ottawa foodies

Elgin street will go through a complete renovation to remove half of the parking and enlarge the sidewalks so that we can have more people eating on patios for 3 months of the year.

Parts of the street will be closed through 2019 to effect these changes. New lights, new streets, new sidewalks, new speeds, new intersections.

www.cbc.ca

They are doing something similar in the town of Smiths Falls. The town is saying it's far less expensive enlarging the sidewalks and having less roadway than it is to repair the roads.

I'm all for Elgin being more pedestrian friendly. I know it's a running joke, but it's not really three months of the year. Many/most patios open thirty seconds after the sidewalk is clearish(ish) in April and stay open til it's too bitter for even drunk smokers to semi-reasonably tough it out circa November.

Now if the city and/or those extremely efficient and supremely effective paragons of urban planning in the NCC could just do something brilliant to Sparks street...