Ottawa Construction News staff writer
The Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) has awarded Parsons subsidiary Delcan and the City of Ottawa its 2014 Planning Excellence Award in the Mobility, Transportation, and Infrastructure category for Downtown Moves: Transforming Ottawa’s Streets.
Delcan, which is based in Toronto, describes Downtown Moves as “a combined urban design and transportation study that identified ways to create vibrant, inclusive, and accessible streets for residents and visitors across Ottawa’s Central Business District, RailwayAge magazine reports. “The aim is to leverage the transformative opportunity presented by the City’s investment in the Confederation Line light rail transit system, now under construction.”
Delcan, as the City of Ottawa’s prime consultant, managed an internationally recognized and multidisciplinary study team that included experts in urban design and cycling as well as urban planning, street design, active transportation, and traffic engineering, the magazine said.
“The overall strategy will make walking, cycling, and transit more comfortable and convenient by restoring a balance among all users, while also improving the streetscape environment,” said Delcan president Jim Kerr. ”Downtown Moves also examined ways to seamlessly integrate three proposed LRT stations with the street level and to provide a framework to guide future planning and engineering projects proposed for the downtown area. We are honored to have contributed to the future of Ottawa’s downtown core by setting the groundwork for subsequent planning and development. We are grateful to the CIP for this prestigious award, as well as to the City of Ottawa for its partnership and commitment to making the future better for its citizens and visitors alike.”
The CIP, the national professional institute and certification body for the planning profession in Canada, said its Award of Planning Excellence “is bestowed upon organizations not only for excellence in planning work but also for contributions to the profession and demonstration of a particular strength in the category under which the award was won.”
Parsons announced it had acquired Delcan in an early April news release. “Delcan is a strategic addition to Parsons and signals the firm’s intent to expand its geographic footprint in transportation, one of the corporation’s four key market areas,” the news release said.
