When the Ottawa airport taxi drivers blocked off Carleton University’s Bronson Avenue exit on Nov. 12, it was the first time I ever questioned my safety as a driver on campus.
The bumper-to-bumper traffic looked like it was out of an apocalypse movie, similar to I Am Legend or The Walking Dead, where an entire city evacuates because of a life-threatening disease or natural disaster. I was lucky that I wasn’t in a rush, but the kilometre-long traffic made me wonder how I would feel if I was fleeing an emergency situation on campus.
With only two entrances and exits for cars, Carleton is an isolated pocket from the rest of Ottawa. One of these exits was closed off during the taxi strike. Drivers were forced to wait until roads were cleared, or instead had to take the Colonel By Drive exit south of campus. In my car, it took me more than an hour to reach this open exit from the Athletics Building.
There need to be appropriate measures for drivers to be able to leave the university safely and quickly, especially in the event of an emergency. What if drivers were trying to flee a dangerous situation on campus, like a shooter or bombing? It’s unrealistic and impractical to expect the thousands of drivers on campus to all squeeze through one exit during a time of panic or a rush hour. This will only become a bigger problem as the number of cars on campus increase with Carleton’s future plans to create more underground parking lots.
Carleton’s Campus Master Plan was approved in 2010 by the Board of Governors and explores all possible infrastructural developments on campus. It makes it clear that “pedestrians rank first, bicycles next, followed in sequence by transit, cars and trucks.” It says, “Carleton will minimize the use of streets for vehicular traffic and continue the trend toward greater use by pedestrians and bicycles.”
I wish I could help Carleton by being a pedestrian instead of a driver, but it’s just not practical. I live off-campus in an area that OC Transpo does not access. I depend on my car to take me where I need to go, but I can’t do that without clear, accessible roads.
However, Carleton plans to create more driving routes on campus. The plan states that there will be “a northern extension of Campus Avenue to Colonel By Drive and a link to Bronson Avenue north of the field house” to help clear some of the current rush hour congestion. It also states that “University Drive will extend to serve the North Campus.”
After seeing the potential safety issues during the taxi strike, I don’t think Carleton’s current set-up is good enough. Although there are plans to make better routes, those routes are needed sooner rather than later.
