The controversy around of the city’s plans to widen Bronson Avenue seems to naturally lead to discussion of the other arterial routes that cut north through Centretown.
This weekend I heard a local architect talking about Metcalfe Avenue. His first point was that since, like its neighbour O’Connor, Metcalfe is a one-way street, there is very limited interest in creating pedestrian-scale development. If offered a choice, pedestrians will nearly always opt for walking along a traditional two-way street, where lower traffic speeds make for a better mix of cars and people. And since cafes and shops need foot traffic, we see a dearth of retail on both Metcalfe and O’Connor, compared to the bustle of Bank and Elgin.
Secondly, he pointed out, if Metcalfe must once and forever be a one-way street, it is now running the wrong way, at least for those that appreciate a scenic view with their drive. A direction swap with O’Connor would allow motorists — and cyclists — to enjoy the approach to Barry Padolsky’s wonderful “lantern” addition to the Museum of Nature, in the process fulfilling the NCC’s long-held wish to see Metcalfe become a ceremonial route. (The NCC’s plans once included buying out property along Metcalfe to in order to widen it and create a European-style “Grand Boulevard” with a spectacular view of Parliament Hill for traffic heading north. The plan finally died in the late ’90s due to vocal opposition from nearly every stakeholder other than the NCC itself.)
Today the lantern could be the spectacular view, but it can only be seen by motorists as a fleeting image in their rear-view mirrors, which is a pity. For grandeur, it’s not quite the Peace Tower, but it’s quite striking, especially at night. It is already perfectly centred overlooking Metcalfe, and would need no road-widening to make its charms visible from a good distance.
4 comments
No argument from me on the merits of two-way versus one-way streets but I think the argument that “no one” can see the Museum of Nature is a bit of a weak argument – I didn’t realize that pedestrians could only walk northbound on Metcalfe.
Bank and Elgin have historically been stronger retail streets than Metcalfe and O’Connor since well before the one-way conversion. The latter two streets were never retail-oriented and instead were turned from local streets into the traffic sewers we have today.
Metcalfe is a wonderful pedestrian street!
Its an interesting idea to reverse the flow of traffic on Metcalfe to let people see the new ‘torch’ thing-y.
I love looking at the torch every time I walk in the area. I make a point of walking on Metcalfe with its wide sidewalks, lots of trees and nice residential apartment buildings. It does get busy with car traffic at rush hour, but the rest of the time it is really nice to be on.
Sure, there is nothing much to spend money on the street, but I will walk up Metcalfe to the cross street of whatever place I am going on Bank or Elgin and cut over. Its a nicer walk. It is for the same reason that I will go out of my way to walk up Maclaren, instead of Sommerset when I am walking East West. Its a nicer walk…
The Downtown Urban Design Strategy commissioned and adopted by the City back in 2004 or thereabouts recommends that Metcalfe and O’Connor be returned to two-way status. As I recall, there are detailed plans demonstrating the proposed roadway changes in and around the Museum of Nature that would make this part of the city much more humane. Unfortunately these city building initiatives don’t find much support amongst the traffic planning and commuting crowd.
Great post, thanks.
Metcalfe Street is janus-faced. It is a beautiful pedestrian space, and it is also a traffic sewer. It’s worth pointing out how Metcalfe unevenly performs these roles in space and time. I’ll disagree with the comment that unpleasant forms of traffic only occur at rush hour. In the evening, and especially at night, a small number of car-drivers intermittently treat a particular section like a dragstrip. This relates to the lack of traffic calming measures or control signals between Gladstone and Colonnade Pizza.
It might be interesting to note as well, in reference to the post, that in 1955 an extensive traffic and transportation plan prepared for Ottawa by an American firm, before any north-south streets were unidirectional, recommended that Metcalfe run one way, but southbound, directing car traffic towards the Museum of Nature.
Nick