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Jun 10

Section of Walkley Road gets a ‘road diet’ to test ways to calm traffic – CBC.ca

Driversliving near and passing through a western section of Walkley Road will notice a tighter fit for the next three weeks as the city looks to find the best way to slow traffic near the Airport Parkway.

Thesection of Walkley Road between the parkway and McCarthy Road has been temporarily changed from having four vehicle lanesto two lanes for drivers and two for cyclists, part of a pilot project for eventual traffic calming measures.

Andr Carrire has livedon thisstretch of Walkley for 11 years and said speeding is a constant problem, with many drivers routinely reaching speeds of 70 km/h or more, while the speed limit is 50 km/h.

"The first day they did this you could see a big difference in traffic," said Carrire. "It's slowed down. This is much better."

The road narrowing project, or "road diet" as it's sometimes called in traffic planning vernacular, is a direct resultof the City of Ottawa's controversial 2016 decisionto eventuallywiden the Airport Parkway from two to four lanes,while also adding a southbound off-ramp toWalkley.

The city agreed that in conjunction with the parkway widening it would addtraffic calming measures on this residentialsection of Walkley to address the anticipated additional vehicle traffic, saysTerry Wood, chair of the Riverside Park Community Association's transportation, traffic and transit sub-committee.

"Traffic safety has been an issue here going back at least 25 years," said Wood. "Given the layout and the design of the street it's a pedal-to-the-metal situation."

Wood saidthe community association has long fought to change the existingconfiguration, partly because there are three elementary schools within 100 metres of the section in question.

"We need to do more to make west Walkley Road safer for all users, cyclists and pedestrians," he said.

"It's well-established that when you narrow the lanes you slow down the traffic.Just the visual impact of seeing a narrower road tends to slow people."

Before investing millionsto calm traffic permanently,the city is using strategically placed traffic pylonsto convert a lane in each direction into a dedicated bike lane, says area councillorRiley Brockington.

A contractor will work with city staff to observe and then analyze the impact, he said.

"The data that we get from this pilot project will help shape the final design of this street," said Brockington. "Why not test in advance and learn from the data to make the best design possible?"

While the city designatesWalkley as an arterial road, Brockington said the stretch in question never reaches capacity and the status quois not acceptable.

He said the original designers of Walkley believed a bridge would one day be built at Riverside Drive to cross the Rideau Rivera project he saidwill never happen, so it's time to reclaim the road.

"You don't need four lanes here." he said. "We're looking at a road that was built decades agofor the needs decades ago. There's a greater emphasis [now] on other road users."

Carriresaid he's keen touse the new temporary bike lanesrather thanthe sidewalk, putting pedestrians at risk.

"I'm a cyclist and I won't go on the road because cars go by a foot away from your handlebarand they're not slowing down," he said.

As a self-described "walkaholic,"nearby residentMarilyn Patrick says she is "really happy" because the bike lanes should take cyclists off the sidewalks.

Wood says drivers should "drive slowly and respect the limitor choose another route."

"It's our community and we want to make it better," he said.

Construction of both the Airport Parkway expansion and the permanentWalkley traffic calming measures are expected to begin in 2024.

The rest is here:
Section of Walkley Road gets a 'road diet' to test ways to calm traffic - CBC.ca

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