Many Centretown and Hintonburburg residents shop at Produce Depot on Carling. Here’s a safe way to get there by bike. This route begins on the border of both neighbourhoods, on the crest of the Somerset Bridge heading over the O-Train tracks.
There’s a bike lane over the Somerset bridge but it disappears once traversed. To avoid having to merge into busy traffic, especially dangerous a bit further on when Somerset turns into Wellington, I walked down a short set of stairs to the right that takes you to quiet Breezehill Ave. It has a ramp to avoid having to carry your bike.
Breezehill crosses Bayswater then continues for a short quiet stretch as Wellington. Just before it reaches the aforementioned dangerous section along Wellington I turned right on Garland, then left on Armstrong. This is my favourite safe-bet way to cut through Hintonburg.
I continued west along calm streets as shown on the above map, as far as Carleton St.. I turned north on Carleton and crossed Scott St at the lights. Riding along Scott St one can choose from a bike path along the north side of the street separated by a grassy meridian, or a bike lane on the edge of the road. I feel comfortable riding either, although the bike path is a safer bet. Here is a photo taken earlier this Spring describing the options.
I rode to the end of Scott, crossed Churchill Ave, and continued straight along the bike path that runs parallel to the transit way. This path intersects another path that runs along the south side of the Sir JAM parkway. I turned left and continued west.
I turned off the paved path onto a short dirt path that took me to Fraser Street.
The dirt path isn’t signed, so if you miss it there’s another paved connection just a bit further with a sign that points to Mansfield St, which you can take instead and ride back a block to Fraser.
I then rode south along quiet Fraser St to where it ends at Sherbourne Road. I approached Produce Depot from the back by turning onto Bromley Road from Sherbourne. The signs onto Bromley say no exit, but many drivers were entirely oblivious to this and cut through so watch out for them. Produce Depot shares the parking with a Beer Store.
I followed the same route on the way back except for a short section in Hintonburg as indicated by the green line on the above map. I avoided Breezehill because it’s hard to see cars coming when crossing Bayswater heading east, as the two streets meet on the inside of a curve. Crossing Somerset at the top of the Breezehill stairs to get to the bike lane heading east is a bit tricky as well, as it’s hard to see cars coming over the crest of the bridge.
Et voila!
OttawaVeloOutaouais 