re-routed into the parkway (leaving behind that little stub) I would say most people, if they don't walk or cycle, don't know that area at all.

Yes, the new library should improve things!

[lrt's friend]

Is this pedestrian route sufficiently noticeable, sufficiently lit, sufficiently accessible, and sufficiently direct? Will this take pedestrians directly to the Lebreton project without winding through other developments? It seems to go to the library site, but further?

I have been to the west end of Sparks Street many times and I did not know that this pedestrian path was there given the design of the Garden of the Provinces. I may have used it once to reach someone's car below the escarpment but that was with someone else leading the way. It was not inviting after dark. It is too concealed.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by MarkR

I have a dream that sees the removal of the barren Garden of the Provinces and restoration of the old Sparks St. split, to take folks down to the Flats.

Of all the pointless public spaces that help to deaden Ottawa, the Garden of the Provinces and Territories is one of the worst.

[FutureWickedCity]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Of all the pointless public spaces that help to deaden Ottawa, the Garden of the Provinces and Territories is one of the worst.

I could not disagree more....this is a beautiful, elegant space and a fine example of mid-century design, with gorgeous views over the river and the Gatineau hills. And you'd prefer it be replaced by a street?

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by FutureWickedCity

I could not disagree more....this is a beautiful, elegant space and a fine example of mid-century design, with gorgeous views over the river and the Gatineau hills. And you'd prefer it be replaced by a street?

How many people actually use that space? Looks great but nobody uses it, so is it really a great space?

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by FutureWickedCity

I could not disagree more....this is a beautiful, elegant space and a fine example of mid-century design, with gorgeous views over the river and the Gatineau hills. And you'd prefer it be replaced by a street?

I don't think anybody wants the street to be returned, just pedestrian access to the bottom of the escarpment. Hopefully, that can be done without destroying the integrity of the Garden of the Provinces.

The biggest problem with the Garden of the Provinces is that it is off the beaten track. I saw it as a child when it first opened and have visited it once since in the last 5 years. Hopefully, with a proper redesign of the surrounding area, it can become a popular destination along the route to the new library and the Lebreton project.

[Kitchissippi]

I'm not a fan of that garden, one expects to have the provincial trees or flowers planted in it but it doesn't. I think they ruined the original design with the heavy-handed implementation of UA ramps and railings in the early 2000s, an alteration that sticks out like a sore thumb. Instead, they should have just cut openings along Bay Street and made the sidewalk function as the accessible ramp, which would have also opened the garden to all 4 sides

[OTSkyline]

So the Sweden example made me think of what else we could do to make Sparks "special" and there was a note about art, which made me think: Why don't we do something artsy all along Sparks just like Montreal hangs thousands of colourful balls all along Ste-Catherine Street during the entire summer for Pride? This could be a cool way to differentiate Sparks St, add a bit of art in Ottawa (which we all know we lack of, we're pretty boring and utilitarian) and last but not least this could solve (or help) the heat issue during summer, offering some shelter from the sun hoping customers and pedestrians would then choose Sparks over another street, especially to shop, eat and spend time. WIN? WIN? WIN? Who is in charge that could listen?

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Is this pedestrian route sufficiently noticeable,

This is how you access the path. Some signs could be added to show that it goes somewhere other than the park, but right now it really doesn't go anywhere useful, so I am not sure what the signs would say.

sufficiently lit,

That could easily be fixed by adding lights.

sufficiently accessible,

If you notice in the picture above, there is a wheelchair ramp. We might want something a bit better if we wanted to make it a cycling route.

and sufficiently direct?

Direct to where? Given that there is a giant hill, the aquaduct, and a couple buildings in the way, the following route to LeBreton Flats Park seems rather direct to me.

Will this take pedestrians directly to the Lebreton project without winding through other developments?

We will have to see what happens to Fleet St west of Lett St. Looking at Geoottawa's 2017 areal photograph, it appears it is pedestrian only east of Lett St.

It seems to go to the library site, but further?

It will branch where it crosses the old Wellington St. at the bottom of the hill. One branch crosses Pooley's Bridge to Fleet St. Looking at the RendezVous LeBreton plans (below), it looks like Fleet St. will be extended to the arena. The other branch will lead to the library where, according to the preliminary plan (in my previous post), it runs behind the library and other buildings to Pimisi Station.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by FutureWickedCity

I could not disagree more....this is a beautiful, elegant space and a fine example of mid-century design, with gorgeous views over the river and the Gatineau hills. And you'd prefer it be replaced by a street?

Nope, by a new national archives consultation and reference library building.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

How many people actually use that space? Looks great but nobody uses it, so is it really a great space?

Skateboarders use it as long as they aren't getting shooed away pursuant to some prissy NCC policy.

Otherwise, apart from during the epic robot battle on Wellington Street last summer, I think I"ve only ever seen a low single-digit number of people in that beautifully useless space at a time.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I don't think anybody wants the street to be returned, just pedestrian access to the bottom of the escarpment. Hopefully, that can be done without destroying the integrity of the Garden of the Provinces.

The biggest problem with the Garden of the Provinces is that it is off the beaten track. I saw it as a child when it first opened and have visited it once since in the last 5 years. Hopefully, with a proper redesign of the surrounding area, it can become a popular destination along the route to the new library and the Lebreton project.

There's not much going for its surroundings: sacred green space to the west; overly-wide Wellington is its street to the north, with the imposing but street-kllling LAC; the not-very-friendly facade of West Memorial to the east; two churches to the south with little room for redevelopment.

Poorly-considered publicopengreenspace, for publicopengreenspace's sake, in such profligate abundance as Ottawa has insisted on giving itself, or the federal government has insisted on inflicting on it over the past six decades, is a city-killer. If you want a boring, stultified, dull city, build lots of stupid parks and pointless monumental squares and watch the life drain away.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

last but not least this could solve (or help) the heat issue during summer, offering some shelter from the sun

That goes against the received orthodox "wisdom", such as it is, in Ottawa that everyone wants to be in the open sun and summer heat and no one wants shade or relief from unrelenting UV radiation.

[acottawa]

I think GPT would be fine if there was something...anything nearby.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I think GPT would be fine if there was something...anything nearby.

What is going to happen to the old Library and Archives Canada building once it moves?

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by roger1818

What is going to happen to the old Library and Archives Canada building once it moves?

Is it going to move?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by FutureWickedCity

I could not disagree more....this is a beautiful, elegant space and a fine example of mid-century design, with gorgeous views over the river and the Gatineau hills. And you'd prefer it be replaced by a street?

Nice space, but it needs a seasonal cafe/restaurant/bar to give it some purpose in life.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Nope, by a new national archives consultation and reference library building.

Interesting thought, but much too small a site, no?

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Interesting thought, but much too small a site, no?

For researchers' use? It wouldn't house the collection, any more than the current building does.

Alternatively, post-Supreme-Court usage, West Memorial could become the reading room.