Ottawa spends extra $30,000 to address issues on Glebe bike lane with specialized equipment

A new raised cycle track on Glebe Avenue was completed in November 2024, but issues with the ride quality were discovered and the bike path was re-done. (Josh Pringle/CTV News Ottawa)

Upgrades to a nine-month-old bike lane in the Glebe cost the City of Ottawa an additional $30,000 because specialized paving equipment was required to improve the “ride quality” on a portion of the one-block cycle track.

The $5.6 million Glebe Avenue Integrated Renewal Project included replacing the watermain and sanitary sewer, reconstruction of the road and curbs, traffic calming features and replacing the existing sidewalk with a widened sidewalk and a cycle track.

The raised cycle track on Glebe Avenue, between O’Connor and Bank Streets, was completed in November, but Coun. Shawn Menard told constituents the new bike lane was “deemed not to have been constructed to city standards.”

In a statement to CTV News Ottawa, city staff said “several locations” were identified with “less than desirable ride quality, which needed to be addressed.”

“Unfortunately, site specific constraints, such as the narrow dimensions of the road, made implementation within City specifications challenging,” Bruce Kenny, manager of design and construction – municipal with the City of Ottawa, said in an email.

“Staff and the contractor assessed the issues with the cycle track and the contractor was responsible for correcting a portion of the overall pavement area that did not meet the contract specification.”

Kenny says approximately $30,000 was added to the cost of the project for the use of specialized small paving equipment to “provide the community with a continuous, uniform, high-quality cycle track.”

“The city continuously updates its construction standards and will be reviewing its cycle track construction specifications to improve constructability and ensure high-quality results, particularly in constrained corridors,” Kenny said.

In his newsletter to constituents, Menard said the work was re-done at the end of July and start of August.