The Britannica Dictionary defines “Boulevard” as “a wide and usually important street that often has trees, grass, or flowers planted down its center or along its sides.”

 In March 2003, the City of Ottawa released a document entitled “St. Joseph Boulevard Corridor Study.” The purpose of the study was to “establish a framework to guide the evolution of a new form of development along St. Joseph Boulevard to create a lively, vibrant and diverse district with a mix of places to live, work, shop and play”. 

In the 2020s, St. Joseph Boulevard (“St-Jo”) remains anything but lively and vibrant. The traffic speed is high, and for many drivers, St-Jo serves as a detour to take rather than the 174, which is often down to a single lane in each direction due to the ongoing construction of the LRT expansion. 

St-Jo is lined with strip malls, auto service centres and numerous small retail businesses. Unfortunately, they are primarily accessible by car. Though it has sidewalks on either side of it, St-Jo is neither pedestrian nor cyclist-friendly. Pavement dominates throughout the Boulevard. On-street parking, which could cause vehicles to travel slower and more cautiously, is prohibited. Public transit serves to move folks beyond the neighbourhood. 

In 2003, the City of Ottawa acknowledged in its corridor study that there was a need to initiate a comprehensive reorganization/revitalization of St. Joseph Boulevard. St-Jo requires cycling lanes and more public and green space along the Boulevard. Comfortable pedestrian areas such as urban squares, parks and public places are nonexistent. The City’s 2003 study noted, “The environment is scaled for the car, not pedestrians, with large expanses of paving.” This observation, written in 2003, is still very much the case twenty years later. 

The revitalization of St. Joseph Boulevard is long overdue!