Vélo Orléans

Ride on Orléans

A rider's guide to cycling in Ottawa's east end: where to ride today, the maps and tools that help, how to mix bikes with the new LRT, and the connected network Orléans is still missing.

100,000

residents in Orléans East-Cumberland

0 km

protected bike lanes in the ward today

31 km

of riverside pathway on the Ottawa River

Where to rideMaps & tools
Cycling in Orléans

The lay of the land

Orléans is a great place to ride for fun. The Ottawa River Pathway, the Green's Creek and Chapel Hill trails, and quiet residential streets all make for pleasant recreational cycling. But getting somewhere by bike, to the LRT, to a shopping centre, across the ward, still means sharing fast arterials with no protection. Orléans East-Cumberland has no protected cycling infrastructure, and the city's planned Crosstown Bikeway Network stops just short of the ward boundary.

Recreational cycling here is lovely. Transportation cycling is the gap. This site is about both: how to make the most of what exists, and how to help close what doesn't.

Ride now

Where you can ride today

The best low-stress riding in Orléans is off-road. Start here.

Riverside · paved

Ottawa River Pathway

A continuous 31 km paved pathway along the south bank of the Ottawa River. In the east it runs past Orléans Wood and Convent Glen to Roslyn Avenue, then connects via quiet streets and a further multi-use trail toward Trim Road and Petrie Island's beach and wetland.

Trails · nature

Green's Creek & Chapel Hill trails

Recreational and natural-surface trails through the Green's Creek corridor and Chapel Hill parks. Good for relaxed rides and connecting between neighbourhoods away from traffic.

Destination

Petrie Island & the eastern waterfront

Head north at Trim Road to reach Petrie Island, a regional wetland with a beach and recreation area, a natural eastern terminus for a riverside ride.

Route · guide

A 30 km Orléans loop

Hans on the Bike maps a scenic ~30 km loop stitching together Orléans' pathways, parks and quiet streets, a ready-made route if you just want to get out and ride.

Plan your ride

Maps & tools that actually help

Bike Ottawa's volunteer-built tools are the best way to plan a comfortable ride. The city's official map is the printed companion.

Bike Ottawa Route Planner

Build a route and tell it what to avoid: high-stress roads, unpaved surfaces, unplowed paths. Share and export your ride.

Level of Traffic Stress Map

Every road colour-coded blue (calm) to red (stressful) so you can pick comfortable streets before you set off.

Cycling Isochrones

See how far you can ride in 3, 6, 9, 12 or 15 minutes from any point, at different stress levels. Handy for the 15-minute ride to the LRT.

Official Cycling Map for Ottawa-Gatineau

The city's map of routes and pathways across Ottawa and the Outaouais. View online, or call 3-1-1 for a copy by mail.

Bike + transit

Bike + train: reach the LRT

With Line 1 extending east to Place d'Orléans, a short bike ride can replace a drive-and-park. Here's how bikes and transit work together.

Bikes on the train

Take your bike with you on the O-Train, or park it before you board. New stations are built with bike-friendly access.

Sheltered parking at stations

Place d'Orléans and the new Line 1 East stations include sheltered bicycle racks near the entrances so you can lock up and ride the rest of the way.

Bike racks on every bus

All OC Transpo buses carry a front bike rack year-round (tires up to 2.3"). Fold-up bikes can come aboard in the cooperative seating area.

OC Transpo: bikes on our network

The network Orléans is missing

Ottawa's planned Crosstown Bikeway Network enters the neighbouring ward and stops. Four connections would finish the job for the east end.

1

St. Joseph Blvd eastern extension

Extend protected cycling east through Convent Glen and Queenswood Heights to Trim Road, the east-west spine of the urban core. New mixed-use development along the corridor is the moment to build it in.

2

Innes Road corridor

Protected cycling east through Fallingbrook and Cardinal Creek. Innes is a high-speed arterial with no safe cycling option today. Road-renewal projects should include protected lanes as a condition.

3

Trim Road north-south connector

A protected route on Trim Road linking Innes south to Navan Road and north to Cardinal Creek and the Ottawa River Pathway, the bridge that ties the east-west routes together.

4

Navan Road completion

A 2023 council motion named Navan Road as a priority. Finishing it across the ward boundary connects the network south to north.

Every one of these routes reaches Place d'Orléans, the 15-minute-neighbourhood anchor. A rider who can get from Cardinal Creek or Fallingbrook to the LRT in 15 minutes doesn't need to drive to Blair and fight for parking.

Riding through winter

Ottawa keeps about 50 km of cycling tracks, pathways and routes cleared year-round, the Winter Cycling Network. Coverage in the east end is thin, but it exists. Bike Ottawa's winter map shows which paths are actually plowed so you can plan a cold-weather commute.

Bike Ottawa winter & maintenance maps
Take action

Help close the gap

Better cycling in Orléans comes from residents speaking up, reporting problems, and showing the demand. Here's how to act.

1

Report a hazard or blocked lane

Potholes, debris, washed-out paths, or a car parked in a bike lane: report it to the City at 3-1-1, online at myservice.ottawa.ca, or snap it with the Neappoli app and it files the request for you.

Reporting hazards (City of Ottawa)Report a pothole online
2

Join Bike Ottawa

Bike Ottawa is the volunteer advocacy group behind the maps above and the push for safer streets citywide. Membership and volunteers strengthen every ask to council.

Cycling in Orléans (Bike Ottawa)Bike Ottawa
3

Have your say at the City

Cycling routes get decided through the Transportation Master Plan and public consultations. Weigh in on Engage Ottawa, and tell your councillor the east end wants its links built.

Crosstown Bikeway Network (Engage Ottawa)Transportation Master Plan, active networks

Orléans shouldn't be the gap in the map.

The pathways are here. The plan exists. The east end just needs riders, and neighbours, who keep asking until the connections get built.

Plan a routeJoin Bike Ottawa

Resources & further reading

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    Capital Pathway (Ottawa River Pathway)

    National Capital Commission

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    Active Transportation Fund

    Government of Canada