Finally, I recently bought a print subscription to Spacing, and despite the high price, it’s definitely worth it. Given the huge amount of content these folks create covering urban issues in a variety of cities, I’m happy to support them.

A fascinating article appeared on The Infrastructurist this weekend which argues that by removing highways, the cities of Seoul, San Fransico and Portland actually reduced traffic. This seems counterintuitive but according to the Braess Paradox, as more roads are built, each driver tries to optimize their own route resulting in greater congestion. If this still sounds like abstract mathmatics read about it on wikipedia. When this idea is coupled with the induced demand phenomenon or Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams syndrome the effect of additional highway construction because dubious.

Scenario One

Creates a public space adjacent to the east façade of the Government Conference Centre. The underpass and MacKenzie Avenue ramp extension is removed and all pedestrian circulation is at grade.

A small island at the intersection of Colonel By and Rideau serves as a refuge for pedestrians crossing the street. It is the most minimal intervention.

- About 900 square metres of commemoration space

- All existing pedestrian crossings are maintained

- Existing traffic patterns are maintained

Scenario Two

Creates a central, triangular-shaped space for public gathering and commemoration.

The space is defined and contained by a ceremonial streetscape with wide promenades.

A centre median divides Colonel By. A new pedestrian crossing of Rideau is located at MacKenzie. The underpass and MacKenzie ramp are removed. Bike lanes provided.

- About 1,700 square metres of commemoration space

- Pedestrian landing areas at Rideau intersections are enlarged

- Sussex is one-way northbound to St. Patrick

- Traffic lane widths are adjusted to accommodate wider sidewalks

Scenario Three

The entire area east of the Government Conference Centre to the intersection of Colonel By and Rideau is dedicated to public space.

The space is contiguous across the south side of Rideau strengthening relationship to Rideau Canal, Confederation Square and Confederation Boulevard.

A grand boulevard is developed along Colonel By. It is envisioned with wide sidewalks and centre medians. New pedestrian crossings of Rideau at Mackenzie link directly to the space.

The underpass and MacKenzie ramp are removed. Bike lanes provided.

- About 2,100 square metres of commemoration space

- Pedestrian landing areas at Rideau intersection are enlarged

- Sussex is one-way northbound to St. Patrick

Last weekend, my girlfriend and I took off from Brussels for a two day bike trip through part of the Flemish region, taking the train back to Brussels on Sunday evening.  I had heard that bike touring was good in Belgium, but coming from some experience bike touring in Canada, I assumed that this meant that there were plenty of country roads and generally polite drivers.

But, no, that’s only the beginning.  In fact, in the Flemish region, there is a huge network of bike-exclusive roads, which you navigate by going from one numbered checkpoint to another.  Actually, to be clear, the routes alternate between bike-exclusive paths and shared use as a minor road, which hardly differed from the bike-exclusive paths.  The entire network is in a fantastic state of maintenance, and extremely well sign-posted.

I’ll give a brief photo journey of the trip.  Coming out of Brussels, we went through the Foret de la Soigne, just outside the Brussels city centre, which boasts great scenery and a comprehensive set of trails for walking, running and cycling.  It suffered a little bit on the sign-posting front, but made up for it in beauty.

From there, we connected onto the Flemish network, which largely passed through the country-side.  There, we probably saw more apple orchards in harvest than cars.

So, why is it possible for Belgium to maintain this system over Canada?  There’s no doubt that it benefits from the proximity of one town to another.  However, there are certainly areas of Canada that have the same layout, and we don’t see a similar system.

More importantly, it benefits from the culture in Belgium.  People bike here.  They bike to work (although that is somewhat less the case in Brussels itself given how crowded the city is with cars).  They bike for recreation.  They bike to get groceries.  They bike as families, as couples or alone.  On Sunday morning, we saw at least a dozen bike teams, in matching jerseys, biking around the Flemish region.  Some appeared to be quite competitive, others didn’t.

There simply isn’t the same barrier here to bicycling as a mode of transport.  It’s done recreationally on a much wider scale than in Canada, but bicycles are also used for practical purposes on a routine basis, which probably in turn fosters their recreational use.

It’s this culture of bicycling in Belgium that allows them to sustain such an impressive system of bike routes.  It’s this culture that explains why Belgium does it so much better.

While I’ve never thought of Ottawa’s current racks as overly obtrusive, this is a sexy design and one that would aesthetically improve any city street. The square at the lower center is meant for ad space, though, so that could be a visual impediment.