Coun. Keith Egli, the newly installed chair of the city’s transportation committee, has highlighted a proposed north-south cycling path along O’Connor Street as a key priority for the next four-year term of council.
“The Committee will consider a recommended bikeway on O’Connor Street, to link the Glebe with Wellington Street,” Egli said in his inaugural speech earlier this month.
Starting at Glebe Avenue, the committee’s goal is to develop a functional link from the Glebe to the north end of Centretown, including the Central Business District and Confederation Boulevard.
And the wheels on the project are already turning.
The City of Ottawa launched a public consultation workshop at City Hall in June 2014. More than 80 members of the public participated in the workshop, according to the city website. At the workshop people were given information about the project and asked to share their thoughts and concerns.
Members of Citizens for Safe Cycling Ottawa were among the workshop attendees. According to an article on their website, members were told O’Connor would remain one-way southbound, curb lines would not be moved and street parking would be reduced if necessary.
“Often, cyclists think it’s just a matter of painting some lines on the road. But it is much more complicated,” says the July 2014 article. The article also says the organization thinks the city will find it difficult to create a safe bikeway along O’Connor due to rush hour traffic where O’Connor intersects with Highway 417.
While the volunteer-run organization did not respond to any questions from Centretown News, their article says co-ordinating with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario “is pretty much impossible.”
Nearly a year after the consultation workshop, construction hasn’t begun. But the mixed feelings about the proposed bikeway are still present.
“It’s good because people will be able to bike but it’s a concern because it’s so busy,” says Hannah Crossman who lives near Bank and Lisgar streets. “I think people will have to take extra precaution.”
Crossman, 20, says she doesn’t bike often but she thinks the bikeway along O’Connor would give people more opportunity to notice the businesses there.
While some business people might share Crossman’s enthusiasm, others do not.
“I don’t like bike paths,” says Malcolm Griffin who has been working for his family’s company since 1981. His father started Griffin Automotive Service, located at 461 O’Connor Street, 45 years ago.
“It won’t be a positive or negative thing until we see whether or not cyclists will stick to it,” Griffin says. He says he often sees cyclists weave dangerously through traffic in the Glebe.
“When I am biking on the road, I am a vehicle and should be treated as one [by] other drivers,” says Jenn Noseworthy, a Centretown resident and “seasoned” biker. “If a biker and a car get into an accident at low speeds the biker can be killed. Drivers need more respect for cyclists,” says Noseworthy, 26.
Noseworthy says she was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in 2012. “In the accident, I flew over my handle bars and was knocked unconscious,” she says. “If there was a bike lane with a raised divider, such as the one on Laurier, this accident would have been prevented.”
Noseworthy says the O’Connor Bikeway would make biking in Centretown safer and more accessible for experienced and beginner bikers.
According to its website, the City of Ottawa has started to develop a plan for the cycling route along O’Connor. It is unclear at this point what the actual structure of the bikeway will be. Whether it will be separated from the driving lanes by a barrier or lines painted on the road has not been decided. The plan will be presented to the public for feedback this spring, according to the website.