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Orléans roundabouts and a congested Barrhaven bridge among traffic nightmares in city survey
Arthur White-Crummey · CBC News · Posted: Aug 31
The City of Ottawa asked residents to pinpoint transportation problems that need fixing, and they didn't hold back their frustration
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Residents placed more than 4,000 pins on a map of the city, highlighting nightmarish intersections, congested roundabouts and sluggish transit routes.
The map is part of the public consultation process for Ottawa's transportation master plan, a guiding document for infrastructure investments across the city.
Of Ottawa's three major suburbs, Orléans gets disproportionate attention with roughly 1,000 pins. Barrhaven has about 600, while Kanata-Stittsville is far behind with just 250.
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Greenbank Road over Jock River, Barrhaven
This narrow bridge spans the Jock River, with tight corners on both sides. Comments called it entirely inadequate for the steadily mounting traffic from the growing Half Moon Bay neighbourhood to the south, and marked it with 50 pins.
They called the bridge "a hazard" and the sharp turns "perilous." One comment noted the bridge seems to have been "built by our forefathers to accommodate horse and buggy."
"Someone is going to get killed here eventually."
- Comment about Greenbank Road
"How this is the main entrance to one of the busiest and fastest growing areas in all of Ontario is absurd," it continued. "Someone is going to get killed here eventually."
The comments urged the city to realign Greenbank Road and build a new bridge over the river, a major investment at the top of Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill's priority list. He called it "a really important safety issue" that should have been fixed 10 years ago.
"That bridge was not designed for the volume of traffic that uses it now," he said.
Hill said investment is on the way, with $20 million set aside to fund design work. He said work will happen in stages, though completing it will take years.
"It's critical. there have been accidents after accidents on that bridge," he said. "There are large vehicles that are simply unable to cross that bridge because of the tightness of those hairpin corners."
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Strandherd Drive, Barrhaven
After Greenbank Road, Strandherd Drive was another target for Barrhaven drivers, especially approaching Highway 416.
The comments called several intersections leading up to the highway dangerous and poorly designed. They complained of frequent speeding along that stretch. Others noted that the road is congested and Barrhaven is desperately in need of another connection to the 416 to relieve the pressure.
"That's going to be massive," Hill said. "I can't overstate the significant impact that having that interchange will have on traffic patterns in Barrhaven."