Winter bike parade for winter cycling fans

The Citizen's for Safe Cycling is sponsoring a winter bike parade. The event will be held on Sunday, January 22. Winter cyclists are to meet at Laurier Avenue West and Percy Street at noon. The parade will travel down the Laurier segregated bike lane to the Ottawa City Hall at 110 Laurier Avenue. There will be free hot apple cider at City Hall to warm up participants. The event will go snow or shine. You can visit the CFSC website to view the CFSC promotional poster.

The Laurier SBL is clear but how do you get to it?

I was surprised by the number of cyclists I saw today in the snow and messy conditions. The Laurier Avenue segregated bike lanes SBL) were in good shape today as the city had their little machines keeping them clear and salted during the day. However, it was very annoying (to say the least) to see the shape of both the Lyon and Bay Street bike lanes. Just like last year they were completely covered in snow and unusable as bike lanes. The multi-use pathway along the canal was snow-covered as well. Bike lanes are the responsibility of the city and the multi-use pathways (MUP) are maintained by the National Capital Commission. Both bodies seem interested in encouraging cycling in Ottawa. The city is making an effort to keep the Laurier SBL clear, but if you can't get to it on a reasonably well-maintained route is the effort worth it in the end? The lanes on Lyon and Bay, and the MUP, are all well-used bike pathways and it would have been nice to see them maintained as part of a network along with the Laurier SBL.




The Laurier SBL looking east from Bay Street. Well salted and plowed but can you get to it?



Lyon Street bike lane...yes, it's there under the snow and slush.



Bay Street bike lane...what is the sign pointing at? A bike lane?



The snow-covered MUP along the Queen Elizabeth Driveway and a dedicated cyclist.

New Scott Street bike lanes

For many years Scott Street has been one of the worst streets to drive on in Ottawa. In fact, I don't recall it ever being in anything but terrible shape. The right-hand lane eastbound in particular had a strong camber and was horribly rutted and pot-holed. Well, Scott Street finally had some resurfacing work and with that came an added surprise. Bike lanes! They're not segregated lanes and they don't run the length of Scott Street but it's still a small step towards making Ottawa a better cycling city. The new lanes run between Holland Avenue and Island Park Drive and I think they'll come in handy for many. Here's a view of the freshly painted lanes looking east down Scott Street.