Priorities for Orleans for the 2025 Transportation Master Plan Consultations

The city is currently going through consultations (Transportation Master Plan Update | Engage Ottawa) to renew plans for upcoming transportation infrastructure projects. Here are a handful of infrastructure projects that would radically improve the cycling mode share and overall safe cycling network in Orleans if implemented.

This is a more detailed look at individual projects as part of my transportation and zoning/land use analysis of Orleans as part of the TMP consultation process here: Modernizing Orleans: Integrated Transportation and Zoning for a Sustainable Future.

Candidates for “Complete Street” makeover with active transportation facilities:

• Orleans Blvd (traffic calming, cycling infrastructure, bridge crossing, wide sidewalks) – In the TMP already; high priority
  • Safe, separated cycling facilities should take riders all the way from beyond Innes in the south of Orleans up to the River Pathway.
  • Along this route, there are schools, shopping centres, the library, connections to the LRT, St Joseph, Innes, Jeanne d’Arc, etc. It could connect all the way to Navan Rd in the south.
  • Of particular interest is the overpass over the 174, which is the quietest highway crossing with no on or off ramps, and therefore a necessary crossing over the highway that is the safest for less comfortable users.
• Jeanne d’Arc Blvd (40kph, cycling infrastructure, roundabouts in Convent Glen North, wide sidewalks) – North section in the TMP already; high priority
  • This long road offers multiple chained routes covering most of western Orleans going from Petrie Island all the way to Mer Bleue.
  • This is also a prime candidate for cycle tracks, in particular the stretch from Champlain in the north all the way on to Mer Bleue where it meets up with Brian Coburn.
  • There is lots of space to include this infrastructure in the plans while sacrificing almost no traffic capacity. Countless school, businesses, and community amenities and services are within a couple of kilometres of this road.
  • The intersections along Jeanne d’Arc North between the 174 and Orleans could easily be cheaply transformed into roundabouts given traffic volumes, making it safer for kids to get to nearby schools and saving everybody time and energy waiting to turn left or waiting at red lights. Other intersections could probably also benefit from this treatment but these are the ones I know best.
  • There is also the opportunity along with the redesign of Jeanne d’Arc to put it in a perfectly placed pedestrian crossing right next to Fire Station 52 and Convent Glen Catholic School near Jeanne d’Arc and the new roundabout (see image below). This would be so helpful for local kids to get to school and active transportation in the community.

• Forest Valley (cycling infrastructure) – Not in TMP; medium priority
  • This route is commonly used by active transport users to get from the forest valley community down to the river and just out of Forest Valley to St Joseph or west to Montreal Road.
• Youville (cycling infrastructure) – In TMP; listed as ‘pavement markings and signage’. Should be actual infrastructure for walking and cycling. Maybe a new MUP, there will be lots of new residents with towers going in.
  • With all the new development planned around Youville, this route should have more than painted lanes, something truly safe and comfortable. This route could also join up with Orleans on the other end offering a connection to Innes on the south end,
• Champlain Street (cycling infrastructure) – Not in TMP
  • Safe travel from the river pathway all the way to Place d’Orleans Mall and Centrum would give shoppers or LRT connectors an easy way to safely get to and across the highway here as well.
  • This street is already so quiet traffic calming should only make things safer and give buses and cyclists the opportunity to move through this route quickly and easily.
• St Joseph Blvd (complete street, cycling infrastructure, traffic calming, wide sidewalks, 40kph) – In TMP, but whole length is not listed. Also covered in Orleans Corridor Secondary Plan. High priority.
  • This road is a PRIME candidate for a complete makeover as part of the Orleans Corridor Secondary Plan, with wide sidewalks, less mandatory parking, frequent buses from all over Orleans, cycling infrastructure, the full package.
  • With the 174 so close, there is no reason whatsoever to make it efficient to speed traffic through this route, it should be a destination for people to come and enjoy the quiet and fun atmosphere with mixed use buildings like a Bank or Preston Street. It should be a no-brainer location for a street festival in the summer like streets downtown.
  • The part of St Joseph further west toward Montreal Road also deserves a real bike lane the whole length, with at least some kind of physical infrastructure that consists of more than paint and an unused shoulder.
• Innes and Tenth Line (permanent cycling infrastructure, not just paint) – Not in TMP; medium priority.
  • I won’t go into details here, but both these roads could easily have bus priority lanes during rush hour and active transportation infrastructure, enabling more buses and more cycling without having too much impact on traffic (is likely to lead to less congestion).
  • These routes also connect shoppers to businesses, schools, Ray Friel, and many other community amenities.

Cycling Route Improvements

• Belcourt / Frank Bender (additional modal filter, traffic calming) – partly listed in TMP, second modal filter on Frank Bender is an easy and cheap win if residents are on board.
  • The TMP already lists the modal filter at Frank Bender and Jeanne d’Arc as a completed project, and Belcourt is honestly already a pretty quiet street which is amenable to cycling.
  • This route is used by staff (especially younger staff) to get to businesses on Innes (you can see the bikes parked in the racks at the big box stores), and could easily be used by more shoppers as well.
  • Frank Bender is currently not particularly hospitable to active transportation, and I wonder whether the residents on the street would take the tradeoff of a modal filter halfway down Frank Bender to stop the car traffic that goes through. I bet it would be a nicer experience living on that street without the through traffic.

A ‘Fix’ for Lacking Sidewalks (upgrade sidewalk to MUP) – not in TMP, new suggestion.

Many streets in Convent Glen North (my neighbourhood) and other older residential boroughs of Orleans have a now outdated design with only one sidewalk on some collector roads, and often no sidewalks at all on local streets. This means that people out walking, running, or cycling in these areas are compressed into a very small or non-existent space for these activities. Sidewalks aren’t designed to handle this kind of mixed-use traffic, and their narrow and uneven surfaces aren’t designed for wheels like this.

My suggestion would be that when these single sidewalks reach end-of-life, the city should consider upgrading these sidewalks to nice, wide, bi-directional multi-use paths. This would make this experience nicer for everybody, would make winter maintenance more consistent, and would allow more people to comfortably make use of this infrastructure. If we are taking the step of redesigning active transportation in these communities, I think another step that would be a huge upgrade for safety and accessibility would be continuous sidewalks between side roads, so that to turn off or onto the main road, cars need to slow right now and be more aware of potential cross traffic before proceeding. This could even be done with coloured asphalt along the paths to make the delineation extra clear.

The collector roads (hopefully I have that terminology right) that I think would be good candidates for this would be (for example): Vineyard Dr, Voyageur Dr, Fortune Dr. There are probably a lot more, but these could absolutely be valuable additions to the connected active transportation network, without even asking to take space away from cars.

174 Farm Easement Path (new MUP connection) – not in TMP, new suggestion

There is a farm access road along the 174 that could be restructured and redesigned (in collaboration with the NCC) to include space for an active transportation easement popular with other urban and suburban farms in Ottawa. This is a much faster, safer, and more direct route to Canotek and on to downtown than the current options of the winding river pathway and the shoulder-straddling painted bike lanes on St. Joseph.

This path could extend all the way up to Jeanne d’Arc for a connection to the LRT and could include a break in the sound wall to connect to Vineyard Drive and the MUP path system in Convent Glen North, giving many walkers and cyclists a faster and more direct connection to local services and amenities via the MUP or the LRT.