● The O’Connor Street segregated bike lane opens on Thursday , Oct. 25.

The O’Connor Street bike lane will officially open on Thursday, October 25, 2016.

The new bike lane is 1.7 kilometres long and runs from Laurier Avenue to Fifth Avenue in the Glebe. It will provide an important north-south route for cyclists in downtown Ottawa.

The section north of the Queensway is a fully segregated bike lane, while in the Glebe, parts of it consists of a painted bike lane. At the moment, the bike lane ends at Laurier Avenue in the downtown area, but there are plans to extent it to Parliament Hill.

The new bike lane looked ready for use since the beginning of October. However, there was a need to complete work on signage before it could officially open. Nevertheless, the project is still a month ahead of schedule.

The O’Connor Street bike lane project was not without its controversies. Last April, it was reported that, to the surprise of many, the city suddenly decided to change what had been planned in sections of the Glebe – instead of being a full bike lane, it was going to be a ‘shared’ one. Whatever the case, compared to what happened with the Laurier Avenue segregated bike lane five years ago, there was a lot less resistance to this one.

The opening ceremony for that O’Connor Street bike lane will be taking place at 1:30 pm on Thursday.

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3 Comments on ● The O’Connor Street segregated bike lane opens on Thursday , Oct. 25.

  1. 3 down how many more to go…

    watch this –

    http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/video-emerges-of-third-cyclist-hit-on-oconnor-bike-lanes

    from what I can see, definitely the van tried to beat out the cyclist.
    they should have no left hand turns allowed between 7-9am and from 3-530pm..

    lots of impatient drivers out there, they try to beat the cyclists through the intersections…

    the fella should have called the cops, so many times adrenaline is rushing that people aren’t really thinking, its not until later they realize their injuries …

  2. watch the tacks as per – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/thumb-tacks-o-connor-bike-lane-1.3829287

    this sometimes happen to us mtbers as well…

  3. its good to see another segregated bike lane, esp for families that want to get out with their kids on bikes… not being stuck in a car.
    But, keep in mind Nov is coming, the worst month for pedestrians and cyclists as the daylight hours are less, esp in the evening and the weather is typically bad (as we are seeing now, 3 days of rain! like the west!)

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/culture/commuting/november-is-a-particularly-dangerous-month-for-pedestrians/article21461986/

    I think in TO yesterday, upwards of 10 people were hit and one died.
    ( https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/10/21/10-pedestrians-were-struck-thursday-morning-by-evening-8-more-were-hit.html)

    other stats:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year
    http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2015/06/17/toronto-streets-get-deadlier-for-cyclists-pedestrians.html

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