By Laura Glowacki, CBC News Ottawa, April 9, 2020
A stretch of a Westboro street closed Thursday afternoon to all vehicles except local traffic to give pedestrians and cyclists more space to practise physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said he used money from his traffic calming budget to rent barricades to block off roughly 1.5 kilometres of Byron Avenue.
(...)Earlier this week, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson had expressed concern about shutting roadways down for pedestrians, arguing it would encourage people to congregate.
But on Thursday during an online town hall, Watson said if individual councillors want to use their traffic calming budgets to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists during the pandemic, he would support the idea on a "case-by-case basis."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/byron-avenue-closes-1.5528620?ref=mobilerss&cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Ottawa_727_17689