Roads/Bridges projects/issues

[Cre47]

Yep, when I saw Ottawa being ranked worst than Montreal, it is clearly an incomplete study. In Montreal, in some places congestion starts like at 5 AM sometimes (in the outer suburbs) - and believe it is much worst in Montreal (sometimes it takes almost 90 minutes or even 2 hours) to cross the worst congested bridges). Here, the worst backlogs actually starts at around 6:15-6:30 (assuming they have included Gatineau), if not I think the congestion only really starts at 7:00 AM on the 417, maybe a bit earlier on the 174.

And actually was there any studies that actually ranked Montreal worst than Toronto for traffic congestion?

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Yep, when I saw Ottawa being ranked worst than Montreal, it is clearly an incomplete study. In Montreal, in some places congestion starts like at 5 AM sometimes (in the outer suburbs) - and believe it is much worst in Montreal (sometimes it takes almost 90 minutes or even 2 hours) to cross the worst congested bridges). Here, the worst backlogs actually starts at around 6:15-6:30 (assuming they have included Gatineau), if not I think the congestion only really starts at 7:00 AM on the 417, maybe a bit earlier on the 174.

And actually was there any studies that actually ranked Montreal worst than Toronto for traffic congestion?

Not that I know of. Montreal has a lot more access options than Toronto though, with over a dozen bridges (mostly freeway bridges) as opposed to one main east-west corridor in Toronto. While those who use the busiest bridges would have insane congestion, it averages out for some and really only impacts 450 to 514 commuters, not within the island or within the suburbs.

Also commutes in the GTA seem to be longer - Montreal doesn't sprawl out more than about 30-40 km in any direction, it just happens to go in all directions and is less dense overall. Toronto has many cases of commuting from over 100 km away.

[Lakche]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Again, it is NOT about commute time! All that survey says is that the rush hour commute is 22% longer than a non-peak trip. So if the regular drive from Orleans to downtown is 20 minutes, in rush hour the average is 24.4 minutes. Whoop-de-doo, sound the alarm bells over four and a half minutes spent by someone living in Convent Glen.

It doesn't feel like 22% longer. If I drive from Orleans to Kanata off-peak, it takes 20 minutes, maybe 25 minutes.

If I did the same at 7:45 am on a weekday, it takes well over an hour.

That's significantly more than 22% longer!

[jeremy_haak]

This is an average figure. I'm guessing most people don't commute between Orleans and Kanata.

[DubberDom]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

Again, it is NOT about commute time! All that survey says is that the rush hour commute is 22% longer than a non-peak trip. So if the regular drive from Orleans to downtown is 20 minutes, in rush hour the average is 24.4 minutes. Whoop-de-doo, sound the alarm bells over four and a half minutes spent by someone living in Convent Glen.

It would be helpful if you actually ready the study methodology before coming up with stupid comments once again!!

Morning peak is 55%, and evening peak is 75%. Anybody who actually commutes in this city will attest that evenings, in particular, are quite congested. The model demonstrates that the "average" 30 minute commute back home around 5PM is 50-55 minutes.

[c_speed3108]

The study had a stupid title.

That study was basically a measurement of how much worse rush hour is verus other times of the day.

Apparently what it really found was that Ottawa's rush hour as a really hard short spike. I guess we all like to work the same hours or something


Ottawa's road system is a breeze most hours of the days and there is a couple to seriously avoid.

[DubberDom]

I have a lot of "out-of-towners" that come by to visit my work, and no matter where they are from, they comment on Ottawa's rush hour traffic and how bad it is... just last month a colleague from Chicago was in and claimed he never saw traffic as bad as what he saw in Ottawa. He drove in from Montreal and traffic backed up past Walkely Road, all the way beyond Vanier Parkway (typical morning choke point)

Sure Chicago is a large city, and there are traffic snarls, but Ottawa has a very condensed traffic area with huge bottlenecks that paralyze the city with no alternate options since we basically only have one route through the city.

Example:

WB174 at Jeanne D'arc (AM)
WB417 at Vanier Parkway (AM)
EB 417 at Carling (AM)
EB 174 at 417, and all the way beyond Montreal Road (PM)
WB 417 at Vanier Parkyway (PM)
WB 417 at Carling (PM)
Hunt Club Bridge (AM and PM)

Although, when compared to Toronto, we never worry about traffic Jams outside of rush hour, like noon on Saturday.

[waterloowarrior]

Bank Street widening Leitrim to Rideau EA open house display boards June 2012
http://ottawa.ca/en/city_hall/planni...use1/index.htm

[S-Man]

The rush hour 'spike' is brutal. Usually about 4:15 to 5:30 p.m., though th spike is worst at 4:30-5. I avoid it like the plague.

[eternallyme]

Some thoughts on the Bank Street corridor:

* It should be a straight-up, 4-lane undivided corridor with no turning lane provisions.

* Geometrics should be compromised to ensure a potential long-term urban boulevard. The speed limit should be reduced to 60 km/h at build-out, and perhaps 50 km/h ultimately.

* Hawthorne should also be protected for a higher-volume corridor. It should also be extended south to Greely, and trucks should be required to use such. 2 lanes should be sufficient in the short term, although 4 lanes should be protected for.

[harls]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

* It should be a straight-up, 4-lane undivided corridor with no turning lane provisions.

Sort of like some of the larger streets in Montreal, where no left turns are allowed. It keeps traffic flowing. Instead, you have to make three right turns to go left. It may piss off a lot of drivers, but they'd get used to it.

[lrt's friend]

* It should be a straight-up, 4-lane undivided corridor with no turning lane provisions.

Exactly where are we talking about? This will not work if you don't have a grid street pattern, something that does not exist anywhere south of Billings Bridge.

[waterloowarrior]

Proposed Roadway Modifications

Pursuant to By-law No. 2006–483, the City of Ottawa is providing notice to the public of its intention to approve road modifications at the following locations in accordance with the authority under By-law No. 2011-28:


Lester Road, from Meandering Brook Drive to approximately 475 metres west of Bank Street

New westbound right-turn lane
New westbound right-turn taper
New eastbound left-turn lane
New bicycle pockets
New paved shoulders
New concrete sidewalks
New concrete median
New site access

Innes Road, 100 metres east of Tenth Line Road

Extension of westbound right-turn lane
New full-height median extension
For more information, please contact:

[Cre47]

New crash stats are up and no surprise Hunt Club Road at Riverside tops the list. Area combined traffic with two/three suburbans areas, cross-town traffic, traffic to employment areas to the west as well as some Airport-bound traffic, the new big box stores and the T&T store and lip transit service contributes to this.

Of course the Strandherd Bridge and sometime before 2150 (or 2050 to be a more optimistic), the O-Train extension southward might well curb the numbers.

St-Laurent Blvd seems to become another problem spot as well with the crossings at Belfast and Innes being in the top 10 (but not Donald Street and Ogilvie surprisingly), but the one at Tremblay also seems to be problematic.

[eltodesukane]

from an Ottawa Sun story, 2012-08-17
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/08/17/...ngerous-corner
Here are the 10 intersections (with traffic signals) with the highest number of crashes in 2011. The number in brackets is where the intersection ranked in 2010.
1.(1) Hunt Club Rd. and Riverside Dr. 53
2.(-) Belfast Rd. and St. Laurent Blvd. 32
3.(5) Baseline Rd. and Woodroffe Ave. 31
4.(-) Catherine St. and Kent St. 30
5.(-) Hawthorne Rd. and Walkley Rd. 30
6.(7) Prince of Wales Dr. and West Hunt Club Rd. 30
7.(-) Blair Rd. and Blair Rd. Ramp #36 29
8.(-) Clyde Ave. and Merivale Rd. 29
9.(7) Industrial Ave. and St. Laurent Blvd. 29
10.(-) Baseline Rd. and Greenbank Rd. 28
11.(-) Beechwood Ave. and Crichton St. 28

[Chris-R]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

from an Ottawa Sun story, 2012-08-17
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/08/17/...ngerous-corner
Here are the 10 intersections (with traffic signals) with the highest number of crashes in 2011. The number in brackets is where the intersection ranked in 2010.
1.(1) Hunt Club Rd. and Riverside Dr. 53
2.(-) Belfast Rd. and St. Laurent Blvd. 32
3.(5) Baseline Rd. and Woodroffe Ave. 31
4.(-) Catherine St. and Kent St. 30
5.(-) Hawthorne Rd. and Walkley Rd. 30
6.(7) Prince of Wales Dr. and West Hunt Club Rd. 30
7.(-) Blair Rd. and Blair Rd. Ramp #36 29
8.(-) Clyde Ave. and Merivale Rd. 29
9.(7) Industrial Ave. and St. Laurent Blvd. 29
10.(-) Baseline Rd. and Greenbank Rd. 28
11.(-) Beechwood Ave. and Crichton St. 28

I can't speak for the others, but I think Beechwood at Crichton/Vanier Parkway could be helped by changing the crappy timing on them. It seems to privilege the flow from the Vanier Parkway too much, leaving the time to turn on to it from Beechwood or to cross the intersection too short.

I know that I've waited up to three cycles (on the bus), making it frustrating. Throw in a large number of cyclists (left without a bike lane after crossing the St. Patrick Bridge) and people who ignore the no stopping/no parking signs on Beechwood during the rush period and it's no wonder there are so many collisions.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

from an Ottawa Sun story, 2012-08-17
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/08/17/...ngerous-corner
Here are the 10 intersections (with traffic signals) with the highest number of crashes in 2011. The number in brackets is where the intersection ranked in 2010.
1.(1) Hunt Club Rd. and Riverside Dr. 53
2.(-) Belfast Rd. and St. Laurent Blvd. 32
3.(5) Baseline Rd. and Woodroffe Ave. 31
4.(-) Catherine St. and Kent St. 30
5.(-) Hawthorne Rd. and Walkley Rd. 30
6.(7) Prince of Wales Dr. and West Hunt Club Rd. 30
7.(-) Blair Rd. and Blair Rd. Ramp #36 29
8.(-) Clyde Ave. and Merivale Rd. 29
9.(7) Industrial Ave. and St. Laurent Blvd. 29
10.(-) Baseline Rd. and Greenbank Rd. 28
11.(-) Beechwood Ave. and Crichton St. 28

The Hunt Club Bridge area is a DISASTER. Even with the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge, I don't see that much improvement, since there isn't a real convenient north-south route other than Limebank which would just funnel into that intersection anyway (so it might make it worse!). The only solution I can think of is a grade-separated interchange, which would be expensive but probably necessary (it would solve the whole bridge area).

St. Laurent has a sight distance issue on the two railway overpasses. That also tends to encourage speeding and difficulty in braking. Having flashing lights ahead of the Belfast and Innes/Industrial intersections would help.

Baseline is simply because of heavy traffic volumes with two important north-south routes from Barrhaven. There are no obvious issues I see with either intersection.

Clyde/Merivale is due to the shape of the intersection and the forced turn to remain on Merivale. That results in a lot of cars forced to make hard lane changes. Hopefully that issue is corrected in the near future by realigning the intersection.

Catherine/Kent is simply from traffic going too fast off the Queensway trying to make unsafe lane changes and movements.

Hawthorne/Walkley should improve with the Hunt Club extension.

[waterloowarrior]

Proposed Roadway Modifications

Pursuant to By-law No. 2006–483, the City of Ottawa is providing notice to the public of its intention to approve road modifications at the following locations in accordance with the authority under By-law No. 2011-28:


Merivale Road, 490 metres south of Fallowfield Road

• New southbound right-turn taper.
• New bicycle pocket.
• New gravel shoulder.

Jockvale Road, 550 metres Northwest of Prince of Wales Drive

• New westbound left-turn lane.
• New eastbound right-turn lane.
• New bicycle pockets.
• New paved shoulders.
• New concrete sidewalks.

[waterloowarrior]

new section of A-50 opened, between Montebello & Papineauville (323/321)
http://www.lapresse.ca/le-droit/actu...-50-ouvert.php

[S-Man]

It seems to privilege the flow from the Vanier Parkway too much, leaving the time to turn on to it from Beechwood or to cross the intersection too short.

That would be the New Edinburgh neighbourhood's live-with-it compromise after they successfully petitioned the city to cancel the last link of the Vanier Parkway, which was to continue up the east side of the river to hook up with the MacDonald-Cartier bridge.

Hence why there are logging trucks driving through downtown Ottawa to get to the 417 on Nicholas St. New Edinburgh's win, everyone else's loss. Too bad about that signal.

Not saying that I'd love the New Edinburgh neighbourhood to be razed (I wouldn't) but they lucked out with their win.