Sketch, bicycle and pedestrian crossing [over the Vanier Parkway]: one suggestion
(click to enlarge) (Source: City of Vanier (1976) NIP Redevelopment Plan, p 104)
Though not a particularly fanciful design (the aesthetic of mid roadway posts or the practicality of stairs on one end are peculiar…), the 1976 suggestion for an “elevated walkway and bicycle crossing” to span the Vanier Parkway may have been too fanciful an idea. The crossing was to connect residents living east of the roadway with the riverfront parkland and open space along the Rideau River.
Indeed, the suggestion was not a top-level priority, but it was one of many that arose through the Neighbourhood Improvement Program project in Vanier (led by the Citizens Committee Executive, whose photo we showed here). Other recommendations included the development of the “White Fathers Property” into today’s Richelieu Park, and the improvement of street lighting and sidewalks – many suggestions that were subsequently implemented through the joint efforts of residents and the City. On November 3, 2012, through a local Community Forum, the City of Ottawa is again partnering with Vanier and soliciting input towards determining our neighbourhood’s future.
These initiatives can be productive exercises. The City of Vanier introduced further community improvement policies in the mid-1980s and again launched neighbourhood planning in the mid-1990s, distributing bilingual, two-page questionnaires to households and businesses in particular areas. Whether thinking of stylized lampposts on Montreal Road or brick-laid crosswalks at McArthur and the Vanier Parkway, many community amenities or characteristics we enjoy today arose from earlier processes of community engagement.
The November Forum is being spearheaded by the City’s new Neighbourhood Connection Office (NCO), created earlier this year to support neighbourhoods with needs assessments, priority setting and project implementation. The Forum, open to all residents and merchants (and free of charge) offers two significant opportunities. First, the Forum presents a chance to dialogue with other community members about the priorities we imagine for our neighbourhood, whether related to transportation, parks, local development, arts and culture or other top-of-mind issues. Do we need to slow down traffic or improve our parks? What would it take to enhance cycling safety? Later this week, applications are expected to open for the NCO’s Better Neighbourhoods Program; what ideas might we have to make Vanier a better neighbourhood?
Second, senior City staff will offer presentations and answer questions on City initiatives that may have impacts on and implications for Vanier, ranging from cycling infrastructure and cultural mapping to the imminent review of the City’s Official Plan and Transportation Master Plan (among other planning tools). How might our suggestions under these citywide initiatives help to create a more liveable community, or one better planned for pedestrians? Or, how might revisions to Vanier’s Site Specific Policy– a component of the City’s Official Plan – make Montreal Road more into the kind of main street that we aspire for it to be?
Where will this go? That’s partially up to us – long-time, current and new members of the community – to decide.
(Mike Bulthuis)
Source:
City of Vanier (1976) NIP Redevelopment Plan, 1976. NIP Redevelopment area.
