McDonald’s traffic trouble exposes mounting Greystone Village concerns

Residents say illegal parking is only one part of a growing traffic problem around des Oblats Avenue and Main Street.

MAINSTREETER STAFF

ARIELA SUMMIT PHOTO About 35 residents showed up to meet with Councillor Shawn Menard and City staff to discuss traffic and parking problems related to the new McDonald’s at the corner of main and des Oblats.

Improvements to address traffic problems generated by the new McDonald’s at the corner of Main Street and des Oblats Avenue will soon be made, but longer-term solutions to increasing traffic within Greystone Village remain under review.

In late March, about 35 Old Ottawa East residents met on-site outside the McDonald’s with Councillor Shawn Menard and City of Ottawa staff to discuss the traffic issues. At the meeting, Menard committed to making a number of short-term improvements, including placing a no-parking sign by the garden sidewalk area on des Oblats where most of the illegal parking is happening, and adding thermoplast “no parking” pavement markings to the street pavement and five flex-stakes against the curb to discourage parking.

As reported in the previous issue of The Mainstreeter, cars illegally parked to pick up McDonald’s food results in congestion that adversely affects pedestrian and driver safety and traffic flow.

The meeting was convened to address the McDonald’s-generated illegal parking, but residents also raised the related issues of impeded traffic flow disruptions caused by problems with the traffic lights at Main and des Oblats, and increasing parking problems as Greystone Village continues to add residential units and the new Au Coeur d’Ottawa school moves towards opening next January.

LYNN ARCHAMBAULT PHOTO This picture taken from a Corners on Main unit gives a sense of the traffic problems – including vehicles making U-turns – that have arisen since the McDonald’s opened at the corner of Main and des Oblats.

One intriguing option suggested by Ballantyne resident Ron Rose was to “[M]ake Hazel, Deschâtelets, Scholastic and des Oblats into a one-way crescent, with traffic flowing east on Hazel and Deschâtelets, north on Scholastic and west on des Oblats.” This idea was supported by a number of the meeting’s attendees.

“That would have the benefits of eliminating the problem of making a left turn from Main onto des Oblats, as well as providing an extra lane on des Oblats for parking, pick up and deliveries for the commercial establishments in Le Milieu and Corners on Main,” says Rose. “The left turn is much easier at Hazel and Main.” He noted that the one-way proposal would also better accommodate the traffic from the final phases of Greystone Village now under construction as well as Au Coeur’s school buses.

Other longer-term suggestions included restricting the times during which delivery trucks could operate on des Oblats, similar to the limits on Sparks Street; a tow-away zone in place of the no-stopping zone in front of the McDonald’s; flex-stakes to mark off the eastbound lane on Oblats from the two westbound lanes; reserved parking spots for Milieu residents’ loading and unloading since the current loading zone is often taken by trucks delivering to McDonald’s and the other businesses in the Milieu ground level; and changing the default three-hour parking spots on Main Street nearest the des Oblats corner to 15 minutes or one-hour spots, either paid or unpaid.