Hwy. 417 To Close For 2nd Of 3 Times
Our friends at Ottawa City Hall and the province are closing Highway 417 three times this summer.
This paralyses traffic throughout most of the city and jams the few bridges still operating that cross the Ottawa River.
One would think that our tall governmental foreheads could have done these things all on one weekend but apparently not. That might interfere with their high-level thinking.
This is a release from the City of Ottawa:
Highway 417 and select ramps will be closed in both directions between Woodroffe Avenue and Greenbank Road from Friday, July 28 at 11 pm until Monday, July 31 at 5 am.
New OC Transpo LRT Slogans: TOP 10 LIST
The following ramps will also be closed:
The eastbound on-ramps from Richmond Road
The eastbound on-ramps from Pinecrest Road
The eastbound off-ramp to Woodroffe Avenue
The westbound on-ramp from Maitland Avenue
The westbound on-ramp from Woodroffe Avenue
The westbound off-ramp to Pinecrest Road
Motorists will need to follow the signed detour routes:
Westbound detour
Exit Highway 417 at Woodroffe Avenue
Turn right on Woodroffe Avenue
Turn left on Carling Avenue
Turn left at Richmond Road
Turn left at Pinecrest Road
Turn right on to the onramp to re-enter Highway 417
Or
Exit Highway 417 at Woodroffe Avenue
Turn right on Woodroffe Avenue
Turn left on Carling Avenue
Turn left at Richmond Road
Turn right on to the onramp to re-enter Highway 417
Eastbound detour
Exit Highway 417 at Greenbank Road
Turn right on Greenbank Road
Turn left on Baseline Road
Turn left on Woodroffe Avenue
Turn right onto the onramp to re-enter Highway 417
The closure is required as part of the Stage 2 West extension to install a pedestrian bridge that will enhance neighbourhood connectivity and provide direct access to the future Queensview Station from Baxter Road.
—
Don’t miss our regular features
Everything Ottawa Full Local Bulldog Canadian
Opinion Comments Breaking News Hood Hub
Ontario World Get Cheap Gas Big Money
Pop Gossip Your Home Relax …
Bulldog Weather Full Local Sports
Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Two of these closings were for highway bridge/overpass replacements in the downtown area on the Queensway. The equipment involved in moving out the old bridge and inserting the new bridge is highly specialized and very expensive. Similarly, the engineers and others involved in this process have to be highly trained and skilled in operating this equipment and making sure the new bridges fit properly and are secure. As well it takes about two days to remove the old bridge and insert the new bridge so you need a full weekend per bridge replacement. It is unrealistic to think that the Ministry of Transportation are going to rent two sets of equipment and two independent sets of workers to be able to do all of this on the same weekend. If the Ministry was rebuilding these overpasses using the old method of in situ reconstruction it would typically take 2-3 years of lane closures around both bridges. The method being used substitutes 2-3 years of traffic jam pain for 1 weekend of full highway closure. If it takes only takes weekend/bridge of traffic disruption, I think that is a price well worth paying. As well, we can be proud that Ottawa was the first place in Canada to use this engineering technology (at the Island Park overpass) and unlike other things Ottawa has done, the rapid bridge replacement has proven highly successful. While the new bridge over the Queensway to the Pinecrest LRT station is independent of these two other projects, it does likely require supervision by the Ministry of Transportation (since it involves a provincial highway) and may involve some of the same people who need to be involved with the rapid bridge replacement on the 417 downtown.
I don’t think the scheduling of this has anything to do with the City..it is a provincial project and maybe the province contacted the City to make sure that it doesn’t conflict with a huge demand on the 417 from a festival/concert etc but I don’t think much of the decision of which weekend to close rests with the City.
Luke:
Is a light-rail pedestrian bridge a provincial project?
cheers
kgay
A light rail pedestrian bridge may be part of a municipal project but it is over a provincial highway and my guess is that the Province has jurisdiction over its highways particularly if it involves shutting down a portion of a highway.
Lorne:
I don’t doubt the province has jurisdiction over its highway.
One would think the city would have jurisdiction over building light rail.
cheers
kgray
What is missing from all of this is the need to consider alternative routes during these scheduled necessary shut downs. For instance, did the city asked the NCC to keep the Kichi Zibi/SJAM (real name Western Parkway) open for traffic in both directions for this Sunday, to take the strain off of the other east-west routes.
Baseline and Carling are both busy on Saturdays and Sundays. Adding the incremental thousands of cars diverted from the 417 will overload not only the relatively short stretches between Woodroffe and Greenbank/Pinecrest on both of those east-west arterials and the even shorter stretches on the two north-south detour sections. This will create congestion well beyond the relatively short stretches of detour. I will leave it to others to discuss the trade offs of green house gases from the tail pipes of the motor vehicles idling in slow to not moving traffic versus the non green house gas production of cyclists on a Sunday morning.
I don’t have much faith in the NCC’s willingness to consider such a request with anything more than an amused smirk, followed by brief “Thanks for asking, but no”. That much became clear when I read NCC CEO Tobi Nusbaum’s piece of fiction in the Citizen last week. The one where he cites the thousands daily active transportation users of the two and a half kilometre stretch of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway, and how the NCC ‘s roadways are not meant for residents to actually drive on.
To tie the pieces together. The city, the province and the federal government all control the use of a variety of interlinked roads in Ottawa. The inability, dare I say unwillingness of the managers within these three levels of government to collaborate on traffic mismanagement is indicative of an attitude attributed to Marie Antoinette: Let them eat cake.
Not just out of touch with reality. Out of touch with their responsibilities.