Roads/Bridges projects/issues

[DEWLine]

Preserving endangered species is not a waste of money to me.

[rocketphish]

Concrete posts to line Waller Street where pedestrian was killed
'Bollards' at Rideau Street only a short-term solution, says councillor

CBC News Posted: Oct 26, 2015 5:30 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 26, 2015 9:36 AM ET

The City of Ottawa will begin installing new safety measures in the ByWard Market this week in the area where a pedestrian was killed by a transport truck last year.

A series of concrete posts — also known as bollards — will line Waller Street at Rideau Street, where 26-year-old Yvonne Hendrikx, an Ottawa Heart Institute employee, was struck early one morning in February 2014.

The bollards are designed to prevent transport trucks from riding dangerously up onto the sidewalk. Mathieu Fleury, the councillor who represents the ward, pushed hard to have the bollards included in the $30-million plan to improve the Rideau streetscape.

While the bollards will offer a degree of protection for people walking on Waller Street, the long-term solution is a tunnel that would deliver interprovincial truck traffic from Hwy. 417 directly onto the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, bypassing Rideau Street entirely, said Fleury.

"You know, as a councillor, you always have things that keep you up at night," said Fleury. "Trucks in our downtown streets keep me up at night."

A feasability study on the tunnel plan is expected in January.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...lled-1.3287288

[rocketphish]

And speaking of bollards... A whole line of closely-spaced massive concrete planters appeared on the sidewalk along Wellington St. next to the Langevin Block last week. Looks like the early defensive measures implemented outside the US Embassy years ago, before they completely took over a lane of Sussex Dr.

[eternallyme]

http://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/cache...5060839876.PDF

Not in agreement with this on lowering the speed limit on Hunt Club between Cahill and Conroy. There are few pedestrians in that area with the sidewalk set well back, there is minimal frontage and the City admits the lower speed limit would get little adherence. IMO 80 km/h is reasonable there.

[Cre47]

York Region has lowered the speed limit of all of its urban/suburban major arteries to 60/70 km/h a few years ago from 70/80 (except for parts of Highway 7). A road like Hunt Club would have likely seen it's speed limit from I would say Merivale to Hawthorne lowered to 60 km/h or maybe 70 in parts (probably would have been 70 west of the Merivale/Hunt Club Big Box area). Quite frankly considering that stretch runs behind backyards and there are street access (some without traffic lights), I would drop the speed on the portion between Lorry Greenberg to Hawthorne to 70.

[Cre47]

Not sure if posted but here is Strandherd at Maravista as of October 2015 (near the future business area)

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.26852...7i13312!8i6656

Also is 60 km/h for this stretch seems too much (now that it is pretty much all built up on that portion of Longfields)? I would drop it to 40 km/h until Woodroffe and then it's the existing 70 km/h towards the RCMP complex

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.28894...7i13312!8i6656

Also, progress on the Alta Vista Connector as of September 2015, there are currently lane reductions on Alta Vista Drive at the DND Building Entrance since the past 3-4 weeks

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.40376...7i13312!8i6656

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Also, progress on the Alta Vista Connector as of September 2015, there are currently lane reductions on Alta Vista Drive at the DND Building Entrance since the past 3-4 weeks

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.40376...7i13312!8i6656

As well as along Riverside Drive:
https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.40418...7i13312!8i6656

[waterloowarrior]

new thread created for Prince of Wales bridge discussion
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=220181

[Cre47]

Yet two more fatalities in the 2-lane portion of Greenbank between Hunt Club and Fallowfield today.

Maybe as a temp measure they should drop the speed limit to 60 km/h along that stretch and/or prohibit passing as much of that segment permits passing when safe to do so except that small hill just south of Hunt Club right after the speed changes to 80. (Edit: It was confirmed as a case of impatient and/or speeding motorist by the Sun) The city should try to harmonize the speed limits (meaning no constant speed changes for km or two) just like York Region did to most of its major suburban routes such as Yonge Street outside the town centres of Aurora and Richmond Hill - 60 km/h through much of the area until exiting Newmarket. It is not as bad here in Ottawa, but St-Laurent Blvd would be one example, same for Richmond Road from Fallowfield to Bayshore and same for Palladium Drive in Kanata.
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ar-fallowfield

[rocketphish]

Councillors fail to empty budget tank on traffic-calming

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 3, 2016 | Last Updated: February 3, 2016 5:58 PM EST

Ottawa councillors last year left thousands of dollars unspent in accounts earmarked for improving traffic safety, which ranks among the top concerns in every community.

Each councillor has $40,000 to spend annually on temporary traffic calming measures such as road paint, speed display boards and flexible posts.

Collectively, 23 councillors had $920,000 to burn in 2015. They spent $176,102.

“Frankly, I’m surprised some councillors didn’t take advantage,” Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli said Wednesday.

Egli, who chairs the transportation committee, said councillors can roll over any money they didn’t use in the previous year.

Still, he’s shocked that a few zeros showed up on the ward-by-ward breakdown for 2015.

Three councillors didn’t spend a dime on traffic calming last year: West Carleton-March Coun. Eli El-Chantiry, College Coun. Rick Chiarelli and Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Tobi Nussbaum.

Nussbaum said before spending money he wants to collect data and speak with constituents about where the hot spots are in his ward. He has a list of initiatives he wants to spend $80,000 on this year, combining his 2015 and 2016 allotments.

“We didn’t want to be reactive to a particular one-off,” Nussbaum said. “I wanted to make sure we did it properly with the right consultation.”

City staff provided another defence for councillors.

Since council signed off on the budgets last July, there wasn’t much time to spend money on traffic-calming initiatives before the winter. Staff usually remove temporary infrastructure, such as flexible posts, in November.

Chiarelli said $40,000 isn’t enough to address significant traffic needs in his ward.

“I wasn’t going to use it if it’s just a throwaway and it wasn’t going to address anything. You can’t buy a traffic light with it,” Chiarelli said.

Chiarelli said he intended to dedicate some money to installing speed boards but it wasn’t until October that the initiative was approved. The devices would have had to come down in November.

El-Chantiry couldn’t be reached for comment. Last fall he expressed interest in using the $40,000 budget for road widening projects in the rural area. Staff say rural councillors can use the money to fix “minor deficiencies” along roads because there are fewer opportunities to implement temporary traffic calming measures in those areas.

The program is meant to fund temporary solutions. Permanent infrastructure such as traffic lights and speed humps come out of a different pot of city money.

The city filled two positions last August to administer the ward traffic initiatives. Councillors hope public works can keep up with the flood of requests expected in 2016.

At the same time, staff are working on larger pieces of traffic infrastructure this year, such as pedestrian crossings and red-light cameras.

Council has voted to install 20 new red-light cameras by the end of 2018, adding to the existing 34 cameras. Staff are proposing to install new cameras at five locations this year, based on the number of crashes: Old Tenth Line and St. Joseph Boulevard; Catherine and Kent Streets, Gladstone Avenue and Rochester Street; Bank Street and Riverside Drive; Coldrey Street and Kirkwood Avenue.

jon.willing@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/JonathanWilling


WHAT THEY SPENT

Each councillor has a $40,000 annual budget for temporary traffic calming. Here’s what they spent in 2015.

Bob Monette, Orléans: $12,908
Jody Mitic, Innes: $4,895
Jan Harder, Barrhaven: $1,764
Marianne Wilkinson, Kanata North: $5,501
Eli El-Chantiry, West Carleton-March: $0
Shad Qadri, Stittsville: $7,053
Mark Taylor, Bay: $2,087
Rick Chiarelli, College: $0
Keith Egli, Knoxdale-Merivale: $14,226
Diane Deans, Gloucester-Southgate: $16,680
Tim Tierney, Beacon Hill-Cyrville: $2,572
Mathieu, FleuryRideau-Vanier: $14,268
Tobi Nussbaum, Rideau-Rockcliffe: $0
Catherine McKenney, Somerset: $8,851
Jeff Leiper, Kitchissippi: $960
Riley Brockington, River: $3,859
David Chernushenko, Capital: $3,799
Jean Cloutier, Alta Vista: $9,295
Stephen Blais, Cumberland: $22,315
George Darouze, Osgoode: $27,220
Scott Moffatt, Rideau-Goulbourn: $1,392
Michael Qaqish, Gloucester-South: $13,124
Allan Hubley, Kanata South: $3,341

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ve-contentious

[rocketphish]

City outlines plan to study Nepean rail crossings

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 26, 2016 | Last Updated: February 26, 2016 6:11 PM EST

The city will study grade-separated rail crossings at five locations in Nepean, city manager Kent Kirkpatrick confirmed this week in a letter to the Transportation Safety Board.

It comes within the 90-day timeline for response set by the TSB last December when it released its final report on the investigation of the Sept. 18, 2013 collision between an OC Transpo double-decker bus and Via passenger train that killed six and injured dozens.

In partnership with Via, the city will study the feasibility of grade separation at the level crossings at Woodroffe Avenue, Fallowfield Road and the Transitway, where the bus-train crash occurred.

The city will also look at the Merivale Road and Jockvale Road level crossings to have a complete understanding of all remaining level crossings in this part of Ottawa, Kirkpatrick wrote.

Level crossings at Greenbank Road, where construction of a new underpass is underway, and Strandherd Road, where grade separation is planned for construction between 2020 and 2025, will not be subject to the feasibility study, the city says.

The studies will include a review of all previous work related to these crossings, an analysis of current and projected traffic data, geotechnical work where required, recommendation on whether these crossings could be improved by an underpass or overpass, financial estimates for any feasible works and any recommendations that could enhance safety at the crossings in the interim.

The city says it won’t do public consultation because of the technical nature of the study, but it may seek input from the National Capital Commission given it owns land near the study area.

The results of the studies and any recommendations for action will be presented to the transportation committee and city council next year.

mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...rail-crossings

[rocketphish]

Council puts road tolls on the transportation agenda

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 3, 2016 | Last Updated: March 3, 2016 7:53 PM EST

Road tolls could be part of the next transportation master plan if council agrees to study how fees could reduce traffic congestion and pay for maintenance.

Local politicians will turn their minds to road tolls next month because a downtown councillor wants the city to research the potential of charging motorists to use roads in Ottawa.

Capital Coun. David Chernushenko, the environment buff fresh off ushering through a new climate change policy at City Hall, wanted to drive through his proposal this week at the end of a transportation committee meeting, only to have the brakes applied by colleagues around the table. Instead, it will be up for discussion at a meeting in April.

The city should study how forcing motorists to pay user fees on municipal roads could reduce congestion and fund road maintenance, Chernushenko says. He suggests the information should inform the next transportation master plan, City Hall’s key blueprint for expanding road, transit, bike and pedestrian networks.

The committee meeting in April will be the first time councillors have a meaty discussion on tolls and there’s little doubt they’ll hear from residents on the issue. The city would need permission from the province to charge road fees, but green-lighting an $80,000 study would give council an idea about how tolls could work in Ottawa.

The province is experimenting with more toll options on its highways in the Toronto area but it hasn’t extended tolling to municipal roads. A spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation said it’s up to municipalities to ask the province to make a regulation authorizing tolling powers for a road.

City politicians have dipped into the road toll debate before, only to see the discussion quickly fizzle out. Last term Cumberland Coun. Stephen Blais wanted the province to allow the city to toll non-Ottawa residents accessing Hwy. 174 to reduce traffic congestion, but the province rejected the idea.

City staff have kicked around the idea of road tolls in previous transportation studies but haven’t done a deep examination of how the fees would work. If council votes to start a study, staff expect it would take at least 10 months to finish, after hiring a consultant for the job.

Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli, chair of council’s transportation committee, said he would welcome the opportunity to explore the idea of road tolls and congestion pricing.

“I don’t think (Chernushenko’s) motion is unreasonable. I think we should have the discussion,” Egli said Thursday, emphasizing the importance of having an exchange on road congestion in Ottawa.

“I’m not suggesting putting a turnstile on a car lane,” Egli said.

The vice-chair of the committee, Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney, also supports researching tolls, especially since it costs the city millions to maintain its roads.

“We need to start with the study to find out some of the best practices,” McKenney said.

But councillors who represent communities outside the core are skeptical about opening a door to charging people another kind of user fee.

Orléans Coun. Bob Monette flat-out rejects charging motorists extra to use roads. He believes the city’s investment in LRT will help reduce traffic congestion.

“I won’t support road tolls. People are already paying taxes to use the roads,” Monette said, and he’s equally unimpressed with the idea of studying tolls.

“You can do a study but I think it’s a waste of time, money and resources.”

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans predicts public backlash if council pushes for road tolls.

“I don’t think my residents would be amenable to considering road tolls on any of the major roads,” Deans said.

On the other hand, Stittsville Coun. Shad Qadri said he could support tolls if the money is going to a specific cause, rather than being dumped into a general revenue account. Qadri said if residents of his ward are forced to pay a toll to drive downtown, he would expect the money to be reinvested in Stittsville.

“There has to be some benefit to where travellers are coming from,” Qadri said.

The last TomTom Traffic Index report, which measures traffic congestion worldwide, ranked Ottawa the third most congested city in Canada behind Vancouver and Toronto.

Studies supporting road tolls point out the cost of traffic congestion: Productivity dips with people sitting in traffic, goods are delayed in transport and air pollution increases with all those vehicles crammed together.

The most recent comprehensive assessment of road tolls came last fall from Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, which called congestion pricing the “missing piece in our cities’ transportation puzzles.” The report calls on the three levels of government to support pilot projects for congestion pricing.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...rtation-agenda

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

City outlines plan to study Nepean rail crossings

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 26, 2016 | Last Updated: February 26, 2016 6:11 PM EST

The city will study grade-separated rail crossings at five locations in Nepean, city manager Kent Kirkpatrick confirmed this week in a letter to the Transportation Safety Board.

It comes within the 90-day timeline for response set by the TSB last December when it released its final report on the investigation of the Sept. 18, 2013 collision between an OC Transpo double-decker bus and Via passenger train that killed six and injured dozens.

In partnership with Via, the city will study the feasibility of grade separation at the level crossings at Woodroffe Avenue, Fallowfield Road and the Transitway, where the bus-train crash occurred.

The city will also look at the Merivale Road and Jockvale Road level crossings to have a complete understanding of all remaining level crossings in this part of Ottawa, Kirkpatrick wrote.

Level crossings at Greenbank Road, where construction of a new underpass is underway, and Strandherd Road, where grade separation is planned for construction between 2020 and 2025, will not be subject to the feasibility study, the city says.

The studies will include a review of all previous work related to these crossings, an analysis of current and projected traffic data, geotechnical work where required, recommendation on whether these crossings could be improved by an underpass or overpass, financial estimates for any feasible works and any recommendations that could enhance safety at the crossings in the interim.

The city says it won’t do public consultation because of the technical nature of the study, but it may seek input from the National Capital Commission given it owns land near the study area.

The results of the studies and any recommendations for action will be presented to the transportation committee and city council next year.

mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...rail-crossings

There are two reasonable solutions for the Fallowfield/Woodroffe crossings.

1) Raise both Fallowfield and Woodroffe/Transitway with overpasses of the VIA line, with the railway remaining at grade (the Fallowfield crossing would also cross the Transitway). Likely would require detours or closures of the roads but could be done with the railway left completely alone.

2) Raise the railway onto an elevated embankment, likely directly adjacent to the existing tracks, with overhead structures for Woodroffe, the Transitway and Fallowfield. To avoid safety issues with a blind intersection, an overpass of the Transitway over Fallowfield would be necessary as well. The roads would likely remain where they are but the railway will need some relocating.

Due to the water table in the area, nothing can be lowered, unlike at Merivale or Greenbank - something must be raised in profile, otherwise Fallowfield, Woodroffe and the Transitway can only have a substandard clearance of about 4.0 m (or less) which is unacceptable on a suburban arterial - the minimum height to support all legal vehicles I believe is 4.2 m, and the desirable is 4.7 m to allow even permit-based overheight vehicles to pass. A compromise option would allow both a lowering and raising but would be quite disruptive. The double decker buses are 4.14 m in height.

[rocketphish]

Councillor trying to kill off-ramp in Airport Parkway plan

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 4, 2016 | Last Updated: March 4, 2016 7:23 PM EST

A councillor is trying to convince the city to scrap a proposed off-ramp from the Airport Parkway to his community, rehashing a debate from 15 years ago.

For River Coun. Riley Brockington, the question of giving southbound motorists access to Walkley Road from the parkway comes down to a frequent conundrum for all councillors when it comes to new infrastructure.

“Do you build something to help when you know it’s going to hurt others?” Brockington said. “On principle, I have an issue with that.”

The city continues to work on an environmental assessment for widening the parkway and the most controversial part might be in the Walkley area. The city has scheduled a third open house for Thursday, March 10.

The proposal includes the southbound off-ramp connected to a new roundabout on Walkley. The city also proposes to remove a vehicle lane in each direction between the off-ramp and McCarthy Road and install cycling lanes.

Brockington said there are also raised medians recommended for Walkley at Southmore Drive and at Wexford Way.

In September 2001, Brockington was representing a community association at the transit and transportation committee meeting, speaking to councillors in support of building the off-ramp. Council at the time decided to delay the off-ramp on the recommendation of then-councillor Wendy Stewart.

Now as the city councillor for the area, Brockington said he’s against the off-ramp.

The off-ramp reappeared in the plans last summer during at the second open house for the environmental assessment, Brockington said. As he explained, “the off-ramp was front and centre with a huge spotlight on it.”

The estimated cost for the off-ramp is $1.1 million, Brockington said.

An off-ramp at Walkley could reduce cut-through traffic from the north where motorists are exiting the parkway at Brookfield Road. It could also increase access to Bank Street businesses and the communities east of Bank.

“However, the fear is you’re going to have people come off Walkley who are going to either Riverside to go down to Hunt Club or to McCarthy, and you’re now going to introduce this much larger volume of traffic to the community,” Brockington said.

It’s especially concerning because there are three schools in the Walkley corridor and kids need to cross the road, he said.

Brockington said he’s okay with the proposed roundabout and cycling lanes on Walkley, which has creeped into the parkway widening study. He would rather the city try turning restrictions at Southmore first, than spending money to build a median.

“It’s fairly invasive,” he said. “People who live in this community shouldn’t be punished and if you have a raised median. There’s no debating this, you’re not going to be able to get in.”

The first phase of the parkway widening is Brookfield to Hunt Club Road, but work is still several years away. The city announced last fall it was delaying construction until at least 2020.

The open house on Thursday will be in Ellwood Hall at the Jim Durrell Recreation Centre, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with a presentation at 7 p.m.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...n-parkway-plan

[rocketphish]

Failed Hazeldean bridge's design flawed from the start, newly released report says

David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 28, 2016 | Last Updated: March 28, 2016 4:10 PM EDT



The city accepted a dangerously bad design for a bridge over the Carp River at Hazeldean Road, an engineering report found, one that led to the bridge’s sinking before it even opened.

Repairing the side-by-side spans of the $4.5-million Hazeldean bridge delayed its opening in 2011. Shortly after the temporary supports came off the nearly finished bridge that year, the deck “deflected” sharply, way more than is normal, and fixing it cost $2 million.

The bridge isn’t meant to do anything very complicated. It’s not very long or very high and it doesn’t curve. The ground’s a bit soft. But there’s no great engineering challenge there, just a routine piece of work.

The city’s answers to questions about the Hazeldean bridge have been slippery from the beginning, usually some version of: “Bridge decks are expected to sink a little. This one sank more than expected.” How much it was expected to sink and why it sank more than it was supposed to have been mysteries shielded by staff and city engineers who communicate only in writing.

But engineers did examine what went wrong, and now Glen Gower, who writes about west-end news at StittsvilleCentral.ca, has dug the report out of City Hall with an access-to-information request after being told that there was no such report.

According to this after-the-fact review by engineering firm Delcan, the problem wasn’t in the construction or the materials. The problem was inherent in the bridge’s design — which had come from Genivar, the same well-known engineering firm that misdesigned the Airport Parkway footbridge. Among other things, Genivar’s design for that mess used rigid “pipe stays” to link the bridge span to its tall support tower instead of more flexible “cable stays,” which meant everything had to be placed with unbelievable precision and would cope with ordinary wear very badly.

Delcan’s analysis of the plans for the Hazeldean bridge found that once it was done, you’d expect the thing’s abutments and its signature support towers to rotate, the anchors for the stout steel “hangers” that connect its towers to its twin bridge decks to be damaged, and the decks themselves to sag. Exactly as they did.

“The bridges, though only partially completed, had failed to support the loads imposed upon them by their own deck weight,” Delcan’s report said. “They clearly did not have the capacity to support the additional dead loads and live loads which they were intended to support in accordance with the original design.”

The structure couldn’t even hold itself up. As a result, Delcan advised, “no reliance to carry any loads whatsoever should be placed on the inclined hangers and/or on the towers.” The bridge deck needed to be held up from below because the towers weren’t up to the job. Like the city’s own infrastructure department, which accepted the bad bridge designs, they’re all but decorative.

It’s an urban legend, but a potent one, that the simple metal rings Canadian engineers wear on their little fingers are cast from steel from a bridge at Quebec City that collapsed during construction in 1907. The Quebec Bridge was unable to support its own weight and the designers should have known it. Seventy-five construction workers died when one section of half-finished bridge crumpled. Thirteen more were killed when a second section fell into the St. Lawrence later.

The part about the metal isn’t literally true but every Canadian engineer knows the story. Designing bridges that don’t fall down is one of the profession’s founding obligations.

Both Genivar and Delcan have changed names since all this happened in 2011. Genivar is now WSP Global and Delcan has been bought out by a bigger firm called Parsons.

Genivar’s transformation into WSP Global gave it a new brand — the company was also tainted by involvement in Quebec’s construction corruption — and also, according to its corporate documents, helped isolate the company from regional offices’ “operational risks.”

WSP Global is still designing bridges in Ottawa, including elements of the rebuilt McIlraith Bridge at the south end of Main Street where it crosses the Rideau River and Riverside Drive. This one’s been getting outside reviews as it goes, including by the firm that diagnosed the bad Airport Parkway bridge design.

Nobody was working at City Hall on Monday who might have talked about what the city’s learned from these experiences.

dreevely@postmedia.com
twitter.com/davidreevely

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ed-report-says

[Norman Bates]

Absolutely shocking to discover our vaunted private sector letting us down like this.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Failed Hazeldean bridge's design flawed from the start, newly released report says

David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 28, 2016 | Last Updated: March 28, 2016 4:10 PM EDT

....
According to this after-the-fact review by engineering firm Delcan, the problem wasn’t in the construction or the materials. The problem was inherent in the bridge’s design — which had come from Genivar, the same well-known engineering firm that misdesigned the Airport Parkway footbridge. Among other things, Genivar’s design for that mess used rigid “pipe stays” to link the bridge span to its tall support tower instead of more flexible “cable stays,” which meant everything had to be placed with unbelievable precision and would cope with ordinary wear very badly...

Genivar's design for the Airport Parkway bridge also called for pipe stays. They were never installed due to all the problems constructing the tower. After Genivar was fired, Delcan was brought in to re-design the bridge.

In the re-design, the pipe stays were replaced by cable stays and that is what was installed. The new design also replaced the planned concrete deck with a metal one because of concerns the tower foundation would not be able to support the weight of a concrete deck.

I shudder to think of what would have happened with the Airport Parkway bridge had it actually been built as originally designed. The failures with the tower were probably a blessing...

[rocketphish]

Ottawa traffic study to steer clear of road tolls
Councillors opt instead to study causes of congestion, potential solutions

By Giacomo Panico, CBC News Posted: Apr 06, 2016 3:00 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 06, 2016 4:06 PM ET

A proposed traffic study that originally included consideration of tolls and other forms of "road pricing" in its scope will focus instead on the broader causes of — and potential solutions to — congestion on Ottawa's roads.

The city's transportation committee made the decision on Wednesday.

Capital Ward Coun. David Chernushenko had floated the idea of studying road pricing options in anticipation of the city's need to review and update its transportation master plan in 2018.

Chernushenko's motion called for staff to study "different user-pay approaches" as part of an effort to discourage private vehicle use and generate revenue to maintain roads.

But in an attempt to gain the support of his fellow councillors during a committee meeting Wednesday morning, Chernushenko removed the reference to road pricing, choosing instead to ask staff to study the causes of congestion in Ottawa, as well as possible solutions to reduce congestion.

"I guess by pulling that out it wasn't prejudging that that's what we would be doing," said Chernushenko. "I hope we can take a more neutral approach to understanding the issue and the possible solutions, without having that right there as a red flag for people who are just looking for red flags."

The tactic worked as the revised motion passed by a margin of 7 to 3, though it must still be approved by city council.

Despite backing down from a specific call for a road pricing study, Chernushenko said he's pleased with the result.

"Ottawa will for the first time be taking a serious look at congestion pricing tools, among the other solutions to congestion."

During the meeting's public delegation period, all 10 speakers came out in favour of the original motion calling for a study of road pricing.

Among them was Trevor Haché, the board president of the Healthy Transportation Coalition, who said his group remains pleased with the altered version of the motion.

"It's certainly not as strong as the original one, but we're happy that it passed," said Haché. "We would hope that things that have been proven to work elsewhere, such as pricing congestion, will be part of the study."

Even without any reference to tolls, some councillors objected to spending $80,000 to study congestion. Coun. Bob Monette pointed out the city is approaching the launch of a light rail transit system in 2018, with an expansion by 2023.

"That's $3.1 billion of dealing with congestion," said Monette. "Why do we need a study before we complete the LRT that was put in place to deal with congestion?"

Coun. Stephen Blais, chair of the city's transit commission, re-affirmed his opposition to road tolls for existing infrastructure, but said he's looking forward to the results of the study.

"There are I believe solutions that are not simply related to charging people more, but are related to how roads are designed, how transit networks routes are designed and implemented, and how other mobility issues are dealt with."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...olls-1.3523271

[Capital Shaun]

Ottawa traffic study to steer clear of road tolls
Councillors opt instead to study causes of congestion, potential solutions

Except the possibility that road tolls might be a part of the solution has already been scuttled.

[DarkArconio]

Glad to hear demand isn't related to the limited supply of a free to use good in Ottawa. Best and the brightest on the city council, I can see.