The rest of Ottawa might just start looking a little more like Centretown – at least that’s what staff behind the city’s new pedestrian plan are hoping.
“We want to make sure that we don’t make the mistakes that we’ve made in the past and to make sure that this city becomes a pedestrian-friendly one,” says Gill Wilson, who is taking charge of the city’s new plan.
Wilson says she hopes in the long run, the rest of Ottawa will become as pedestrian-friendly as downtown neighbourhoods such as Centretown.
The plan is heading to the city’s transportation committee in June after a series of public consultations.
If approved, it will move to city council for a final review, says Wilson. The estimated cost to implement the plan would be about $2 million a year over 10 years, beginning in 2010.
Among the improvements to the city’s pedestrian infrastructure would be building sidewalks where they don’t exist, widening sidewalks in high traffic areas, and building a better network of pedestrian walkways that connect communities to each other and the transit system.
Residents of Centretown are more likely to walk, bike or jog into work than anybody else in the city, with over 25 per cent of residents getting some exercise on their way to work. That’s a stark difference from Ottawa suburban and rural regions, where less than one in 25 make their way to work by foot, city officials say.
In fact, Ottawa leads the pack when compared with Canada’s five other major cities, with higher proportions of people walking to work, and the lowest proportion of people who drive.
But it’s a trend that has changed in recent years, as urban sprawl has made Ottawa an increasingly car-centric society, with large strip malls populated by big box stores replacing pedestrian-friendly small business districts.
“There’s a feeling that this has been a secondary thought to the city for years. Now that they are actually looking to invest money in sidewalks and pedestrians shows a big shift,” says Shawn Menard, president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association.
For now, the plan is only a vision, with exact details yet to be released. But Wilson says residents can expect large changes, especially in regions where people don’t generally walk.
“Centretown already has a good infrastructure of sidewalks, so this plan is mainly going to be about improving on what already exists. That really has to be the model for the rest of the city.”
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes hopes to see an increased emphasis on trash collection and snow removal, making the sidewalks safer for older residents.