[00:00] Start: Welcome and Introductions (Moderator)
Darryl Shurb, program manager, City of Ottawa
Bruce Kenny, senior engineer, City of Ottawa
Brian Rogers, Robinson Consultants
Robert Cotnam, Robinson Consultants
Marietta Ruhland, Douglas-Ruhland Landscape Architects
Adrian Göllner, local artist and Public Arts consultant
[01:10] Diane Holmes introduction and comments
- The Public Advisory Committee, comprised of residents, condo owners, other building owners, schools, etc., who have been working for the last year, do NOT agree with the staff presentation or the widening.
- The local residents don't agree with this proposal and I would advise you to start talking to the mayor.
[02:14] Overview of the evening's schedule. Staff/consultant presentation followed by public Q&A.
[03:15] Darryl Shurb, background of the project.
- Public Advisory Committee meetings over the last two years to get input on the design
Tonight's presentation outline:
- Project overview/scope (Bruce Kenny)
- Landscaping and streetscaping (Marietta Ruhland)
- Public Art (Adrian Göllner)
- Design overview including road widening analysis (Bruce Kenny)
Please fill out comment sheets or send in questions by e-mail to bruce.kenny@ottawa.ca
[04:58] Bruce Kenny, project overview
- Will talk about the design overview (i.e. road diet) later on
- Queen Street to Rideau Canal, this phase is for Laurier to Arlington, construction 2012-2013. Subsequent phases will be constructed after that.
- Project is underground driven; water and sewer pipes date as far back as the 1870s and need replacement and upgrading.
- This will require a full reconstruction, so we will be redoing all the road and sidewalk, and "geometry changes"
[07:25] Marietta Ruhland, Landscaping (note: this presentation was oral only; no slides)
- Challenge is to find as many opportunities as possible to green Bronson
- Opportunities in bulbouts at most side street intersections to add trees and plantings
- The west side is currently devoid of trees, looking at structural soil, soil cells, and planters to help support trees
- Overhead hydro line limits size of trees that can be put in
- 86 existing trees, 9 of which are slated for removal due to proximity to the sidewalk, and in some case not in good condition.
- City forester is on hand to help minimize impact on trees
- The optimum number of trees to be planted is 148, some of which will be large shade trees. Many require private property owner's agreement to plant trees on their property.
- Hardscaping: focusing most of the elements along the nodes, and where opportunities exist, little respites at the side of the street for "pedestrian shelter nodes".
- Pink areas on the maps are public-private opportunities, where landscaping can be done if there is agreement from the property owner to involve their property in the landscaping.
- The comment sheets give options for choosing preferred type of garbage container, bike rack, etc.
[13:30] Adrian Göllner, local contemporary artist (note: this presentation was oral only; no slides)
- The City of Ottawa has a one percent for art policy for major public projects
- Two location opportunities identified: Bronson Centre, and an artistic fence at the north-east corner of Gladstone and Bronson at the lawn bowling.
- The art commission would go out for a call for submissions, then four or five will be selected to produce more detailed plans.
[16:40] Bruce Kenny, roadway design overview
- Project objectives: balance the needs of all users' facilities
- Safe and efficient operation for all roadway users, and maintain existing roadway functions
- Functions: Arterial road, scenic entry route (laughter), truck route, onstreet off-peak parking, main arterial link, traditional mainstreet, transit route, queensway access
- Existing roadway conditions: 4-lane cross-section. Generally 3.35m lanes. Left turn lanes at Gladstone. Asphalt in poor condition. Underground infrastructure over 100 years old.
- Sidewalks generally 1.35-2.25m wide, but generally less than 2m
- Very constrained right-of-way (i.e. the entire width owned by the city available for roadway, sidewalks, landscaping, etc.)
- Retaining walls and private lawns come right up to the back of the isdewalk
[19:30] Bruce Kenny (continued). Design Rationale
- Many background reports, including neighbourhood traffic calming studies, Escarpment Area District Plan (2009), City of Ottawa Official Plan, City of Ottawa Transportation Master Plan, geometric design guidelines (Transportation Association of Canada), regional road corridor design guidelines
- Guidelines say that a recommended sidewalk width is 2m+, and the design is 2m or wider where it is wider already.
- Guidelines call for curb lane to be 4-4.5m wide, we've chosen 3.75m for the curb lane and 3.25m for the inside lane (A chart with these widths is on the RescueBronson.ca website, November 2011)
[21:43] Bruce Kenny (continued) Road diet analysis
- The Public Advisory Committee (PAC) supported the road diet, which would restrict to two lanes with a common turn lane in the middle. Feasibility analysis was carried out. Literature suggests road diets are quite often possible for traffic volumes under 15,000 vehicles per day (vpd), but Bronson has between 15,250 to over 26,000 vpd, in which case a road diet can be problematic.
- We did several traffic simulations, and it would cause many traffic delays at intersections, and it has potential impacts at the 417 ramps. So the 4-lane cross-section was recommended by City staff and the design team
- In summary, the road profile is "consistent with" the guidelines, even though the curb lane is narrower than the 4m that the guidelines suggest (including off-peak parking)
[23:42] Gladstone Avenue intersection
- The existing 5 lanes (4 lanes plus left turn lanes) at Gladstone are 3.0m wide.
- We have looked at improvements, we are actively trying to lease some land from the vacant lot owned by Imperial Oil at the southeast corner to make it a more comfortable place for a bus stop and put in landscaping
[24:52] Pedestrian facilities
- Sidewalks will be widened to 2m wide, or wider if they are already
- "Enhanced" pedestrian crossings
- Interlocking pavers along Bronson crossing the cross streets, in conjunction with the green "nodes" at the bulbouts
- We've reduced the curb radii (ed: this means the corners are tighter so the edges of the crossings are closer together). There are 5 streets coming off of the west side and 13 on the east side.
- Pedestrian-level lighting is to be provided, in addition to the standard high-level lighting
[26:35] Design synopsis
- Intersection widths: trying to narrow those nodes [on the cross streets] to provide shorter crossing distances, the minor ones are down to 5.5m on one-ways and 7.5m on two-ways
- Somerset and Gladstone intersection improvements are currently under review. We're looking at a 3-lane cross section on Somerset like at Preston, following requrests from the PAC and the Councillor
- Existing radii range from 2.5 to 12.5 (ed: that is to say, the curb at the corner follows a circle with a 12m radius, so a smaller radius means a sharper 'corner' and more sidewalk). Minimum guidelines are 12-15m, but we've kept them lower because of the constrained space and to provide better conditions for pedestrians
- Roadway widths increases from approx. 13.4m wide to 14m wide (ed: roadway only, not including sidewalks)
- No opportunity to change widths at Gladstone, but we're increasingly trying to provide greater landscaping on the sidewalks
- The sidewalks will generally be relocated 0.3 to 0.4m closer to the property line, but still within the City right-of-way, so there won't be any consideration to expropriate people's front lawns.
- Significantly more vegetation. Minimum of 55 small- to medium-size trees, mostly at the nodes. Approx. 78 small columnar trees, mainly in the nodes. We've tried to keep a landscaped area on the back of the sidewalk in the city right-of-way to provide space to plant trees, with supportive soil underneath, all the way back to the property line
- Raised planters 15cm with curbs around the trees to protect the landscaping and trees from snowplows.
- 9 trees are slotted for removal, with at least one put back in close proximity.
- The Gladstone southeast quadrant, we're going to try to provide some landscape and streetscape in addition to a bus shelter. (ed: requires agreement from Imperial Oil)
- If you live along the street and you are in favour of us extending our streetscaping toward your property, we certainly want to hear from you.
[34:43] Right-of-way lighting policy
- Separate street lighting and pedestrian-level lighting will be provided
- Some of the high-level lighting will be on hydro poles.
[35:20 to 35:37 - technology issues with the slideshow]
- In between those will be pedestrian lighting similar to those red pedestrian-style lights down Somerset, but not red (ed: check the ones at the top of the Somerset bridge over the O-Train)
[36:05 to 36:17 - more technical issues]
[36:18] Construction Impacts
- There will be a lot of holes. Bronson will be functionally closed as an arterial road. Vehicle access will be provided to local residents and businesses to the best of our ability
- Looking at transit pickup locations with OC Transpo, looking at the traffic impacts to the community and the city as a whole
- Details won't be known until a contractor is on board and we know their schedule. In February, we will have a construction open house to describe the impacts to the community, set up detour routes, etc. but at the same time discourage through traffic.
[38:49] Consultation and Councillor/community objections
- There was consultation with a PAC (Public Advisory Committee). Through that process, there was a lot of debate, discussion, and good things coming out of that. That's where the lane reduction was discussed.
- Councillor Holmes and the community object to the 3.75m wide lane
- Somerset intersection configuration was very much supported by the PAC and the Councillor. Still under review; there's some real merits to it. It has to meet the needs of pedestrians, cyclists, etc.
- The Councillor and PAC requested the southbound left turn lane be removed. This was not supported by staff to take out just the one on one side, but we've been told to review that further.
- The Arlington traffic control signal was another request. The current traffic counts don't warrant it so it can't be included automatically, but Councillor Holmes is working on getting a Council motion to override this to put one in.
[43:09] Conclusion (Bruce Kenny)
- We encourage you to submit comments on the comment sheets, in writing (bruce.kenny@ottawa.ca) and to check out the display boards. All comments (excluding personal information) will become part of the public record.
[44:00] Question and answer session, 45 minutes available (Moderator)
- Note: la présentation sera disponible sur le site-web de la ville d'Ottawa dans environs deux jours: http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/bronson/index_fr.html
- If you want to ask a one-on-one question, please step out into the hallway (note: only two or three people did this over the entire Q&A session)
- People are encouraged to fill out a comment sheet. Send comments to bruce.kenny@ottawa.ca
[49:19] Speaker 1:
- I have almost been killed crossing the intersections on Bronson.
- (To audience) Please raise your hand if you've almost been hit trying to cross Bronson (dozens of hands go up)
- (To consultants) You can see how dangerous this street is. Please take pedestrian safety seriously when you design Bronson Avenue.
[50:40] Speaker 2:
- Concerned about the increased speed that will result from widened curb lanes; can we instead widen the sidewalks to reduce the lane width?
[51:48] Speaker 3:
- Q: Why have you not put a bulbout on Flora Street? There are many people driving the wrong way and this would help with that.
- Bruce: There is a mid-block narrowing there. At Flora, there is a lot of illegal parking, especially on the South side, and we're going to put in some trees--replacing the 3 ash that will likely succumb to the Emerald Ash Borer--and put in some bollards to try to prevent the illegal parking, but no bulbout because there is a mid-block narrowing.
[53:36] Speaker 4:
- Ray Sullivan, representing CCOC (http://www.ccochousing.org, a partner of RescueBronson), a private non-profit housing corporation
- We have 11 properties within 1 block of Bronson, over 230 tenants right on Bronson, many in wheelchairs.
- We are not in favour of the road widening.
- We are in favour of the crossing at Arlington and the three-lane option, certainly north of Somerset at the least.
- Regarding the impact of tonight's public consultation and the feedback form. Nice to be able to choose the design of the street furniture, but the important stuff isn't on there.
- Q: If the councillor, the PAC, and the community at this meeting are overwhelmingly opposed to the road widening, are you still going to go forward with it?
- Bruce: One of the goals of tonight is to show our proposed road geometry. We acknowledge that the community does not agree with that. The PAC and the councillor worked hard on your behalf to bring the road diet to the forefront, so it wasn't just a matter of saying no.
- Diane Holmes: And the reason for that conclusion is that the delay from Arlington to Laurier would be three minutes. (Boos from the audience, directed at the engineers)
- Bruce: there are other implications, including no on-street parking (applause), bus stops on the road, all the entrances onto Bronson.
[58:53] Speaker 4:
- When Marietta (landscape architect) talked about being unable to put in trees, she said it's because the houses are too close to the street, then the engineers come along to say they're constrained because the houses are too close to the street.
- The houses are not too close to the street, the street is just too damn wide! (applause)
- I remember playing in my grandmother's front yard at the corner of Bronson and Christie, and there was a big tree overhanging the street, then in the late '50s, the City widened the street, and widened it again. In the intervening 50 years, the street has not gotten better.
- The widening blighted the street, and the solution you're coming with is 'let's make it wider'. Well it didn't work in the '50s, and it won't work today. (applause)
[1:00:24] Speaker 5:
- I have to cross Bronson almost every day with my kids. Even though my wife and I are hyper-cautious, my kids and I have had close calls. You're going to speed up traffic by widening the road.
- Is there any reason that I shouldn't conclude that the three-minute impact to motorists on Bronson is more important to you than the impact it would have on my kids? (applause)
[1:01:26] Speaker 6:
- Q1: What you (Bruce) said about the three-lane configuration differs from what it says on the display. On the display it says that a road diet is "probable" below 15,000 vehicles per day (vpd). Between 15,000 and 20,000 vpd, it says, it's "possible". Above 20,000 vpd it says "feasibility is less likely". You said in your presentation that it was ONLY possible below 15,000. When I add the numbers, it gives us 19,000 vpd, which looks like the right volume for a road diet, so I'm wondering why you didn't come to that conclusion also.
[1:02:36] Q2: Apparently, it now takes 22 seconds to get from Gladstone to Christie, and that travel time would be increased to 3 minutes. I've talked to the other engineers here, who weren't able to explain the computer models to me. How do you get from 22 seconds to 3 minutes?
- A1: Some of the literature says it's possible under 15,000, some say under 17,500. Some have been able to pull it off higher than 20,000. So we needed to figure out whether it would work on Bronson. We did a complicated lane reduction feasibility analysis with a specialty consultant outside our design team. The results were that it wasn't feasible.
- Q3: I would ask that that analysis would be made public so that people would know why it wouldn't work.
[1:06:25] Speaker 7:
- On the boards, it gives times for the traffic delays with a road diet, and the times are exactly the same north of Somerset with a road diet, so why aren't you looking at it there?
- Bruce: That question was posed by the councillor as well. The analysis was 4-lane versus 3-lane, and the end result numbers are shown somewhat out of context. If you reduce that part, you will not get the 4-lane numbers in the other sections just because it's four lanes; the rest of the 3-lane numbers will very likely occur in the 4 lane section.
[1:10:42] From the floor: Why can't we try it temporarily?
- Bruce: We looked at it from a feasibility standpoint, and we don't support it and upper management doesn't support it.
[1:11:20] Speaker 8:
- I'd like to see a show of hands of who supports a road diet for Bronson? (Nearly everyone raises their hand)
- Our democratically-elected council voted on a transportation hierarchy that puts pedestrian firsts, then bikes, transit and cars. This project does not pay any heed to the advice of the public advisory committee, or the councillor, or any other planning document such as the Transportation Master Plan.
- This consultation is a joke. (Applause)
- You are experts at moving traffic, people in cars. The real experts on walking down Bronson, cycling down Bronson, on living on Bronson, on having a business on Bronson, are in this room, yet you've been ignoring them for the past year. This process has no legitimacy.
- You're presenting this as a done deal. You're giving a week for feedback, and you say it's going out for contracts next month. This is unacceptable.
- I urge everyone to write mayor Watson. Call him immediately. E-mail him (jim.watson@ottawa.ca)
- We need a legitimate consultation that takes our needs into account. You don't just look at the impacts on car traffic, you do a detailed analysis of the impacts on pedestrians, cyclists, and the people who live along here, which you haven't done. (Applause)
[1:11:42] Speaker 9:
- I'm a local resident and cyclist. While people have agreed that widening Bronson makes no sense, but that there might be some benefit to pedestrians, there is nothing being done for cyclists.
- We need a north-south cycle route to complement Laurier, and if it isn't happening on Bronson, we need funds from this project diverted to make the Percy bike lane two-way, all the way up to Laurier. (Applause)
[1:15:50] Speaker 10:
- About 5 years ago or so, I was at a meeting very much like this when the province was planning to take a chunk out of Hampton Park to add a 417 cloverleaf. There was strong opposition to that proposal, as in this room tonight. In that case, the province listened, and they stopped that project.
- I would like to see the City of Ottawa take its cue from this and listen to the community and stop the widening of Bronson.
[1:17:01] Speaker 11:
- At Cambridge Street public school, we take the schoolkids across the Gladstone and Bronson intersection to access McNabb Park, and it's always been a problem. We have been stating this for 30 years at every forum problem. It's a crime that there's a school so close to a municipal recreation facility and we cannot access it easily.
- We have to have extra volunteers to help take the groups across that intersection, and the children aren't permitted to access the facilities after school because they have no one to take them across.
- After 30 years, it's time to change the road, and what do we get? A widening.
[1:19:04] Speaker 12:
- I don't see any measures to separate pedestrians from the fast-moving vehicles?
- Bruce: in off-peak, we have a 2.35m median lane and a 3.75m curbside lane. We saw the need for a 2m sidewalk. It's our opinion that the wider curb lane provides the safer offset from the moving vehicles. It is an arterial road, it does have a lot of large, heavy vehicles.
- Bruce: In our opinion, if you narrow the lanes down, it can also get more dangerous.
[1:21:43] Speaker 13:
- Many of us in the audience aren't traffic experts. How many of you (road engineers) are pedestrian safety experts? How many times have you walked down Bronson? With a child? At night? At Rush Hour? In the snow? When the buses are so close to you that the mirrors are flying into your face?
- Bruce: I recognize the community frustration. I myself live in Centretown at Metcalfe and I have a young child. We have a difference of opinion on what the proper configuration of that road is, but those of us at the city care about the city. I am a pedestrian and moved downtown for that reason.
[1:25:22] Speaker 14:
- A lot of the numbers influencing the design are centred around cars; do you have the impact numbers for cyclists?
- Bruce: no, I don't have the numbers tonight, I encourage you to put it on your comment sheet.
[1:26:48] Speaker 15:
- Question about sidewalk and roadway widths; the numbers don't add up.
- Bruce: The numbers are general, we're widening the sidewalk where possible, there are a few places where there are obstacles that we have to work around. We are making the pavement width wider by 0.6m on average, so the entire roadway is going from 13.4m to 14.0m, not counting the sidewalks.
- Diane Holmes: They're taking what's left of people's front lawns!
[1:29:43] Speaker 16:
- I'm a professional engineer, so I'm kind of insulted by the comments that we wouldn't understand the complex reasons.
- The first study of the feasibility of the road diet looked at right hand turning lanes [at the main intersections]
- Bruce: we did many simulations, including with PAC members present. We did look at modified configurations to see if it improved the numbers, and it did not show any improved benefit.
- You've suggested that the off-peak parking will provide a buffer for pedestrians, but the traffic is heaviest during peak hours, where traffic will be right up next to the sidewalk. I feel like we've been given the runaround. (Applause)
[1:31:45] Speaker 17:
- They've widened Bronson from the south, and gradually up closer to downtown. The result has been more traffic.
- Why can't we do a tradeoff of the number of people using Bronson with the doubling of O-Train service in 2014? Was that wider context considered in the road widening? Why weren't the Glebe and Old Ottawa South included?
- Bruce: Bronson is a high-traffic arterial road. The transfer of people to public transit, cycling, etc. isn't done through this type of project, it's done in the Official Plan, the Transportation Master Plan where those decisions are made [ed: the same plans that say lots of things about improving the pedestrian atmosphere and prioritizing pedestrians, cyclists, and transit over single-occupancy vehicles, the plans whose directions are being ignored by this project]
- Bruce: As our investment in transit improves, maybe we can start to see major reductions in arterial road traffic and restore some of these roads. This project is driven by the underground infrastructure. Our objective is to make it more scenic, given our constraints.
[1:37:13] Speaker 18:
- Am I to understand that your mandate is to maintain existing traffic volumes?
- Bruce: Our mandate is to maintain existing functions. So it's not a traffic calming exercise that you might see on the smaller streets. Our objective is not to try to divert traffic from Bronson to other places. With the road diet, we predict a 15% diversion of traffic into the neighbourhood streets.
- So we have a catch-22: if you build it, they will come, but we don't have any reverse thing.
- Bruce: the transition of people to other modes needs to be done through the cycling plans, the implementation of the downtown tunnel, through transit facilities, not necessarily by taking a very specific design approach to Bronson itself [ed: all of those plans suggest identifying all opportunities to improve the modal share of walking, cycling, and transit, and many other projects do this.]
- Bruce: it's certainly not our design mandate from Council on this job [ed: Council's "mandate" was approving the entire 2010 budget, which included this design process as one line item among thousands, as a water budget item. At no time did Council ever discuss the terms of reference of the Bronson reconstruction design process.]
[1:41:29] Speaker 19:
- Want to give the perspective of the driver. I drive down Bronson every single day. I have never had any problems driving down Bronson except at Carling. I don't see why widening Bronson would be required, and I would be totally fine with a road diet. (Applause)
[1:42:26] Speaker 20:
- Regarding trees, it's commendable that you have so many trees on the side streets, but the mature trees that are going. I haven't seen anything about the numbers or what those mature trees do to our air quality and what their absence will do to the air quality.
- Bruce: we're taking down 9 trees, and putting 55 back, and then we're putting the columnar trees, which some people don't like, in the confined areas. We haven't done a greenhouse gas study.
[1:45:53] Speaker 21: (final)
- Regarding speed: I've heard tonight that speed is a big issue on Bronson, and I haven't seen anything on the designs that will address or mitigate that problem.
- Bruce: Our geometric design fundamentally doesn't change. We don't have any provisions in there to put in speed bumps. So to address speed, our objective is to have on-street off-peak parking, and that's been implemented previously. We're trying to green up the corridor to let people know that residents live there, and not have the barren Bronson that it is in some sections.
- We can do better. This is not innovative. This is not going to put Ottawa on the map.
[1:47:51] Closing remarks from moderator
- Thanks to everyone for their participation. I remind you to about the comment sheets, it's also available on Ottawa.ca
[1:48:12] PRIVATE DISCUSSIONS AUDIBLE; END RECORDING HERE.
[1:48:22] Darryl? Reminder of construction open house in February