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Transportation Master Plan |
Chapter 5 – Walking
Walking helps to conserve energy, reduce pressure on the road network, preserve the environment and improve public health. It is a fast and convenient way to make short trips, and is also an important component of transit trips. The key factors that influence the attractiveness of walking include:
- A suitable distance between origin and destination
- Positive individual attitudes towards walking
- Pleasant, direct routes that offer safety and personal security, minimizing conflicts between among pedestrians and other road users
- Adequate maintenance practices for pedestrian network elements, particularly in winter
5.1 Essential Supporting Measures
A number of supportive measures that can increase walking will be delivered
through the City’s transportation demand management program and land use planning
practices, as described in Chapter 4.
The City will:
- Build public awareness of the environmental, health and economic benefits of walking, promote positive individual attitudes towards walking, and offer practical advice
- Reach potential pedestrians through partnerships with employers and educational institutions
- Work with public- and private-sector partners to enhance personal security along the routes used by pedestrians to reach rapid transit station and bus stops
- Conduct initiatives that promote safe travel behaviours by pedestrians and other road users, including initiatives focused on vulnerable pedestrians including children and seniors
- Adopt maintenance standards for snow clearance, street sweeping and roadside vegetation that support walking while considering physical, operational and financial constraints
- Adopt supportive land use planning practices that improve the walking environment, as described in Chapter 4
5.2 Sidewalks and Pedestrian Crossings
The City will:
- Develop a comprehensive Pedestrian Plan that includes:
- Goals and objectives for creating a pedestrian-friendly city including recognition of demographic shifts, such as population aging
- An integrated pedestrian network plan
- Harmonized policies for pedestrian network elements that identify ways to eliminate conflicts between pedestrians and others, and that establish design guidelines for elements such as sidewalks, boulevards, signalized crossings, sightlines and barrier-free design
- An implementation strategy for the pedestrian network
- An implementation plan for education, enforcement and promotion
- A monitoring strategy
- Maintain ten-year pedestrian network targets, a five-year implementation plan and an annual work program
- Develop quality of service indicators and targets that can be used to assess pedestrian travel facilities and conditions, and to evaluate possible changes to them
- On new roads, and on reconstructed roads where feasible, require the provision of:
- Sidewalks on both sides of arterial and collector roads in the urban area and rural Villages
- A sidewalk or multi-use pathway on at least one side of all arterial roads through or adjacent to the Greenbelt
- A sidewalk or multi-use pathway on at least one side of all roads in the urban area that serve transit
- Direct, high-quality pedestrian connections to rapid transit stations, bus stops and other major walking destinations
- Pedestrian crossings to link neighbourhoods that are separated by roads, where safety considerations permit
5.3 Multi-Use Pathways
Multi-use pathways are dedicated off-road facilities for walking, cycling and other modes such as in-line skating that serve both recreational and utilitarian travel needs. Given the scarcity of linear corridors for such facilities, they are generally constructed in abandoned rail corridors, utility corridors, along rivers and in parks. Pathways may feature a range of surface treatments including asphalt and stone dust. The ongoing development of the City’s pathway system will be coordinated with the National Capital Commission’s comprehensive network of multi-use pathways.
Maps 1 and 2 illustrate a conceptual network of urban and rural multi-use
pathways within the City of Ottawa, many of which are owned and maintained by
the National Capital Commission. The eventual location of illustrated pathways
may vary as a result of additional study or the provisions of a development
agreement, although network continuity and connections among destinations will
be maintained. The City may also develop other pathways, further to the following
policies. Annex A identifies multi-use pathway linkages that have been
identified as required infrastructure projects.
The City will:
- Provide multi-use pathways, where required, to facilitate walking and cycling within and between neighbourhoods
- Provide multi-use pathways in or adjacent to rapid transit corridors, where feasible
- Provide walking and cycling crossings of rapid transit corridors, where feasible, considering the level of demand and alternative crossing opportunities
- Coordinate with other agencies and interest groups to establish alignments and priorities for pathway network extensions beyond the City’s boundaries
- Ensure that multi-use pathway development in a corridor being protected for other future uses, for example utilities or rapid transit lines, will not compromise the corridor’s potential to serve these other uses
- Develop winter maintenance standards to ensure safe year-round conditions on pathways serving a transportation purpose, such as those providing access to rapid transit stations or bus stop
- Design multi-use pathways to minimize conflicts between cyclists, pedestrians, and other multi-use pathway users
Next: Chapter 6 - Cycling
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