By John Dance
The Light Rail Transit (LRT) system hasn’t launched yet but an adjacent multiuse pathway (MUP) has just opened that will provide quick, safe access from Old Ottawa East to the Laurier Avenue bike lanes. The City is also proposing better cycling links from Pretoria Bridge to the O’Connor Street bike lanes.
The new MUP runs parallel to the eastern side of the LRT route, connecting Lees Avenue LRT station to the VIA/Tremblay Road station and to the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) LRT station just to the east of the Corktown footbridge. By the end of the summer, the route will be extended to the Laurier Avenue bike lanes.
The MUP connects to the Rideau River Eastern Pathway and to the Western Pathway in Old Ottawa East. The Western Pathway’s new switchback and underpass between the Lees Avenue campus of the uOttawa and the Lees Avenue towers provides access to the MUP.
A cycling tour recently explored the new LRT multi-use pathway in Old Ottawa East. Photo by John Dance.
Although there are stairs to the MUP at Lees Avenue, cyclists travelling on Lees will need to detour into the Lees Avenue uOttawa campus to access the LRT MUP, but this is readily done at the rear of the campus’s western parking lot near the switchback.
As cyclists travel south across the LRT river bridge, they pass under the new Hurdman LRT station as they proceed towards the VIA/Tremblay Road station. Much of the new MUP’s landscape on the eastern side of the Rideau River has been well-naturalized and it provides a striking setting for the modern LRT station architecture.
As reported in an earlier issue of The Mainstreeter, the convenient and safe cycling linkage of Pretoria Bridge to the O’Connor Street cycling lanes has been lacking.
The City is now proposing that cyclists proceeding west from Pretoria Bridge would travel from the Canal along Catherine Street directly to O’Connor Street.
However, cyclists going in the opposite direction would be required to proceed east on Argyle Avenue, past the YMCA, to a contra-flow cycle track on Metcalfe Street and then east on Isabella Street.
A cycling tour recently explored the new LRT multi-use pathway in Old Ottawa East.
Photo by John Dance.
This eastbound routing proposal was not well-received by OOE cyclists. “That eastbound loop seems very complicated as a way to save going one extra block on Isabella,” says Don Fugler, a keen OOE cyclist. “My guess is that it would be rarely used. I would rather have a painted bike lane on the south side of Isabella for those two blocks.”
“Unfortunately due to property constraints and the location of the hydro poles on Isabella, an eastbound cycle track on Isabella is not feasible at this time,” The Mainstreeter was told by City staff. “However, the City is reviewing the Undergrounding Policy, which deals with when the City buries utilities, during this term of Council. Construction will not take place for several years and we will review this corridor for new opportunities for cyclists once the policy has been updated.”
