Alayne McGregor
Three intersections in the O’Connor Street segregated bikeway will be modified this summer in response to safety concerns.
All three – at Waverley, at Cooper, and at Nepean – have been associated with cyclist/motorist collisions.
On the first day the bikeway opened (October 25, 2016), a cyclist was hit by a car turning at Waverley. Another was hit two weeks later in the same location by a left-turning motorist. A third was hit at that spot in November 2017, and a fourth in August 2019.
At O’Connor and Cooper, a cyclist was hit in June 2017; at O’Connor and Nepean, a cyclist reported being hit in November 2019.
The city said it plans to change the intersections to reduce vehicle speeds across the bikeway and to improve the visibility of cyclists and pedestrians. The changes will cost $1.465 million; the original project cost $4 million.
Construction is scheduled to begin this month and end in the fall. During that time, the city said, lanes on O’Connor and/or the bikeway may be closed. The bikeway may be detoured onto O’Connor “with proper traffic control in place.”
Raised crossings will be installed on the east side of O’Connor at Nepean, at Cooper, and at Waverley. This will require diverting the street slightly to the west at each of the intersections to allow space for the ramps up to the raised intersections. Bulb-outs will narrow the intersections as well.
The changes will require individually closing access to each of these streets from O’Connor for seven days, the city said. During these closures, the block between O’Connor and Metcalfe on each street may be converted to allow two-way traffic.
It said the changes are in response to the recommendations of a safety review of the bikeway, “concerning southbound left and eastbound through movements across the bikeway.” The BUZZ requested to see the safety review but was not able to obtain a copy or learn who conducted it.
The bikeway, on the east side of the one-way south-bound street, has one north-bound and one south-bound lane. The two lanes are separated from the rest of the street by concrete curbs topped by flex posts. These barriers are interrupted at every intersection and driveway. There are 13 intersections on O’Connor between Laurier and Catherine, and at least nine additional driveways.
Consultation preferred realigning street
An online public information session was held in July 2022 to allow the public to see preliminary design drawings for two alternative solutions. According to a city report, participants at the session who expressed an opinion preferred Alternative 2, which was eventually chosen. One comment noted that realigning O’Connor might calm traffic; several asked if the city could beautify the street through planting.
Another asked how the city would be dealing with the many drivers who cross O’Connor even where it is prohibited, such as at Cooper.
Several comments asked about the impact of the parking spaces removed in order to realign the street. In a later phone call, a representative of the office building at 190 O’Connor and the apartment building at 171 O’Connor opposed removing the parking because of its usefulness for pick-ups, drop-offs, deliveries, and tenant moving trucks.
On the other hand, another participant said, “I bike down this street everyday and the street parking is hardly ever all used. I don’t see this being an issue; there is enough side street parking anyway.” Another noted that removing parking improved sight lines for cyclists crossing the street and motorists turning right.
The BUZZ obtained cyclist collision reports from news stories and social media. More collisions may have occurred at these three intersections.