THE BOTTOM OF MY PANTS ARE SOAKED!
I’m a walker. It’s my favourite way of getting around town. I also don’t have a car and grew up with a car-less family.
But man, walking around absolutely sucks during the snowy season. Ottawa has a long history of prioritizing the car above everything else. While seeking election our now Mayor Mark Sutcliffe went so far as to say that he would refuse to “declare a war on cars”.
It’s not like the winter road conditions are a dream either, but major roads are cleared relatively fast in Ottawa. Major walkways, on the other hand, seem to be a low priority for the city.
Last year I wrote an article on how safe bike infrastructure on Ottawa roads takes a back seat to the car. Bike lanes, generally, are a very hot topic in Canada’s capital city.
A common criticism is that bike lanes are pointless because of the six months of Canadian winter. Meanwhile just over the river in Quebec, winter biking is relatively prevalent, especially in cities like Montreal.
In fact, after a Montreal snowstorm, bike lanes are often the first thing to be cleared. It’s all because of logistics; as according to a spokesperson for the city there are “1,000 trucks to go around the network; they have 6,000 kilometres of sidewalks, there’s 4,000 kilometres of streets and nearly 700 kilometres of bike path.” The bike paths take the least amount of time to clear; so they have the highest priority.
But even then, that’s cycling. After all, not everyone has a car and biking during the winter time is not for everyone, even though it is a viable option if bike lanes are kept clear.
But walking? Most people need to walk around at least sometimes. Be it walking to the bus stop, class, grocery store, work, or even the building closest to where your car is parked. Walking on Ottawa streets during the winter is a hellish obstacle course that each resident has to bear at some point.
For me, I’m constantly tripping over myself due to slush and ice. It’s not uncommon to come across a sidewalk that has been replaced with a giant snowbank or just simply hasn’t been cleared yet. In that scenario, I have two options: either walk through the snow bank or walk along the busy street as I can feel the traffic brush past me.
If I, as an able-bodied person am struggling to trudge through the slush and muck, what about folks with accessibility concerns? Disability advocates say that many Ottawa residents with mobility concerns “feel like [they] can’t really do anything” in the winter conditions.
Unlike the argument people use against biking in the winter, you can’t just tell people to not walk. According to the 2021 census, there was a 26 per cent decrease in commuters using cars in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.
When a snowstorm hits, pedestrian walkways on major roads need to be prioritized when the plows come out. Not doing so risks the lives of pedestrians all across the city, which is a growing population.
But more than that, it’s also a matter of public mental health, 60 per cent of Canadians get increasingly depressed during the winter time. A big part of that is because of the amount of time people spend indoors, and studies show that going outside does a whole lot of good for battling the winter-time blues.
And on top of that, reports indicate that places with better walkability have a better quality of life.
People in Ottawa, believe it or not–need to leave their house on occasion. The City of Ottawa has to ensure that walkways are clear so that can happen. If we don’t we are continuing to put pedestrians at risk; both physically and mentally.
