October 20, 2023 Newsletter

During the 2023 construction season, the City completed road resurfacing of Springfield Road from Beechwood Avenue to Maple Lane, valued at over $570,000.  Work on completing sign installation and street markings were completed at the end of September. With the installation of a new cycling lane on Springfield Road, which is in accord with the City’s Complete Streets Policy, parking enforcement has now come into full effect. It is important to remember that absolutely no parking or stopping will be permitted in the cycling lane at any time and that those restrictions will be enforced through By-law Enforcement Services. It is my intention to have flex stakes installed as temporary traffic calming measures, where permissible, along the Springfield Road cycling lane in Spring 2024. Additionally, my office worked with City staff to have a pedestrian crossover flex stake installed at Putman Avenue and Springfield Road.

Similarly, along Crichton, during its resurfacing, conversations with traffic staff and the community reaffirmed my commitment to ensuring traffic calming measures are in place along this busy corridor. Spring 2024, we will review temporary traffic calming measures to see what additional measures can be added to the street.  

The City also completed road resurfacing of Donald Street between Alesther Street and Vera Street, in October valued at $1.3 million. For almost a decade Donald Street has been designated a crosstown bikeway under the City's 2013 Transportation Master Plan and Ottawa Pedestrian Plan and Ottawa Cycling Plan. Public consultation about the crosstown bikeway has been extensive and has been undertaken for more than 15 years. The bikeway route along Donald Street starts at Cummings Avenue and leads to Somerset Street East via the Adàwe Crossing, a pedestrian and cyclist bridge, which was opened in December 2015 to connect Overbrook and Sandy Hill, and continues to the nearby University of Ottawa and downtown Ottawa. The bikeway route continues to the Corktown Footbridge over the Rideau Canal. The completion of the resurfaced road has facilitated the completion of the crosstown bikeway, which is in accord with the City's Complete Street Policy.

It is important to note that as per City policy, when street resurfacing projects are undertaken, proposed cycling infrastructure is installed in order to be cost effective per City policy. This is why cycling lanes were installed when resurfacing occurred previously on Donald Street between North River Road and Vanier Parkway and between St. Laurent Boulevard and Cummings Avenue, along with the installation of the protected intersection at St. Laurent and Donald Street in 2019. The last resurfacing segment is now complete between Alesther Street Vera Street and St. Laurent Boulevard and it is important to remember that no parking or stopping will be permitted in the cycling lane at any time and that those restrictions will be enforced through By-Law Enforcement Services.

To increase safety, the City as part of its Road Safety Action Plan has allocated funds to explore design improvements to the intersection at Donald Street and Vanier Parkway, to reduce collisions and facilitate safer crossings for both cyclists and pedestrians. The City will complete a finalized design in the near future which will be shared with the community. My office will also be working with St. Michael School and Ottawa Technical Secondary School in the immediate term to continue to improve safety conditions on Donald Street.

Your Councillor in the Community

The Ottawa Public Library celebrated the completion of the pouring of concrete floors at Ādisōke, the Ottawa Public Library – Library and Archives Canada joint facility, and the launch of its new brand on Oct. 18. All partners signed a piece of structural steel that will be placed within the facility's interior. With the pouring of the floors now complete, work will begin on the iconic curved roof of our new library! For more information about the project, please click here or visit adisoke.ca.

I attended the opening session of the Resolutions 2023 conference on Parliament Hill, which took place on Oct. 16 and 17. The vision of this Anti-Racism Conference is to highlight the systemic oppression faced by Black and racialized communities in Ontario and Canada - with the aim of mobilizing and bringing together more than 120 participants, policy makers, economic experts, and education leaders, to identify systemic barriers and propose concrete recommendations and solutions.

I also attended the Antisemitism: Face It, Fight It Conference, which took place at the Shaw Centre Oct. 16 and 17. Antisemitism is very much alive, thriving in Canada as it is around the world. It manifests not only in the streets but also in the virtual world. We need to face it, and we need to fight it. To learn more, please visit www.fightit.ca.

My Ward 13 team and I hosted a meet-and-greet for residents in the Thornecliffe Park neighbourhood on Oct. 14. Thank you to everyone who dropped by to speak with us.