City not anticipating big traffic snarls even as road work picks up

Road work, building developments and LRT construction shouldn’t severely tie up traffic this fall, the city says.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a large bottleneck specifically this year,” according to Greg Kent, the city’s head of traffic management, who helped deliver a fall construction update at city hall on Wednesday.

A collision, broken water main or disabled bus can throw traffic for a loop, but the city doesn’t expect construction projects will be the main source of slowdowns.

There are only two construction areas where traffic could be seriously affected: Nicholas Street between Highway 417 and Laurier Avenue and St. Laurent Boulevard south of Innes Road.

Kent noted that Nicholas Street could experience backups, but traffic coming off the highway has been moving well since buses were detoured to the road after the Transitway shut down.

The construction project on St. Laurent Boulevard is adding bus and cycling facilities.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s widening project on Highway 417 between Maitland Avenue and Island Park Drive has potential to gum up traffic, but the province is aiming for lane closures during non-peak hours.

Time is ticking down until the city receives the keys to the Confederation Line LRT next May before launching the service on a yet-to-be-announced date.

Steve Cripps, the director of O-Train construction, said the streetscaping on Queen Street

I don’t think we’re going to have a large bottleneck specifically this year.

continues as construction in the tunnel makes significant progress.

Seventeen of the 34 LRT vehicles have been assembled and test runs on the east end of the 12.5-kilometre line will soon extend as far west as uOttawa station.

The LRT contractor continues to install track and convert the Transitway into an electric rail line.

Cripps said crews have installed 6.5 kilometres of track at the maintenance and storage facility and associated spur connector.

Another 15 kilometres of track has been installed along the main rail line between Tunney’s Pasture and Blair station.

On Sept. 15, OC Transpo will move an eastbound bus stop on Albert Street at Bayview station to the intersection of Albert Street and Bayview Road.

People making transfers to and from the Trillium Line will need to access the train station via the path behind Tom Brown Arena.

The city is also planning transit strategies for the Grey Cup festivities in November.

Pat Scrimgeour, Transpo’s planning director, said the transit department could give fans multiday access to transit as part of their game tickets, since there will be an influx of visitors. Outside the core, traffic this fall could be impacted by ongoing work on Prince of Wales Drive south of Hunt Club Road. Bank Street south of Hunt Club Road and Navan Road are also scheduled to have rehabilitation projects.

Drivers can expect to see work on Highway 416 at Fallowfield Road for a culvert repair and at Bankfield and Barnsdale roads for bridge repairs.

While city staff aren’t predicting major traffic problems tied to construction, the chair of council’s transportation committee is careful to manage expectations.

“Our roadways will be busy and will be congested,” Coun. Keith Egli said.