"This column is dedicated to the proposition that Canada (and indeed the world) is in a crisis situation and that fundamental social change is required to remedy this situation." - The First Column, Lambda November 2, 1971
This blog is inspired by my column of the same name in the Laurentian University Newspaper, Lambda, from 1971-1973. The title refers to the concept of subverting the system from within.
To read key excerpts from those columns read the first few posts in this blog.
Small
Hydro Line Pathway Southern End Deterioration Continues
There has been no
further work since then on the southern end of the small hydro line
pathway and it’s deterioration is getting worse.
Large
Hydro Line Pathway Hydro One Vegetation Maintenance Clearcuts The Hydro Corridor
There has been no work on the unpaved portion of the large hydro line
pathway but Hydro One has done what it calls vegetation maintenance
on that portion of the hydro corridor, essentially clearcutting the
whole thing.
I have been reporting for a number of years on the deterioration of
the pathways through Bridlewood, particularly the pathway along the
smaller hydro line through Bridlewood, the latest being this spring’s report.
I finally have some
positive news to report. Earlier this fall we noticed work being done
on the paved portion of the pathway along the large hydro line
through Bridlewood and were pleasantly surprised to find it
completely rebuilt within a month. However, the gravel stone dust
portion of the pathway remains the same.
Route
of the Rebuilt Pathway
The
following video follows the paved portion in both directions in order
to highlight the fall colours along the pathways.
We also
were happy to notice that work has begun rebuilding the pathway along
the smaller hydro line through Bridlewood and are hopeful they will
rebuild the full length of the pathway which is very deteriorated.
The following shows were construction has begun along the pathway. We
will report further when construction is completed.
Small Hydro Line Pathway Construction Progress
UPDATE 2024-11-03
Portion of pathway indicated as under construction is now newly paved. No sign of work continuing on rest of pathway.
I can also confirm that the redone sections are considerably wider
than the original pathways.
The greatest long term threat to humankind is undoubtedly climate change. While the planet can no doubt survive anything short of a collision with a planet sized meteorite or asteroid, climate change has the potential to be be disastrous to human habitat.
In the short term the greatest threat to humankind is the COVID-19 pandemic.
While both of these threats are said to be non-discriminatory and many claim “we are all in this together”, that clearly is not true because while the threats may not discriminate, our societies and dominant economic system certainly do. Both climate change and the pandemic have a greater impact on the developing world than the developed world, and within the developed world a greater impact on poor and marginalized communities.
But what does this all have to do with multi-use pathways (MUPs).
Climate change has created multiple freeze-thaw cycles every year, rather than one each spring, causing excessive damage to cycling infrastructure, in particular MUPs. At the same time the pandemic has created an increase in outdoor activity and in particular much greater demand for bicycles putting much greater demands on cycling infrastructure including MUPs.
This is is the impact on a typical Ottawa MUP in Kanata.
Bridlewood Small Hydro Corridor Multi-Use Pathway (MUP)
We need to improve our multi-use pathway standards so that they do not completely deteriorate after one winter and connect the MUPs together to create a city wide system for recreational and utilitarian use, commuting, shopping, etc.
While considering this we need to keep these important facts in mind. Improving cycling infrastructure increases the number of people using bicycles for utilitarian purposes like commuting and shopping, which reduces the strain on roads and automobile infrastructure and reduces road traffic congestion. At the same time improving cycling infrastructures costs considerably less improving automobile infrastructure. Leaving the only reasonable conclusion that the most cost efficient way to reduce road traffic congestion is to improve cycling infrastructure.
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Richard W. Woodley was born in Sudbury, Ontario in 1950. He earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Laurentian University where he was the News Editor of the student newspaper Lambda and active in student politics. He was active in the New Democratic Party and Waffle in Sudbury and Kanata, as well as Kanata municipal politics. He was a member of the Bridlewood Residents Hydro Line Committee (BRHLC) and creator of the now archived Bridlewood Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs) Information Service. He worked on Parliament Hill for 33 years indexing the Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard) and it's committees.
Richard has been an outdoorsperson and environmentalist for most of his life and a life long cyclist.
