Highway 417 Widening

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by MaxHeadroom

What is almost certain, is that things will be confusing for the first while as motorists get used to traffic pattern changes and coexisting on the highway with buses merging and changing lanes, particularly at the split going eastbound to Orleans. Probably will be accidents, too.

During the PM peak going east there is bound to be more accidents especially with hundreds of buses having to merge from the right hand lanes to the 2 left lanes in order to travel on the 174.

[Radster]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

New Queensway bridge will have room for O-Train path
Ministry of Transportation alters replacement’s design in response to community

By Steph Willems
Ottawa West News, June 11, 2015

When the bridge that carries Highway 417 over the O-Train trench is replaced, the possibility of a second multi-use pathway will remain.

Many in the area had worried the project - part of the Ministry of Transportation’s planned rehabilitation of downtown Queensway bridges – would put an end to a long-sought, west-side O-Train pathway.

On June 3, Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper announced the MTO had responded to community requests by allocating land for this purpose. Leiper and Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney had both written letters to the MTO asking for this, along with several residents.

“It’s certainly good news,” said Leiper. “A lot of us were surprised to see the bridge being proposed without space on the west side … This sends a strong signal that cycling infrastructure is just as important as road infrastructure.”

The downtown bridge project is an extensive campaign of rehabilitation and replacement targeting 23 bridge spans in 12 locations between Holland Avenue and O’Connor Street. The spans, which are nearing the end of their useful lifespan, will be repaired or replaced between 2018 and 2025.

At a Feb. 26 public open house, much focus was placed on the largest bridge slated for replacement. Currently a three-span crossing, the Queensway O-Train bridge is recommended to be replaced by a single span, with the bridge abutments enlarged and filled in. The MTO’s preferred option for replacement was deemed appealing for a variety of reasons - mainly, for its lower costs and minimized disruptions.

However, the plan didn’t leave any room for the path many had envisioned paralleling the multi-use pathway on the east side of the O-Train. A condo development proposed for 1040 Somerset St. included the possibility of a pathway corridor beginning at Somerset and running south towards the future Gladstone O-Train station and the Queensway bridge.

“They increased the length of the bridge span, with an abutment that would allow them to leave room for the path,” said Leiper. “My understanding is that it modestly increases costs for the province, though there will be offsets elsewhere. It’s not costing the city anything.”

Though the city has no immediate plan for a west-side pathway, having an open corridor for it allows community stakeholders and city planners to move forward on creating one.

Leiper said that it’s possible that Section 37 benefits could be leveraged to fund part of the project.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-...-bridge-will-have-room-for-o-train-path/

I am still wondering why this talk of a future West side pathway is so important? Why is there a need for this when there is a perfectly fine path on the East side of the tracks, and its not like its over capacity, or even close to it. Yet they don't mention that the trench for train tracks will be enlargered to enable twin tracks, which to me is way more of a priority than some unnecessary West side pathway. It seems like its there mainly to please Leiper voters and the future condo dwellers on Somerset.

[westtoeastcommuter]

Originally Posted by MountainView

During the PM peak going east there is bound to be more accidents especially with hundreds of buses having to merge from the right hand lanes to the 2 left lanes in order to travel on the 174.

Is that what is going to have to happen? It would be nice if the city outlined to us what exactly is going to happen so that it's not a big surprise to everyone on the day that it happens.

I consider it a big failure on the party of the MTO/city/whoever that this information isn't freely available. Like I said, I've been looking for it for months (and have only ever found relevant information through news articles, not official websites) and can't find anything.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by westtoeastcommuter

Is that what is going to have to happen? It would be nice if the city outlined to us what exactly is going to happen so that it's not a big surprise to everyone on the day that it happens.

I consider it a big failure on the party of the MTO/city/whoever that this information isn't freely available. Like I said, I've been looking for it for months (and have only ever found relevant information through news articles, not official websites) and can't find anything.

I am assuming that you drive for your commute and do not take transit. If that is the case, it is under my understanding, that the new additional lanes on the 417 between Nicolas and the 174 Split will be used only by OC Transpo during the approximately 3 year closure of the transitway until the LRT is up and running. Once it is up and running the new lanes will be general traffic lanes (4 in each direction). This was the plan all along and why the 417 is being widened as part of the Confederation Line project. So your current commute will likely be the same (3 lanes of traffic Nicolas to the 174) but with an added bus lane to the right and all that construction should be mostly gone.

[1overcosc]

^ That's not the issue.

The issue is the exact configuration of the lanes.

Buses will have to get on the highway from the right at Nicholas, but get off the highway from the left to get to Orleans (the right lanes have to exit towards Montreal at the split). There has been no communication about how exactly the buses are going to make that movement.

[MoreTrains]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

There has been no communication about how exactly the buses are going to make that movement.

Busses are being modified with reverse cattle guards to gently push cars out of their way.

[Jim613]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

^ That's not the issue.

The issue is the exact configuration of the lanes.

Buses will have to get on the highway from the right at Nicholas, but get off the highway from the left to get to Orleans (the right lanes have to exit towards Montreal at the split). There has been no communication about how exactly the buses are going to make that movement.

Wow, that's going to be a tough 3 years.

I haven't been paying much attention to the details, but will these buses be taking Nicholas onto the WB417? Or will the Lees on-ramp be re-opened by then?

[westtoeastcommuter]

Originally Posted by Jim613

Wow, that's going to be a tough 3 years.

I haven't been paying much attention to the details, but will these buses be taking Nicholas onto the WB417? Or will the Lees on-ramp be re-opened by then?

This is the kind of information I thought the city might want to publicize so the public knows what they're doing. But it doesn't appear that way.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by westtoeastcommuter

This is the kind of information I thought the city might want to publicize so the public knows what they're doing. But it doesn't appear that way.

I spoke to a colleague of mine that is working with the project and she says that the City will be releasing a public service announcement regarding the operation of the 417 between Blair and Nicolas, including OC Transpo operations.

The buses will be operating on the outside lanes of the highway, and they will be using the on and off-ramp to access stations. The outside lanes will include sections that will be dedicated to buses, however as the lanes approach interchanges they will not become available to general traffic to allow on and off access to the highway. So at every interchange the dedicated bus lane will also leave the highway and will resume after the interchange as the on-ramp.

With respect to accessing Highway 174, the buses will merge from the outside lane to the upcoming right hand lane of Highway 174 and then proceed along a dedicated bus lane east of the split, along Hwy 174.

Cheers

[MaxHeadroom]

White lines are being painted across the Hurdman/Robert Maki Bridge eastbound tonight. Exciting to see this project wrapping up.

[AndyMEng]

Paving crews had put primer down across the final stretch of median between Lees and Nicholas this morning. I suppose we'll all be moving over to the median lanes this week so they can pave the shoulder lanes that we've been using all year.

I also can't wait for:
1. Being able to exit at Riverside without thinking I'm going to side-swipe anyone, and maybe a rush-hour with less stop and go to go Eastbound.
2. Being able to get on the highway during rush-hour with hopefully (fingers crossed) adequate-length on-ramps so that we don't have to slow down as much to get westbound from Riverside/Vanier...

[MoreTrains]

Originally Posted by AndyMEng

I also can't wait for:
1. Being able to exit at Riverside without thinking I'm going to side-swipe anyone, and maybe a rush-hour with less stop and go to go Eastbound.
2. Being able to get on the highway during rush-hour with hopefully (fingers crossed) adequate-length on-ramps so that we don't have to slow down as much to get westbound from Riverside/Vanier...

Doubtful, remember that the outer lane will be used as bus lanes, and I would think that will make things even more congested and slow. Especially at rush hour, so youll likely have to wait another few years to experience the benefits of the expansion.

But you never know, I could be wrong.

And on-ramps will never be long enough in this city because most drivers fail to realize they are supposed to be driving 100 when they merge, case and point, I was following a man doing 40 who merged right away and killed all momentum in the lane, luckily I was able to use the remainder of the length of the merge lane to get ahead and not have to deal with that —.

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by MoreTrains

Doubtful, remember that the outer lane will be used as bus lanes, and I would think that will make things even more congested and slow. Especially at rush hour, so youll likely have to wait another few years to experience the benefits of the expansion.

But you never know, I could be wrong.

And on-ramps will never be long enough in this city because most drivers fail to realize they are supposed to be driving 100 when they merge, case and point, I was following a man doing 40 who merged right away and killed all momentum in the lane, luckily I was able to use the remainder of the length of the merge lane to get ahead and not have to deal with that —.

In my experience, the only Eastbound traffic in the morning is caused by the double-on ramp at the Vanier parkway. If the on ramp didn't exist at all, I think traffic would flow pretty smoothly...

[1overcosc]

The westbound bus lane from St. Laurent to Vanier is painted.

The Hurdman bridge will have its ramp lanes reinstated (resulting in no need to merge for traffic going from Riverside to Nicholas) resulting in a 10 lane bridge, but I'm not sure if that's happening before or after the bus lanes are converted to general traffic lanes.

Given how clogged traffic gets here, especially eastbound in the PM peak, they may have issues with drivers trying to illegally drive in the bus lanes... the OPP will probably monitor them closely.

[rocketphish]

This morning's traffic alignment over the Hurdman Bridge:


http://traffic.ottawa.ca/map/cameraWindow?id=164

[1overcosc]

^ Eastbound merge lanes reinstated, apparently. The removal of those for construction caused a lot of slowdowns even in the offpeak.

[rocketphish]

City asks drivers to plan ahead as Parkdale exit closes
Realignment sees westbound exit closed for 57 days

By Steph Willems
Ottawa West News, June 22, 2015

Nightly closures are already in effect for the eastbound Parkdale Avenue off-ramp, but the real challenge for motorists will begin on July 6.

That’s the day the westbound Parkdale off-ramp closes entirely for a period of 57 days to facilitate the Ministry of Transportation’s planned realignment of the ramp and the intersection with Parkdale.

As the only Queensway off-ramp between Carling Avenue and downtown, the Parkdale exit sees a very high amount of use, which is why the city is telling drivers to plan ahead and craft a new route to work and home. Those looking to access the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital are asked to use the Carling exit.

The details of the project were made public at a September 2014 meeting. The work will see the ramp aligned closer to the Queensway and removed from Westmount Avenue, which will become its own dead-end street, separated from the ramp with an acoustic barrier.

As part of the same project, the eastbound off-ramp will be widened to accommodate both left and right-turn lanes.

Nightly lane closures on the Queensway near the ramps will take place over the course of the summer. Specifically, the lane closures will occur Monday to Wednesdays from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and Thursday to Friday from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Weekend work will see lane closures from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

This work isn’t the only Queensway disruption motorists can expect in Ottawa, given work on the city’s LRT system.

“With all of the construction-related activities underway, residents are encouraged to be flexible with commuting times, stagger work hours or use alternative means for travel,” the city stated in a release.

http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-...s-to-plan-ahead-as-parkdale-exit-closes/

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Those looking to access the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital are asked to use the Carling exit.

That's going to be fun... that exit (Carling westbound) is already a crossover nightmare as it lacks a proper merge lane and 1/2 the cars cut over 3 lanes to turn left. It's very messy at the best of times already...

[MichelKazan]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

That's going to be fun... that exit (Carling westbound) is already a crossover nightmare as it lacks a proper merge lane and 1/2 the cars cut over 3 lanes to turn left. It's very messy at the best of times already...

There's also the possibility of getting off at Island Park to access Carling though, if you're going northbound, that tends to bunch up as well as you approach Richmond and the Champlain Bridge.

[rocketphish]

Westbound traffic has been shifted over the Hurdman Bridge this morning:


http://traffic.ottawa.ca/map/cameraWindow?id=164