Circuitous traffic detours in the northern part of Old Ottawa East that will last throughout 2024 top the list of disruptions to residents and businesses as the construction phase of the massive $46.5 million Greenfield/ Main/Hawthorne infrastructure replacement project ramps up. Photo by John Dance

John Dance

Old Ottawa East (OOE) is again under construction with the resumption of the Greenfield/Main/Hawthorne (GMH) project – the massive rebuilding of infrastructure in the northern part of the community. Accompanying the construction are extensive detours for residents and those travelling through OOE, many tree removals, disruptions for local businesses, and outstanding questions regarding some of the City’s designs. The $46.5 million project is essential to replace obsolete underground water and sewer lines. It will also improve pedestrian and cyclist safety as a result of wider sidewalks and new bike lanes and see the long-sought-after burying of hydro wires. On the negative side, many large trees will be removed to accommodate the new infrastructure.

Detours

The key detour is that for the rest of 2024 no southbound traffic will be allowed on Greenfield Avenue and the portion of Main Street between Greenfield and Hawthorne Avenue. Consequently, residents in OOE’s northern quadrant (Harvey Street, Havelock Street, Concord Street North and Montcalm Street) will be required to take a lengthy circuitous route using the Lees Avenue bridge over the Queensway to reach the rest of OOE (see detour map, below). Or, even more circuitously, can drive north downtown to get to the Isabella Street Loblaws.

Image by City of Ottawa

Despite continuing requests that left turns of northbound Main Street traffic be allowed at Colonel By Drive (CBD) and Main, the City and the National Capital Commission are adamant that they will not be permitted. The City says, “the new [road] geometry was not designed to accommodate a northbound Main Street to southbound Colonel By Drive movement.” And it goes on to say, “Allowing a left turn from the single lane of northbound Main Street will cause traffic delays and back-ups on northbound Main Street, as the northbound left-turn vehicles will impede the northbound right-turn vehicles making their turn on the permitted right-turn-on-red when it’s safe to do so.”

Meanwhile, southbound CBD drivers who want to access Main Street need to make a left turn at Hawthorne when the “no left turn” sign has been covered. Interestingly, the CBD-Hawthorne intersection is also not “designed to accommodate” such a turn but it is being permitted anyway. Southbound CBD motorists also have the option of turning left off CBD at Clegg Street where there is also a no-turning lane to accommodate this, however, left turns are not permitted at peak times.

Better signage for the detours may be required. One OOE Grapevine post noted someone “almost went into a head-on collision when she turned from CBD onto Main.”

Another Grapevine post mentioned that the detours added “an extra 20-25 minutes to my commute every day.” Others have observed lots of drivers who do U-turns when they come unexpectedly upon the detour signs.

Roadwork adjacent to the Queensway overpasses slows traffic and endangers cyclists. Photo by John Dance

Another impact of the detours is that more cut-through traffic is going through southern neighbourhoods of OOE. A related difficulty is that the detoured traffic makes cycling on routes such as Lees Avenue more dangerous.

Pedestrians will maintain passage along Main and Greenfield; however, no provisions have been made for cyclists, so that to go south means taking a detour and to go north requires mixing with motorized traffic.

Trees

Capital Ward Councillor Shawn Menard tried to save a number of large trees on Main and Greenfield but City staff essentially have responded that the trees can’t be saved because of such factors as “conflict with the proposed sidewalk,” or the “water, hydro street light, hydrant, or underground ducts are within the root zone.” Nevertheless, the City says it will try to save trees “if feasible.” As was seen with the first phase of Main Street reconstruction, planting new trees on residents’ front yards may be the best way of restoring a canopy along the reconstructed streets.

Hawthorne-Main Pedestrian Safety

Ever since the project planning began, residents have sought improvements to the southwest corner of Main and Hawthorne to make it safe for pedestrians. The existing building there is on the lot line so that no City right-of-way property exists to make the sidewalk wider. A number of measures are included in the plans to lessen the likelihood of vehicles running over the sidewalk as they proceed from eastbound Hawthorne to southbound Main but the width of the effective sidewalk remains challenging, particularly given it has a large traffic light pole intruding two feet into it.

The OOE Community Association has requested that a hard bollard be installed 45° off the corner of the building. So far, the City has refused because such a bollard would be “problematic for sidewalk plows and [it would offer] minimal additional protection to pedestrians from large vehicle turns encroaching on the corner.”

Southbound Greenfield Avenue and Main Street traffic will be circuitously detoured until the end of theconstruction. Photo by John Dance

Nevertheless, a final decision still has not been taken and, on a positive note, Councillor Menard has convinced the City to install a “flexpost” in the event that a permanent bollard isn’t approved. The downsides to the flexpost are that it has to be removed for winter plowing and it would not offer the same protection that a hard bollard would.

The design of the northwest corner of Main and Hawthorne also poses a safety problem that the design hasn’t dealt with. The new sidewalk there will be just 1.5 metres at the corner vs. the required 2.0 metres. The City says, “Although noted as not ideal, this arrangement does meet the City’s accessibility design guidelines for a localized constraint.” sAsked why the City has not acquired additional land to allow the required 2 metres, the City responded to The Mainstreeter, “Given the pending Ministry of Transportation’s (MTO) Highway 417 work on the Main Street bridge, the MTO requirements for this property [which MTO now owns] during bridge construction are unknown at this time. The decision on potential property acquisition is deferred until these requirements are fully understood.” It’s not clear how a slightly wider sidewalk would in any way adversely affect MTO’s bridge reconstruction project.

CBD-Echo-Graham Traffic Issue

Last year, the divider between CBD and Echo Drive just west of Graham Avenue was shortened. As a consequence, a significant number of drivers are now making illegal turns to and from CBD to Echo/ Graham. While it’s always been illegal for motorized vehicles to turn onto Echo/Graham from CBD, it’s now easier to do so because of the reconstruction. The City explanation for the change is “The bullnose divider between Colonel By Drive and Echo Drive was shortened to accommodate the shifting of the eastern curb line for the construction of the widened cycling/pedestrian facility [on the east side of Echo]. The roadway width of Echo Drive as it merges with Colonel By Drive has been designed to accommodate snow plow and garbage truck movements.”

In terms of the inadvertent accommodation of illegal turns, the City says, “Signage and pavement markings will be reviewed with Transportation Services to further investigate measures to discourage this movement.”