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With work on the LRT’s western expansion causing lane closures on Highway 417 west of the core, some Ottawa drivers say their afternoon commutes have taken a turn for the worse.
“It’s doubled my commute time,” said plumber Brandon Palen, who lives in the west end of the city.
The lane closures began last week between the Woodroffe Avenue and Pinecrest Road interchanges, near the future Pinecrest LRT station.
Congestion is common there even when all lanes are available, but the latest closures are generally making drive times longer and more tedious.
Palen said what used to be a 20-to-25-minute drive now takes him 40 to 45 minutes.
“The morning … is not a big deal,” he said. “But on the way back home, then that’s when everything is pretty unfortunate.”
“It’s really crazy out there.– Syed Huq, Kanata commuter
Liane Orsi, who drives from the Carleton Place area, said her commute is currently taking about an hour and a half.
Normally, it would be between 35 and 45 minutes, she said.
“I was disappointed to see new construction starting on both sides of the highway. So you have a delay both ways … and [it] just makes for a really long work day,” she said.
Syed Huq, who drives to the downtown from Kanata, said his commute now sometimes takes more than an hour.
“It’s really crazy out there,” he said.
Both the east and westbound sections of Highway 417 will be reduced by one lane. (CBC)
Lane closures until late July
There’s also construction on Highway 417 closer to downtown and at Bank Street and Riverside Drive, both of which are disrupting alternate routes that people west of downtown could take to get in and out of the downtown core.
There have also been ongoing maintenance and schedule challenges for OC Transpo for most of the year.
In an email, the city said some of the closures along the highway between Woodroffe Avenue and Greenbank Road are due to new Ministry of Transportation signage that’s being installed.
Jacelyn Daigle, deputy director of the rail construction program, said that work is occurring in the highway median and is bundled with the nearby Stage 2 LRT expansion.
A single lane will be closed in both directions until July 28.
“All efforts are being made to maintain three lanes for traffic in both directions where possible,” Daigle said, although a short segment of the westbound lanes has been reduced to two.
The eastbound on-ramp from southbound Pinecrest Road is also closed as a result of this work.
A spokesperson for OC Transpo said signs have been installed on the westbound side to help familiarize commuters with the new lane configuration.
Discussions with the Ministry of Transportation are ongoing regarding further potential improvements to help alleviate congestion, Daigle added.
