Bank Street (Ottawa)

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Bank Street near the intersection with Laurier Avenue in downtown Ottawa

Bank Street is the major north-south road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs south from Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, south through the neighbourhoods of Centretown, The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Alta Vista, Hunt Club, and then through the villages of Blossom Park, Leitrim, South Gloucester, Greely, Spring Hill, and Vernon before exiting the city limits at Belmeade Road.

Bank Street made up much of Ontario provincial highway 31 before it was downloaded in 1998 (all of it south of Heron Road). Currently it is also known as Ottawa Road #31. Bank Street is also known as Metcalfe Road south of its junction with Conroy Road.

1 Features
2 Name of the street
3 Bank Street rehabilitation
4 Major intersections (from North to South)
5 Areas/Communities
6 External links

[edit] Features

Between Wellington Street and Gladstone Avenue in downtown, Bank Street is a shopping and business development district officially known as the "Bank Street Promenade" and the street is lined with common signage affixed to streetlights and street-level advertising billboards showing this distinction. The area between Somerset Street West and Gladstone Avenue (within the Bank Street Promenade) is considered the centre of Ottawa's burgeoning gay village. It is characterized by a small concentration of businesses targeted to Ottawa's gay community. Barrymore's, which was one of the largest live music nightclubs in Ottawa is also located in this area. Travelling south, there also exists a shopping district in The Glebe running exclusively along Bank Street from approximately the Queensway to Holmwood Avenue. Bank Street is home to Lansdowne Park where the Ottawa 67's play and where the currently-defunct Ottawa Renegades used to play. Even further south, Bank Street is home to the Billings Bridge Plaza and eventually, the South Keys Shopping Centre a long strip mall which houses a Wal-Mart, a Loblaws grocery store, a Business Depot, a Future Shop, a Mark's Work Wearhouse, a movie theater, a Michael's arts and crafts store as well as the Greenboro Station and South Keys Transit Station which is the location of the O-Train's southern end as well as a park and ride at Greenboro.

Bank Street north of Billings Bridge is an historic urban arterial road, often with many more pedestrians than vehicular traffic and significant parking issues, hence the flow is generally quite slow. South of Billings Bridge to Leitrim Road, the street turns into a more modern four-lane (or five-lane) urban arterial, which flows much better despite the 50 km/h (30 mph) speed limit on the northern half and 60 km/h (about 40 mph) from South Keys southward. South of Leitrim it is a rural two-lane highway with an 80km/h speed limit until the community of Vernon. Recently just south of Leitrim Road, Bank Street gives access to a developing neighborhood called Findlay Creek, that will be become quite significant in the long-term and it will also provide access (after secondary roads will be extended) to the community of Riverside South.

[edit] Name of the street

Contrary to popular belief, the street is not named after the Bank of Canada headquarters at the corner of Bank Street and Wellington Street. The street name dates back to the 19th century, whereas the bank was founded in 1934. It's believed that the road was named this because it originally went from the "bank" of the Ottawa River at its northern end to that of the Rideau River to the south. Interestingly, today Bank Street officially ends at Wellington Street and the portion of the street running closest to the actual riverbank is federal Crown land for the Parliamentary Precinct of the Parliament of Canada.

[edit] Bank Street rehabilitation

A portion of Bank Street underwent major reconstruction recently. The City of Ottawa is also holding public consultations for a major redevelopment of Bank Street between Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal. ("From Downtown to Lansdowne") Consultations for the area between Laurier Avenue West and Gladstone Avenue took place February 15, 2006. This meeting saw a significant turn out from members of the gay community and discussions were dominated by requests that redevelopement between Nepean Street and Gladstone Avenue visibly reflect the concentration of gays and lesbians living in the area. Other suggestions included developing a more developed arts and entertainment district in the same area. The arts are generally considered to be neglected in Ottawa. Currently, the city is completely reconstructing the segment between Wellington and Laurier. The Bank Street redevelopement will likely occur over a number of years.