4.0 The Basis for Sustainable Road Corridors

The Official Plan’s Guiding Principles (Section 1.6) and Strategic Directions (Section 2.0) specifically-related to these guidelines are to:

• Build a transportation system that emphasizes transit, walking and cycling;
• Design attractive communities where buildings, open space and transportation work well together;
• Build communities that are easy to get around and barrier-free for the disabled;
• Develop a green City with a network of open spaces and to recognize that trees are an important way of maintaining environmental integrity;
• Provide a range of mobility choices and accessibility options;
• Pursue land use patterns that reduce the need to travel;
• Reduce the amount of land used for new transportation facilities;
• Ensure the provision of facilities for pedestrians and cyclists in the construction or reconstruction of roadways;
• Minimize capital and operating costs, ensure reliability of level of service, and mitigate environmental impacts of infrastructure;
• Reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from private automobile use;
• Reduce traffic;
• Reduce Road construction disruption; and,
• Accommodate the movement of people during peak hours.

The Official Plan’s targets (Section 2.3.1) for the modal share distribution of peak-hour trips are 10% walking, 3% cycling, and 30% transit by the year 2021.

Section 4.3 of the Official Plan also establishes the policies used to review development applications that relate to walking, cycling, transit and roads. Key policies related to this study include:

• On new plans of subdivision, provide the opportunity for direct transit routes through a community and require all buildings to be within 400m walking distance of a transit stop;
• Provide sidewalks on both sides of Arterial Roads, Major Collector and Collector Roads in the Urban Area and Villages; and,
• Provide a sidewalk or multi-use pathway on at least one side of all roads in the Urban Area that serve transit.

The design of the City’s Major Collector and Collector Roads in the Urban Area and the Arterial and Collector Roads in the Rural Area must be consistent with this Official Plan direction.

SW 12^th Avenue, Portland, Oregon

Further to the Official Plan’s guiding principle of a green and environmentally-sensitive City, the following ten (10) additional criteria should also be considered in the pursuit of smart and sustainable infrastructure solutions for road corridors in Ottawa. These criteria reflect current thinking. Road designs should:

1. Be financially sustainable to construct and maintain;
2. Minimize the use of land;
3. Be efficient to maintain over their life-cycle;
4. Emphasize green living elements for oxygen production, carbon dioxide consumption, and many other benefits;
5. Provide infiltration opportunities for storm water, and retain water for living materials;
6. Reduce waste associated with construction and maintenance activities;
7. Use recycled materials where feasible;
8. Preserve and conserve existing infrastructure where practical;
9. Lead to the remediation of unfavourable environmental conditions; and,
10. Engage stakeholders and respond to their current and future needs.

Ottawa’s urban collectors and rural roads should advance environmental quality by showcasing a range of sustainable infrastructure innovations. They are excellent candidates for incentive-based or pilot infrastructure projects such as:

• Alternative roadside drainage techniques such as grassy swales (bioswales) with pervious pipe filter drains, grassy swales with no curbs, grassy swales with curbs and cutouts, grassy swales with infiltration trenches and pits, vegetated filter strips, pervious catch basins, treatment trains, roadside grey water treatment facilities, and other innovative and emerging “soakaway” and storm water management methods;
• Pervious paving methods such as porous concrete, porous asphalt, permeable unit pavers, and plastic grid pavers;
• Enhanced use of organic cover such as wood fibre or mulch (to aid in soil moisture retention and avoid soil compaction), especially in problematic clay soil locations;
• Advanced road material recycling initiatives (asphalt, concrete, and granular materials);
• Green roof incentive programs and/or construction requirements for existing or proposed adjacent buildings (to aid in meeting storm water management goals along road corridors); and,
• Bonusing incentives or subsidies to developers that achieve enhanced storm water management goals using emerging or innovative techniques.

Use innovative road drainage techniques such as grassy swales and perforated pipes as alternatives to conventional designs, and showcase the environmental benefits.

NE Siskiyou Street, Portland, Oregon

The following are the functional objectives for road corridors in the Urban Area and in Villages:

Urban Fabric: establish the spatial organization and fabric of a community and express its visual character and identity.

Community Connector: create identifiable corridors that connect uses within a community as well as connecting the community to the Arterial Road system, and other communities.

Public Space: serve as an important public space that can accommodate pedestrian activity and social interaction in a safe and comfortable environment.

Green Space: form part of the green and sustainable imprint of a community as well as being tree-lined routes linking open spaces. They should also be capable of accommodating multi-use pathways as part of the City’s Greenspace Network, located in green and open space settings, where designated in the Official Plan.

Access Provider: provide access to individual properties in accordance with their roadway classification designation, with the frequency of access being dependant on the context as well as traffic safety and capacity considerations.

Multi-Modal Route: safely and efficiently provide for movement in all modes, with an emphasis on walking, cycling, transit use, along with private automobiles and service vehicles.

Goods Movement: provide for movement of goods and materials carried in a range of vehicle types, particularly those roads designated by the City as Truck Routes.

Drainage: manage surface drainage from the ROW, and to serve as a conveyance route for surface water from adjacent lands.

Service and Utility Route: accommodate a wide range of services and utilities, often including trunk services, and with adequate horizontal, vertical, above-grade, and below-grade space provided for location and life-cycle maintenance of this infrastructure.

The following are the design objectives for road corridors in the Rural Area:

Community Connector: create linear wayfinding routes that connect uses within the rural community as well as connecting the rural community to the City’s Villages, Urban Areas and beyond.

Green Space: accommodate multi-use pathways as part of the City’s Greenspace Network, located in green and open space settings, where designated in the Official Plan.

Scenic Entry Route: form scenic entry routes linking major tourist, recreation, heritage and natural environment destinations in and beyond Ottawa, where designated in the Official Plan.

Access Provider: provide access to individual properties, including farm access, and provide for trail and recreation pathway crossings.

Multi-Modal Route: safely and efficiently carry varying levels of movement, especially private automobiles, trucks, service vehicles, farm vehicles, cyclists, and occasionally, transit vehicles. They also can accommodate multi-use pathways.

Goods Movement: provide for movement of goods and materials carried in heavy vehicles as well as farm vehicles, particularly those Roads designated by the City as Truck Routes.

Drainage: manage surface drainage from the ROW, and in some cases, to manage overland drainage from adjacent rural lands.

Service and Utility Route: accommodate a limited range of services and utilities, often including above-grade utility poles, anchors and guys, and with adequate horizontal, vertical, above-grade, and below-grade space provided for location and maintenance of this infrastructure.

These objectives also apply to road segments within Villages at the rural-village fringe, with an added emphasis on pedestrian and cycling movements in the Village context.