Battle to widen Prince of Wales heats up
Councillors set for a showdown as city considers expanding road to serve Barrhaven, Riverside South
Patrick DareOttawa Citizen
Thursday, June 05, 2008
OTTAWA -- It seems an unlikely public project for Ottawa at a time of hyper-concern about traffic congestion, air quality, urban sprawl and the unaffordable car commute.
The City of Ottawa is planning a big road project: widening Prince of Wales Drive for the 10.3-kilometre span between Woodroffe Avenue and Fisher Avenue.
It's a project that would cost big money. The city has already earmarked $15 million just for the property acquisition and design for the project. A smaller project, to widen Limebank Road, cost $44 million.
The two-year, $700,000 environmental assessment for the Prince of Wales project is under way and the road, if approved by council, could be built by 2013.
Councillors representing the city's growing southern communities of Barrhaven and Riverside South say the bigger road is urgently needed. Prince of Wales is backed up for as far as the eye can see during commuting hours.
"It's reached a breaking point. The lineup of cars is getting longer and longer," Steve Desroches, councillor for Gloucester-South Nepean, said Thursday.
"It's long overdue. We have to serve the growth. We need to build the roads."
Mr. Desroches said the Barr-haven area, with a population of about 70,000, is undergoing "explosive growth" and could reach 104,000 by 2031.
Mr. Desroches said the bigger road is needed to get RCMP employees to their new headquarters at Merivale Road and Prince of Wales. And he argues there will be more employment in the airport and South Merivale Business Park areas, for which the road will be useful.
Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder, who lives near Prince of Wales and uses the road to get downtown, says that even with council's push to build transit rather than new roads, most residents drive and these projects are necessary.
"We're in the customer-service business. We'll always be in the road-building business," she said, acknowledging that the Prince of Wales project "will be a mega-million-dollar project."
But there will be opposition.
David Jeanes, of Transport 2000, said he is disappointed that the city seems so intent on building more roads for cars when there may be rail and other public transit solutions to get more people around. He said there's no point in getting more cars up to intersections such as Prince of Wales and Hog's Back, where there is "no capacity" for more vehicles.
"Widening Prince of Wales doesn't seem to make sense," said Mr. Jeanes.
"Unfortunately, the city's policies are: Build what we can, rather than build what we need. They're all short-term decisions. I'm very frustrated."
There will be a fight to get council approval. Council has recently taken a slight turn towards public transit and away from more big roads to suburbia.
The city declined an offer of $80 million from the Ontario and federal governments to build a freeway from Rockland to Orléans, on the grounds that it was too costly and would just fuel more sprawl and road congestion.
Councillors for the city's central wards will have a difficult time supporting a road project that makes it easier for commuters from rural communities, Barrhaven and Riverside South to drive downtown, when downtown is already jammed with cars.
Capital Ward Councillor Clive Doucet says it is nonsensical to widen the road, thus inviting more drivers to use it, only to have it narrow near the downtown, causing great frustration for those drivers.
Some traffic from a widened Prince of Wales could turn east and west on Hunt Club Road, but that road - hugely controversial before it was built - is at its capacity during rush hours. So the next step would be to widen Hunt Club from four to six lanes, another massive and costly project.
Knoxdale-Merivale Councillor Gord Hunter, who has supported many of Ottawa's large road projects in his career, says expanding existing roads in built-up neighbourhoods doesn't always make sense because of the huge costs and major disruptions.
During an open house Thursday night on the Prince of Wales plan, Mr. Hunter said he hasn't made up his mind on the project. He said there's no question of the growing number of residents in Barrhaven, but he said there's little point in such a major construction project if it's just moving the traffic jam a kilometre or two.
Marc Lussier, who lives near Prince of Wales and also attended the open house, said he is concerned about the potential noise and volume of traffic if the road is widened. He said the city should be putting its efforts into more transit to move people along the north-south corridor of the city, rather than taking on such a large road expansion.
"I'm not sure it's money well spent," said Mr. Lussier.
Mr. Doucet said he is confident this project will die in the study stage. "It's a step absolutely in the wrong direction. It's so crazy that it will never happen," said Mr. Doucet. "People are going to wake up."
© Ottawa Citizen 2008