Complete Streets
With a view to improving the walking and cycling infrastructure in Lowertown, in June 2013, community association volunteers--including cyclists, walkers and residents using wheelchairs--were joined by representatives from Walk Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa, Citizens for Safe Cycling, the King Edward Ave Task Force, the BIA, and, Councillor Fleury and city staff to tour Lowertown and the ByWard Market for a two-hour active transportation audit looking at the safety, comfort and convenience of the streets. The Lowertown Community Association and Ecology Ottawa published a report entitled Lowertown Active Transportation Audit Report, launched at City Hall in September 2013.
Our audit recommendations included building Complete Streets, which is a planning framework that ensures transportation planners and engineers are consistently held to a design standard that operates the entire street network in a way that is accessible to all road users, not only motorists. Streets are designed to accommodate all ages, abilities and modes of travel, including forms of active transportation. This includes infrastructure that provides safe and comfortable access for pedestrians, bicycles, transit-users and the mobility-impaired. A Complete Street is not an afterthought, but an integral planning feature.
In follow up to our audit, LCA joined community associations, Ecology Ottawa, the Ottawa Council on Aging, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Green Communities Canada and many others in a campaign to include a Complete Streets Policy in the City of Ottawa’s Transportation Master Plan, Cycling Plan, and Pedestrian Plan in 2013.
We called for the inclusion of a Complete Street in the redevelopment plan of Main Street in July. In the fall, aware that the Transportation Master Plan set the direction for the City’s day-to-day transportation programs and will be used in budget planning, we signed petitions, wrote letters, sent written comments regarding the Transportation Master Plan and Official Plan, and spoke at the Transportation Committee meeting on the Master Plan. And we won – the first step that is!
A Complete Streets Policy was adopted in the Transportation Master Plan in November 2014, and now it is up to us to ensure a strong policy is implemented. The Council elected in November 2014 has a mandate to implement the policy. We will be joining City councillors, Ecology Ottawa and community associations across the city in doing so.
Learn more about Complete Streets:
Our audit recommendations included building Complete Streets, which is a planning framework that ensures transportation planners and engineers are consistently held to a design standard that operates the entire street network in a way that is accessible to all road users, not only motorists. Streets are designed to accommodate all ages, abilities and modes of travel, including forms of active transportation. This includes infrastructure that provides safe and comfortable access for pedestrians, bicycles, transit-users and the mobility-impaired. A Complete Street is not an afterthought, but an integral planning feature.
In follow up to our audit, LCA joined community associations, Ecology Ottawa, the Ottawa Council on Aging, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Green Communities Canada and many others in a campaign to include a Complete Streets Policy in the City of Ottawa’s Transportation Master Plan, Cycling Plan, and Pedestrian Plan in 2013.
We called for the inclusion of a Complete Street in the redevelopment plan of Main Street in July. In the fall, aware that the Transportation Master Plan set the direction for the City’s day-to-day transportation programs and will be used in budget planning, we signed petitions, wrote letters, sent written comments regarding the Transportation Master Plan and Official Plan, and spoke at the Transportation Committee meeting on the Master Plan. And we won – the first step that is!
A Complete Streets Policy was adopted in the Transportation Master Plan in November 2014, and now it is up to us to ensure a strong policy is implemented. The Council elected in November 2014 has a mandate to implement the policy. We will be joining City councillors, Ecology Ottawa and community associations across the city in doing so.
Learn more about Complete Streets: