It’s hard to live, drive or cycle in Centretown without noticing the decrepit state of many of its streets. Winter after blistering cold winter, the streets have taken a beating. Besides the yawning potholes, some of the area’s infrastructure is old and outdated. It’s time for a facelift.
So, the city should be applauded for factoring in a reconstruction of several Centretown streets in its 2005 draft budget. However, it should also keep in mind the troubles construction created in Old Ottawa South two years ago.
The six-month long roadwork on Bank Street, from the Rideau Canal to the Rideau River inconvenienced many.
The construction was unavoidable. The road and sidewalks were torn up in an effort to renew the sewage system and the watermain in this 100-year-old part of the city. Every street corner and all points between had a construction worker shovelling, digging or laying cement, and traffic had to be rerouted in order to accommodate all this.
Temporary wooden walkways were set up to ensure pedestrians could keep walking along the street. But the accumulation of dirt and debris made them non-navigable and kept walkers away.
Residents, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists had to wait (and wait) for it all to end. While the city says the work ended on schedule, business owners in the area say it went on far too long.
“The city really messed up as far as letting people know what was going on,” says Arthur McGregor, owner of the Ottawa Folklore Centre. He says the city didn’t set firm time limits for when it would complete the construction.
Businesses were affected by the decrease in shoppers deterred by the difficulty of walking along the street.
David Hillary, former president of the Old Ottawa South Business Association, says stores saw business drop by as much as 60 per cent.
Hillary also said the city didn’t do a good job of balancing concerns. For example, business owners wanted construction to carry on into the night, for it to be completed faster, while residents didn’t, worrying about excessive noise. He says the work could have been over sooner had there been a compromise.
Both men say, despite it all, the construction was worth it.
The planned construction in Centretown is clearly a necessary evil. But it’s up to the city to take charge and make sure it finds a compromise to the concerns of all parties during the public consultations. From the looks of it, it didn’t do so the last time around.
This time, the city must ensure a quick but effective reconstruction effort. It’s unacceptable to expect the hundreds of businesses that will be affected along Bank, Booth and Somerset streets to just wait out the storm.
If the city remedies the former problems, the construction can be quick and not so painful. If it makes the same errors it did in Ottawa South, it can and should expect repercussions.
— Tia Goldenberg