News and Status

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Upcoming events

• The new City of Ottawa's Transportation Master Plan (TMP) is coming to Council in November 2008. This represents an opportunity to correct the imbalance in the TMP which proposes to spend too much on asphalt and not next to nothing on electric mass transit in the next 6 years. See what you can do.

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Latest Status/News (from most recent)

The Transportation Master Plan (TMP) is under review as part of the 2008 Official Plan review called Beyond 2020. The next step is to choose a staging option for light rail transit but in all four light rail options, roads and buses get close a billion dollars spent on them before any electric light rail goes into service. The TMP will be before City Council in November 2008.

The proposed TMP is calling for 2 billion dollars in road construction, with $680 million within the next 6 years. Many of these road projects are being proposed before light rail to offset disruptions to transit service that will occur with the convertion of parts of the transitway.  The Alta Vista Corridor is one of the road projects in the plan.

The priorities in the TMP are inverted from what they should be. Electric light rail should be built before arterial roads are expanded. LRT should be given the chance to lessen the need for more roadways. It should not be used as an excuse to invest more in roadways we cannot afford like the Alta Vista Corridor.

The Alta Vista Corridor Environmental Assessment (EA) was approved by the provincial Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen, in January 2008. This was the last roadblock to the work beginning on the first phase of the Alta Vista Corridor arterial. The first phase will link Riverside Drive to the General Campus of the Ottawa Hospital for about $65 million dollars - the most expensive driveway in Ottawa. The decision is very disappointing as no conditions were placed on the approval to address environmental or health concerns. Detailed design has begun in 2008 on the first phase.

Happy birthday bump-up: In December 2007, Citizens for Healthy Communities' bump-up request celebrated its second anniversary. It had been just over 2 years since the challenge to the Alta Vista Corridor EA had been with the provincial Ministry of the Environment.

During the provincial election in October 2007 candidates in the area were asked to take a stand with respect to road construction versus air quality. See the responses to a City Centre Coalition questionnaire sent to area candidates (question 3 was about the Alta Vista Corridor bump-up).

In early December 2005, Citizens for Healthy Communities prepared a bump-up request on the Alta Vista Corridor EA. See the cover letter and the bump-up request document sent to the Ministry of the Environment as well as the accompanying press release.

In mid November the final EA report was completed. The 30-day comment and bump up request time period expired on December 16th 2005.

On September 21st 2005, the final presentations were made to Transportation Committee. The committee unanimously approved a compromise motion which would allow development of a road linking Riverside to the General Hospital but would put on hold and subject to two more Official Plan (OP) reviews any other road development in the corridor. This will at the very least delay everything except the hospital link until after 2013 since the next to OP reviews are scheduled for 2008 and 2013. On October 12th, City Council carried the Transportation Committee recommendation (to "receive" the EA report as opposed to accept or endorse the report and to only have the hospital link from Riverside built).

On July 13th 2005, City Council took one step forward and two steps back. The forward step was approving a temporary parking lot for the General Hospital in the Alta Vista Corridor (the parking lot land will be leased to the hospital for a minimum of 8 years and require a 2 year termination notice period thereafter). The backward steps included keeping $32 million dollars in the capital budget for phase 2 of this project and not allowing temporary recreational uses in the corridor. All three steps had been recommendations from the June 21st, Corporate Services Committee meeting.

On May 30th 2005 the last Public Meeting and Open House was held at Lansdowne Park. Consistent with all other public meetings on this project a majority of attendees do not favour the 4-lane road option that is preferred by city staff and the consultant. That has not changed city staff's position and they will be bringing their recommendation for a road forward to Transportation Committee for approval on September 21st.

On Tuesday, April 12th 2005, Citizens for Healthy Communities along with many community members announced their official withdrawal from the Public Advisory Committee (PAC) at a press conference before the final PAC meeting. Reasons for the withdrawal included not wanting to endorse the flawed process and lack of responsiveness from the design team to public concerns or directives from Transportation Committee.

Photo by Murray McGregor

On April 12 2005, the last PAC meeting took place. The roadway being designed is 4-lanes from Conroy to the Queensway. The fact that the northern end of the roadway will have less than half the capacity (800 cars/hour) of the stated need (1800 person-trips/hour) doesn't bother road proponents. Familiar arguments from city staff and some politicians are being used to try to justify this road.

On April 11th 2005, Mayor Chiarelli and Councillors Bédard, Doucet, Holmes, and Legendre put forward an alternative proposal for the Alta Vista corridor that would provide a simplified, less-costly car and rapid transit connection from Riverside Drive to the hospitals. On the heels of this, Councillors Deans, Thompson, Harder, and Hunter, denounced this position, and called for the development of the complete Alta Vista Corridor road to proceed.

On February 7 2005 City Council approved the 2005 budget including $5 million to start on the Alta Vista Corridor road once the EA is complete. The road builders are poised. They have the capital budget lined up. All they have to do now is get final approval in this EA for their preferred solution which is a four-lane road from Conroy to Nicholas. The current 10 year capital budget plan includes $68 million for this road project between 2006 and 2012. That amount of money will cover about 1/2 of the $135 million total that Delcan estimated a roadway from Conroy to Nicholas would cost. If that isn't cause to question whether just hospital access is being considered, check out the plans below.

Detailed and descriptions of the City's current proposed corridor roadway can be found by clicking on the links or maps below. These designs were shared with the PAC on November 22, 2004:

	See overall plan for a four lane road extending Conroy to Nicholas with at grade intersections on all major cross streets in the corridor.
		See the detailed design plans including examples of intersection designs. Nicholas/Lees Section - northern end from the 417 interchange to the bridge over the Rideau River. Riverside Section - from the Rideau River to Alta Vista Drive. Central Section - from Alta Vista to Smyth with access to the Hospital. Southern Section - from Conroy/Walkley to Smyth crossing Kilborn and Pleasant Park. Example of intersection design for cross streets.

In June 2004 the Ministry of Transport held Public Involvement Centres to present their recommended options for the Queensway Widening study. The plans for the Queensway are very relevant because any road proposal for the Alta Vista Corridor (AVC) that would connect to the Queensway at Nicholas would require substantial additional capacity at the Queensway. The following points are most important:

• There will be no HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on the Queensway downtown. The proposed AVC HOV lanes will have nowhere to connect to at the northern end of the AVC.
• What little capacity may be added to the Queensway by 2021 at Nicholas (only one lane east of Metcalfe) is already accounted for. Congestion at this location on the Queensway will only get worse from now till 2021. There are no plans to accommodate the additional cars from an AVC road.

On May 19th 2004 Transportation Committee received an interim report on the EA which included City staff's justification for a 4-lane road as the sole option to be studied in detail. Members of Citizens for Healthy Communities (CHC) as well as other members of the public made presentations to the committee. A motion requiring consideration of transit as well as the road was unanimously passed by the committee. Specific wording of the motion is included here.

On March 30th 2004 there were two Open House meetings held at the RA Centre. One was hosted by the City to present their preferred alternative: a road. The other was hosted by CHC to point out the omissions in the assessment so far including no consideration of healthier transportation choices. Selected highlights from the March 30th meetings:

• Read a copy of the City's own report on their Open House and see that the majority of people who attended agree with CHC! Thank you to all who attended and provided comments.
• The consultant lacked the nerve to mention their estimate of 107 million dollars for their preferred 4-lane road on any of their poster boards.
• CHC received strong support and thanks from attendees in their meeting.
• Copy of CHC handout.
• Media Release in Press section.

The ‘preferred alternative' in a January 2004 report to the PAC (Public Advisory Committee) is a 4-lane roadway: 2 lanes for motor vehicles (including trucks), and 2 lanes for ‘high occupancy vehicles’, (including buses).

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Older News from 2003, 2002 and 2001

This page last updated on October 6, 2008