Some Glebe residents claim the city’s decision to run two popular OC Tranpso routes down quiet residential streets during the upcoming Bank Street reconstruction was made with little public consultation.

In fact, Klara Steele says she and other people who live on Holmwood Avenue and O’Connor Street would still be in the dark if neighbour Megan Dewar hadn’t paid close attention to information panels displayed last month at a meeting held by the Glebe Community Association about the pending construction project.

“If she had not found out about this, I don’t think we would know,” Steele said, adding the city has not sent information to residents by mail or posted detailed information on its website.

When the reconstruction project begins later this month, the No. 1 and 7 buses will be diverted along O’Connor Street. Southbound buses will use Isabella, O’Connor and Fifth before reconnecting with Bank. Northbound buses will follow a route along Holmwood, O’Connor, Strathcona, Metcalfe and Catherine.

Dewar, who is not related to Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar, said she’s been told by the city an estimated 166 buses will use the detour every day.

She and Steele are concerned about the safety of children who use a popular park on O’Connor and say the plan runs counter to traffic-calming measures installed several years ago.

Their group, Stop the Bus Ottawa, wants the city to consider other options and to keep the public better informed.

“We should be consulted to come up with the best solution for the neighbourhood,” Steele said. “This is just a small street, this is not the right place for a high volume of buses.”

But Capital councillor David Chernushenko says city staff worked with OC Transpo to devise a detour route that will best serve as many riders as possible while minimizing the effects on local residents.

A better option, from Steele’s perspective, would see northbound buses redirected through Lansdowne Park and onto Queen Elizabeth Driveway before linking up to Fifth Avenue and O’Connor.

Because the 1 and the 7 follow the same route through the Glebe, she also wondered why the 7 couldn’t temporarily use Bronson Avenue instead.

But neither of those options appears to be possible, according to a Frequently Asked Questions section posted on Chernushenko’s website.

Relocating buses to Bronson would take them too far away from Bank Street, where they are needed to provide riders access to homes, schools and businesses, while the Queen Elizabeth Driveway option was turned down by the National Capital Commission, which controls the road.

“Each option has its own challenges and advantages, but the route chosen is the best compromise,” the councillor said in a recent ward newsletter. “It’s technically feasible and will continue to serve as high a percentage of existing users as possible. The city recognizes and is addressing the legitimate safety concerns of residents by providing crossing guards as necessary, and by exploring other safety measures in consultation with local residents.”

Bank Street in the Glebe is being rebuilt to replace a deteriorating road and water and sewer pipes that are a century old.

The city says the $22-million project between the Queensway and the Rideau Canal will consist of the reconstruction of the sewers, watermains and roadway. New, wider sidewalks and streetscaping, including decorative street lights, public art, street furniture, bicycle racks, newspaper boxes, trees, and enhancements to the Central Park entrances, will be built.

The bulk of the work should be finished by mid-November with the final asphalt paving, sidewalk construction and streetscaping to be completed by June 2012.