John A. Macdonald Parkway obscures a gem of the landscape
Commuter highway has outlived its purpose, writes Kosta Diochnos.
The Ottawa River’s banks are being primed for an ambitious goal. Bold and boastful, Ottawa’s newly revealed pitch for Amazon’s HQ2 is a cheeky reflection from the future. It brags about an “integrated” and “incomparable” campus built alongside the river during the “generational” transformation of LeBreton Flats. The eventual development of those barren lands will be a major shift in Ottawa’s time, as the Senators, central library and O-Train lines all converge.
Our largest river is a masterpiece natural feature, and the lands along its banks are eminently valuable. However, one feature keeps it underused and insignificant. If Ottawa is committed to a generational transformation and a sustainable future, the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway must be removed.
Neither committed as a natural park, nor maximally used as a human space, the SJAM parkway is a wasted opportunity. Where Vancouver has parkland and residences hugging the coastline, and Montreal has bars and shops facing the St. Lawrence River, Ottawa has an underused pathway and a road to flee the city.
The current parkway is a remnant of a mid-century mode of thinking that saw downtowns minimally as places to drive into and escape from after the working day. Built as part of Jacques Gréber’s city plan in 1961, its high speeds and few crossings signify its main role as a scenic commuter shuttle. Yet this purpose is no longer necessary. With the Confederation line, thousands of residents travelling from the west will have quick and convenient access to downtown using the O -Train. Further, changing the road for active and not transitory use would encourage people to use the O-Train, thus improving OC Transpo’s revenues and reducing traffic downtown.
It’s commonly believed that when freeways are removed, traffic will increase tremendously, but many major cities show us otherwise.
In San Francisco, removal of two of its urban freeways never led to anticipated gridlock, but helped revitalize and energize neighbouring communities. Milwaukee similarly benefited from replacing a freeway with a boulevard, while traffic flows remained stable.
Ottawa must also enact a broader vision of how it can remain sustainable for a growing and diversifying population into the future. Our future cannot include the parkway, as it relies on expensive and environmentally harmful car-driven infrastructure.
The city and NCC should replace a section of the road between Booth Street and Tunney’s Pasture with a mixed-use boulevard to create a more livable, viable and environmentally responsible city. By 2036, Ottawa expects to grow by 250,000 people, all of whom will need a home. It will not benefit these future residents to have a minor highway cutting them off from their river. What will benefit them is to have grocery stores, day cares and other amenities on a local main street accessible by bike, walking or public transportation.
At its heart, redeveloping the parkway is about using Ottawa’s potential to be a vibrant worldclass city that will help spur economic and cultural growth. Whether or not Amazon does come, Ottawa would benefit from connecting to its river.
Cities globally are addressing similar challenges. Brisbane, Australia has an expressway choking its riverfront and keeping it from “being globally competitive,” while Philadelphia is working on reclaiming its waterfront from a highway through mixed-use development. Seattle, too, is developing a waterfront reconnection plan that is both cognizant of wildlife preservation and urban culture. These cities could initiate major social and economic improvements through the removal of urban freeways, and Ottawa should do so as well.
A gem of the Ottawa landscape remains buried in the concrete of the parkway. Rather than organizing our river space for a commuter population that only speeds past it twice daily, our waterfront would optimally be used to enhance the lives of people who live, work and play in the city. For a vibrant, sustainable and livable future, the city must connect with its riverfront by removing the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.