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© Clive Doucet 2007
New Sidewalks Standard
Ottawa has started to build a new kind of sidewalk. With a partial flat top these new sidewalks will improve winter walking and safety.
Recent winters have seen a treacherous new condition become the norm. Climate change has brought rain followed by flash freezing that creates a pool of slick ice at the bottom of most driveway ramps. Numerous freeze-thaw cycles and reduced snow removal adds to the problem. It makes walking dangerous especially for the elderly and handicapped. Last winter many injuries were reported.
The new flat top design provides at least a metre-wide flat passage way and restricts ponding to the shallow ramp area at the street, not over the entire sidewalk. The disabled community reports these new sidewalks remain passable in the winter and are easier to navigate in warmer seasons. The visually impaired find it easier "to follow" the new sidewalks because the flat area more clearly defines a safe walking space than older drop-down sidewalks. Mothers report it is easier to push a carriage on them and if a child is walking beside them, they walk on the inside top surface with no problems.
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| The two photos
were taken on the same day on Fifth Avenue. Note the old sidewalk
design on the left covered in ice from water,
trapped
in a pool in the drop-down area, then frozen. In the right
photo the new sidewalk design, with an even surface, sheds
water down the slope making for a cleaner, safer sidewalk.
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There are constraints. Drivers must approach their entrances at a slower speed making a wider, more direct turn to enter. Another constraint (on a 1.8 metre wide sidewalk) is that two baby carriages cannot pass as easily. In public consultations it was felt these limitations were overcome by the advantage of having a clear passage year round.
Flat top sidewalks has been successfully in Toronto for over 20 years. Here we completed two pilots, Holland Avenue with a 2 meter width with universal acceptance, and Delaware with a 1.5 metre width with majority preference for the new model. One wheel-chair bound resident on Delaware stated she is especially appreciative of the clearer winter conditions.
Fifth Avenue
I believe the new flat-tops are safer for pedestrians year round. There has been extensive public consultations with residents of Fifth Avenue and the Glebe over concerns about the new sidewalks. Most are looking forward to having wider, less icy sidewalks in winter. And the evidence from Holland and Delaware is that the flat tops create safer sidewalks for pedestrians.
Abandoning this new design to a lobby set up by a few people after a two year development and consultation process does not seem responsible.
However, if the new sidewalks on Fifth Avenue prove to be inferior to the old sidewalks and the experience on Holland and Delaware was exceptional, we would certainly re-evaluate the second stage of Fifth when it is to be reconstructed. But to date there is no evidence that this would be the case.
For technical information on the new sidewalks, click here (pdf 55k)