Highway 417 Widening

[rocketphish]

Why traffic is so bad on Highway 417 in Ottawa ... again
Lane closures, lower speed limits and rotating ramp closures come to the Queensway, snarling traffic through Ottawa.

By Olivia Belovich, Special to the Citizen
Published May 16, 2026 | Last updated 4 hours ago | 2 minute read

Highway 417 construction continues with more lane closures, infrastructure replacements and speed reductions across Ottawa.

The work is part of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s larger project that primarily involves replacing bridges that cross the highway at Bronson Avenue and Preston, Rochester, Booth and Percy streets.

The project uses Rapid Bridge Replacement technology, which means constructing a new bridge in a staging area, then demolishing and replacing old bridges during a temporary shutdown.

Work that began in 2021 had been expected to end in 2025.

However, on April 13, the MTO announced that work would begin again between Island Park Drive and Kent Street, according to its Highway 417 Bridge Replacements and Highway Improvements website.

In an emailed statement, Meaghan Evans, senior media-relations advisor at MTO, said construction on the mid-town bridges would take place primarily at night and on weekends, aiming to cause as little disruption as possible.

She added that, in the coming weeks, eastbound lanes of the highway between Carling Avenue and Rochester Street would be reduced and that Ottawa drivers should expect nightly ramp closures to allow for construction of a new 860-metre noise barrier.

This work would be in addition to the replacement of 4.5 kilometres of barriers, she wrote.

The project website says that the speed limit in the affected area between Carling and Rochester will be reduced to 80 km/h and that reopening of the off-ramps is planned for late summer.

It also says that the westbound on-ramp at Lyon Street will remain closed until spring 2026.

Aside from bridges and noise barriers, the project’s 2026 schedule promises more medians, asphalt paving, re-painting of lane markers and, finally, an end to construction.

This work, in addition to the current lane closures in Ottawa’s west end because of Stage 2 LRT construction, will add to existing congestion for drivers regardless of whether they’re heading east or west on the highway.

The MTO did not respond to a request for more details surrounding other work outlined in the 2026 schedule, such as lane painting, or about when the work was expected to end.

Residents can find closure updates on the City of Ottawa’s social-media platforms and on its website.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/traffic-bad-highway-417-ottawa

[OTSkyline]

Transportation across Ottawa is a nightmare - and has been, for the past 3-4 years. The multitude of construction on parkways, 417, closed on-ramps and off-ramps make getting anywhere a nightmare. Couple that with a constantly broken down or suspended LRT service and we are busting at the seams.

The worst is when all these closures collide, effectively ruining detours or other ways of getting across the city.

I can't wait for this work to be over.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Couple that with a constantly broken down or suspended LRT service and we are busting at the seams.

Constantly?

[Richard Eade]

Yup. And it is particularly bad when the City’s left-hand doesn’t know what its right-hand is doing. When Highway 417 lanes were being shut, around Pinecrest for LRT Stage 2 work, the planned detour sent vehicles south through the Baseline at Greenbank intersection – which the City has all torn up to add cycle tracks. That detour has since been adjusted to send vehicle north to Carling instead of Baseline.

Then there is the odd timing of projects. For example, the rehabilitation of the Carling overpasses of the KZM (near Lincoln Fields Station) is scheduled to start in 1-2 years. That should be just when all the mess from the Stage 2 construction is ending. (I assume that the resurfacing of Carling in that area – also scheduled for 1-2 years from now – means AFTER the bridges are rehabilitated. And that Carling will not be repaved as part of the Stage 2 work.) Starting this work adds on additional time that Carling will be disrupted. I understand that co-ordination two crews in the same area can be more challenging, but, surely, those bridges could have been rehabilitated while Carling had lanes closed for the construction of the new LRT underpass immediately beside them. (Yes, I know that the buses will still pass under those bridges until after the train is running – potentially allowing under-bridge scaffolding once the buses are gone. But there must be ways around that.)

And, maybe, just maybe, that whole area could have been planned out and ALL of the construction could have been done at once. Imagine if the new intersection to both directions of the Parkway was added to the north side of Carling so that the circular ramps could be removed; freeing up a bunch of space under the bridges to shift over the buses; allowing scaffold to be set up to rehabilitate the bridges; all while the new underpass was being built (if one was still needed).

I will say that the City has gotten better at co-ordinating SOME of its construction/replacement/rehabilitation projects. But it still needs to look at everything within a much wider view.

[Richard Eade]

Yes, the LRT is not really CONSTANTLY broken down any more. But it has a reputation for being unreliable - whether still deserved or not.

[OTSkyline]

Constantly: without variation, deviation or change. With regular occurence.

How many times over the past couple of months has the LRT been down or service has been cute or significantly affected due to not enough operators, not enough buses, not enough trains for double cabs, etc?

[Marshsparrow]

Mayor Mark sure has done a great job for traffic, OCTranspo, LRT across the city. Neighbourhoods are now thoroughfares / congested arteries and speedways on residential streets. One dreads having to go across the city at any time of the day.

I think Mayor Mark and Council spent more time on the Night Mayor file than anything to get this city from point A to point B.

[Richard Eade]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Constantly: without variation, deviation or change. With regular occurence.

How many times over the past couple of months has the LRT been down or service has been cute or significantly affected due to not enough operators, not enough buses, not enough trains for double cabs, etc?

Hmmm. Since they went to single-car service (Jan. 23), there was a multi-day outage back in March (11-13), and the early shut-down last Saturday (May 16). Oh, and DarthVader_1961 noted that there was a Line 2 delay (due to something at Carleton U’s south-bound platform or a switch, I assume, based on what was being skipped) on May 9 – the same as uOttawa being skipped on Apr. 10, due to a purported violent incident.

There might be some odd, short, delays that didn’t make the media, but, overall, I would say that service has been mostly regular. Certainly, from my perspective, the O-Train lines have not been constantly broken down or suspended.

Of course, there has been an occasional capacity problem due to single car service. We’ll see if the newly added double-car trains can be timed to match the heaviest crowds.

I might add that if the brake-downs or suspensions were, indeed, CONSTANT (Without variation, deviation or change. With regular occurrence.), service would be considered much more predictable - reliable. It is the randomness of the LRT outages that is dissuading riders.

Buses, of course, are a different kettle of fish – but you specifically said “LRT”.

[OTSkyline]

Rereading it I may have used the wrong words. I didn't necessarily mean always broken down but more like always impacted negatively (such as the introduction of single cars, the reduced frequency in schedule and increased frequency of cancelled routes (may be more on the bus side, than train side).

It just seems like there's always something and the frequent and reliable LRT dream we were sold years ago is still so far out of reach. I'm hopeful for this new GM and some of the progress coming up (with more e-buses, 2-car trains, etc). I just hope we can get over this hump and get back to something where transit becomes a viable and reliable alternative.

[Richard Eade]

I was heartened to hear that Mr. Leary has enough experience to not jump on the “Our Trains Are Lemons” band-wagon. He recognized that what Ottawa is going through is not uncommon.

• Washington D.C. (WMATA) pulled its new Kawasaki 7000-series subway vehicles in Oct. 2021, due to Wheel and ‘Axle Separation’ issues. The vehicles were gradually repaired and re-introduced into the fleet the following year.
• New York City (MTA) pulled its Bombardier R179 subway vehicles in Jan. 2020, due to door defects and Train Separation concerns. They were out almost half of the year.
• Boston (MBTA) lost its CRRC-made vehicles from the Orange Line for several weeks in Dec. 2022, due to electrical arching issues.
• Philadelphia (SEPTA) yanked some of the Silverline IV vehicles over Fire concerns for the last part of 2025, and early 2026.

Problems happen. Especially with new vehicle models. My biggest disappointment is that Alstom didn’t acknowledge that there was an issue with the axle and bearings and begin to work on a proper fix – instead of Band-Aid solutions. Alstom could have worked with Ottawa to trouble-shoot an (effectively) new model of LRV; to create a solid vehicle that it could market to all of North America. Instead, Alstom now has a dubious reputation and has only been able to sell the vehicle to gullible Canadian agencies (to Metrolinx – before the problems came to light, and to Quebec City – which seems to have ignored any known problems and just gone with a French/Quebec supplier).

So, it sounds, to me, as if Mr. Leary has a realistic understanding of the problem, and has the experience to get a solution implemented. But, like the building of Rome, it can’t all happen in one day. Hopefully, there will still be some riders left to enjoy a more reliable train in the future.

[Tesladom]

More 110km/hr speeds coming to 417 & 416. Eseentially only the inner 417 between 174 and 416 will remain at 100km/hr

https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7247013

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

More 110km/hr speeds coming to 417 & 416. Eseentially only the inner 417 between 174 and 416 will remain at 100km/hr

https://www.cbc.ca/lite/story/9.7247013

I really hate this. Highway speeds up to 120 km/h are tolerated, so does this mean 130 km/h will be tolerated now? What exactly was the point of this?

[Norman Bates]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I really hate this. Highway speeds up to 120 km/h are tolerated, so does this mean 130 km/h will be tolerated now? What exactly was the point of this?

Pandering to the same base that didn’t like speed cameras.