Help keep the buses off Albert St.: ACTION NEEDED

As you may know, the city is planning on using Albert St. as a replacement for the Transitway for the duration of LRT construction. This plan will see Albert St. widened to have as many as 7 lanes to allow hundreds of buses an hour move through our neighbourhood. All this behind our homes, alongside narrow and decrepit sidewalks with no efforts to mitigate noise or emissions.

Our Hintonburg friends have a very good break down with the documents the city didn't want you to see. You can read them all here. 

I've posted a flyer below that outlines how you can take action to change this plan. This diversion will have devastating effects on the health, safety and liveability of our neighbourhood. There are obvious alternatives (the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, Carling, and the Queensway).

The plans for the Transitway diversion show what little regard the City bureaucracy has for our neighbourhood. They were developed in secret with no consultation with the community. Other alternative routes, even for just some of the buses, were rejected without real consideration.

Just take a look at this photo:

A Child's view of the future Albert Transitway

It's the view from a child's window onto Albert Street. As many as 300 buses per hour will be passing by this window for nearly 3 years. Was any attempt made to mitigate the effects of this, for example, by rebuilding the sidewalk and adding a green buffer between the sidewalk and the bus lane? No. They will simply add a bus lane directly beside a narrow, crumbling sidewalk.

This gives us a clear idea of the future of Albert Street.

We would like to see Albert transformed from a dangerous, high-speed corridor catering to rush-hour commuter traffic into a "complete street" that serves our neighbourhood. It makes no sense to have a highway running along the LRT.

The city's original plan was to rebuild Albert St. after the LRT is complete. However, the disingenuousness of the last few weeks brings this into serious doubt. I have real concern that once Albert is widened to 6 and 7 lanes, it will remain that way.

The City's Transit Commission will be meeting on Monday to consider this plan. 

Please email and tell them how this concerns you. If you are able, please attend the meeting. It takes place Monday at 1:30 at City Hall

Email addresses are as follows:

Mayor Jim Watson (jim.watson@ottawa.ca)	Marianne Wilkinson (marianne.wilkinson@ottawa.ca)
Councillors:	Public members
Katherine Hobbs (katherine.hobbs@ottawa.ca)	Blair Crew (blair.crew@ottawa.ca)
Diane Holmes (diane.holmes@ottawa.ca)	Justin Ferrabee (Justin.ferrabee@ottawa.ca)
Diane Deans (diane.deans@ottawa.ca)	Mark Johnson (mark.johnson3@ottawa.ca)
Shad Qadri (shad.qadri@ottawa.ca)	Emily Rahn (emily.rahn@ottawa.ca)
Stephen Blais (stephen.blais@ottawa.ca)
Rainer Bloess (rainer.bloess@ottawa.ca)	Dalhousie Community Association
Keith Egli (ward9@ottawa.ca)	president@ottawadalhousie.com
Tim Tierney (tim.tierney@ottawa.ca)

Transitway Diversion to Albert Street - Your Voice Will Make a Difference