{"id":1408,"date":"2010-01-11T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingottawa.ca\/?p=1408"},"modified":"2013-01-21T09:19:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T14:19:01","slug":"round-and-round-the-boulevard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2010\/01\/11\/round-and-round-the-boulevard\/","title":{"rendered":"Round and Round the Boulevard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the past two weeks or so, discussion has begun on a proposed change to a key intersection in Orl\u00e9ans. The proposal: to convert the intersection with Jeanne d\u2019Arc and St. Joseph boulevards from a standard four-way into a roundabout or traffic circle.<\/p>\n

The concept apparently began with the Heart of Orl\u00e9ans BIA<\/a> in 2008, and since then has garnered civic, provincial and federal support by way of the recent stimulus funds organized by the latter two levels of government<\/a>. Accounts vary as to the expected cost for the interchange, from $1.8 to 2.5 million. Arguments using safety, beautification, and promoting local business within the St. Joseph Boulevard corridor have been raised in defence of the plan. The BIA’s point of view about the project be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen full-blown support from Heart of Orl\u00e9ans BIA executive director Peter Stewart, qualified support from\u00a0Orl\u00e9ans Star<\/strong> columnist Walter Robinson<\/a>, and outright opposition from retired U of Ottawa geography professor Barry Wellar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been some discussion on the Ottawa Citizen<\/strong> website of the issue of roundabouts as a traffic control device in general<\/a>, and opinion from Ottawa Citizen columnist David Reevely who had very little good to say about his pedestrian’s experience of\u00a0 this roundabout<\/a> in Alta Vista.<\/p>\n

There are currently seven such interchanges scattered across the city, and City Hall deems them sufficiently important to grant them their own subsection<\/a> under the “Traffic” heading on their website. One in particular has some prominence due to its placement at Sussex and Rockcliffe,\u00a0 on the doorsteps of the Prime Minister and Governor-General’s official residences. Several are supposedly specifically designed to allow for pedestrians to cross with a degree of assurance for their own safety.<\/p>\n

But as someone who uses a lot of shoe-leather to get around, I have to wonder if this specific intersection will actually be any safer to cross after it\u2019s been switched over to the new format. Might it even be less so, as Reevely’s Alta Vista example would suggest?\u00a0 Having walked along much of the length of St. Joseph for job hunting, shopping, health-related errands, and simple exploration, I\u00a0admit to a certain skepticism. I have a comfort level with things as they are.<\/p>\n

On January 14th, there will be an open house at the Bob McQuarrie\/Orl\u00e9ans Recreational Centre<\/a> on Youville and Jeanne d\u2019Arc to discuss this plan in some detail. The Centre is a few minutes on foot from the intersection in question.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, this public meeting scheduled to discuss the future of this vital piece of infrastructure has yet to be publicized by the relevant city department. Orl\u00e9ans Ward Councillor Bob Monette has been working to remedy this via his own office, else we might not know of it at all.<\/p>\n

A cynic might suggest that the city staff in question view the roundabout as a done deal, with enough powerful buy-in already on the table to see it breeze through the consultation unchallenged. More likely, it may simply be the case that the staff might simply be unable to keep up with the workload in front of them, regardless of their willingness to do so.<\/p>\n

Whether the lapse in communication is by design or by accident, the end result may be the same: an ill-informed public unable to bring what may be useful information of their own to the table to improve the process and the result.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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