Who
The content of this site was contributed by various cyclists. Alex deVries created and maintains the site. You can contact him at alexthepuffin@gmail.com.
Why
After years of complaining about bad cycling facilities, it made sense to put together one site that tries to consolidate the information and offers enough free-form formatting to convey the actual problems properly. My first effort was a single-issue site at http://www.bikingoncarling.ca.
Wards 21 22 and 23 not available. Please fix.
Ward 23 Kanta South
Those wards are missing from the drop down list because there’s no entries for them.
What’s the issue with N. River Road and Rideau Street? I travel through this intersection often, almost daily, and don’t see any issue. There’s a descent bike lane, not shared road, on the downtown lane, it intersects with the East-West bike path that runs parallel to the Rideau River. Traffic is fairly well behaved on that stretch of Rideau Street as well. The problem, and I don’t think there is one, would have to be the people who use it not the intersection itself.
The structural problem with this intersection is minor, but has everything to do with the people who use it. Traffic heads east off of the Cummings Bridge at a tremendous clip, and a large proportion of that turns south onto River Road very quickly, facilitated by the generously trimmed corner and low curb profile there.
The danger is to pedestrians and cyclists waiting to cross Montreal Road at the south-west corner of this intersection. I wait there daily, and it’s common for some speed demon to careen around the corner onto the pedestrian segment where people are waiting.
I don’t think this is a major problem like some of the others presented on this site; all that’s needed is to slow down traffic making that right hand turn, ideally by:
a) filling out the corner to make it closer to a 90 degree turn; and
b) raising the curb just at that corner to discourage drivers cutting it off.
I think there’s some different issues here.
I think Erik’s problems come up when heading north on River, taking a left onto Rideau.
The curbs in question are (at least) on the western corners of these two streets. It is also a safety issue for pedestrians, who can easily get clipped by cars cutting the corner.
There’s another issue with cyclists going north/south along the river. If I understand properly, right now they can’t go under the bridge because of flooding. Someone with more local experience could help me by explaining that.
Also, there’s legal way to get from River Rd across Montreal without having to first dismount. Correct me if I’m wrong about that.
Mitch, is your route just crossing River Rd going east/west on Montreal/Rideau?
- A
The flooding issue is just a joke – there’s probably no room under the Cummings Bridge for a bike path underpass.
The legal crossing issue is correct: cyclists on the NCC path find themselves at a pedestrian crossing (i.e. on a sidewalk and facing a pedestrian traffic light). At best their situation is ambiguous; at worst, illegal.