Presentation to City of Ottawa

 with respect to

Environmental Assessment Study 

Prince of Wales Drive Widening

(Fisher Avenue to Woodroffe Avenue)

 Purpose:

The purpose of this submission is to provide input to the Environmental Assessment Study with respect to the widening of Prince of Wales Drive from Fisher Ave to Woodroffe Ave.

It should be noted that the submitter, in consultation with a number of other area residents, is in opposition to the widening of Prince of Walls Drive from Fisher Ave to Woodroffe Avenue for a number of reasons, including environmental, safety and quality of life.

Current configuration:

The current road configuration, which we will be discussing in this submission, is as follows:

• Woodroffe Ave. is four lanes from Strandherd Dr to Carling Ave.
• Woodroffe Ave is two lanes from PRINCE OF WALES to Strandherd.
• Riverside Drive is four lanes from River Rd to Vanier Parkway
• River Rd is two lanes from before Manotick to Riverside Dr.
• PRINCE OF WALES is two lanes except around Hunt Club Bridge and Manotick to intersection with Woodroffe

Proposed Plan:

The proposed PRINCE OF WALES Widening plan includes, but is not limited to, the following actions:

• Twinning of PRINCE OF WALES from Woodroffe Ave to Fisher Ave. 
• Building the Strandherd/Armstrong Bridge between the communities of Riverside South and Barrhaven.
• Closure of Woodroffe from PRINCE OF WALES to Strandherd.

Environmental Assessment Study Considerations:

According to city documents, the key considerations for the Prince of Wales Drive study include the following:

• the needs assessment for the widening and examination of the resulting traffic impacts;
• the provision of access to existing and planned developments along the corridor;
• impacts on/access to farming operations on National Capital Commission ( NCC) lands;
• the requirement to widen the existing Canadian National Railway (CNR)/VIA Rail overpass located just south of Colonnade Road;
• the planning of intersections such as the Strandherd Drive, Merivale Road, Hunt Club Road, Fallowfield Road, and Colonnade Road, to improve safety and ensure sustainable traffic management strategies;
• the future closure and removal of the Woodroffe Avenue/Prince of Wales intersection from the arterial road network;
• pedestrian and cycling needs, including the planning of the intersection;
• the planning of the intersection with future NCC Greenbelt pathway;
• timing and transportation impacts of the future Strandherd/Armstrong Bridge;
• the potential for an additional future Rideau River crossing as identified in the TMP;
• impacts on the Rideau Canal system and the fact it is considered for World Heritage Status;
• impacts on Parks Canada lands and the Black Rapids Locks station considering they are National Historic Sites; and
• the upcoming relocation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to the former JDS building on Merivale Road;
• anticipated growth in the rural villages to the south; and
• transit priority opportunities

Also, according to city council documents, the EA study will examine and evaluate the project's effects on the social, physical, and natural environments within the study area.

Specific Considerations from submitter:

The submitter wishes to raise three specific concerns to the plan to widen PRINCE OF WALES.  These concerns are as follows:

1.  PRINCE OF WALES will remain two lanes from Fisher Ave north to Baseline; therefore it is logical to assume that traffic from PRINCE OF WALES will flow onto Fisher Ave.  The traffic forced onto the current four lanes of Fisher Ave. will run into a bottleneck at Dynes Rd, where the roadway reduces to two lanes to and through the Experimental Farm to Carling Ave.  Fisher Ave is very heavily populated including having two schools directly adjacent to the road and two additional schools not that far from the road.  Directing the PRINCE OF WALES traffic onto Fisher Ave. will constitute a safety hazard for school children in the area.

Figure 1: Schools on Fisher Ave

2.  The current noise level of the two-lane PRINCE OF WALES between Crestway Ave. and Woodroffe Ave. is high, especially for homes on the west side which are above the roadway and therefore could not benefit from a sound burm.  The widening of PRINCE OF WALES will increase noise pollution and lower the quality of life for many local residents.

3.  Large vehicles, especially trucks, cause the ground to shake in the homes near PRINCE OF WALES between Crestway and Woodroffe.  The ground here is primarily leda clay which is prone to liquefaction and sliding when exposed to vibration and excessive soil moisture, due to such conditions as heavy rain and large snow fall followed by rapid melting, such as that experience in the winter of 2007/08.

Figure 2: Area subject to vibration

Recommendations

• Build Strandherd/Armstrong bridge
• Complete Woodroffe twin from Strandherd to PRINCE OF WALES
• Twin River Rd from Manotick to Riverside Dr.

These recommendations are based on a number traffic situations which exist or will exist in the Barrhaven/Chapman Mills area.  These include, but are not limited to:

• RCMP headquarters moving to Merivale campus off PRINCE OF WALES.
• Completion of project to four-lane Woodroffe Rd from just south of Strandherd Rd. to Highway 417 (Queensway).
• Lower density of homes between Manotick and Hunt Club Road on River Road than on PRINCE OF WALES.
• The current River Road connects with the four-lane Riverside Drive.

1.  With the RCMP HQ moving to Merivale/PRINCE OF WALES, there has been no comprehensive transportation plan done of which I am aware.

In the current traffic configuration, if you ignore the existence of PRINCE OF WALES (even in its current two lane configuration), South-bound traffic can come south on Greenbank, Woodroffe or Merivale to Fallowfield, the east (except in the case of Merivale traffic) to Merivale and south to the HQ.  Westbound traffic comes across HC bridge to Merivale and south on Merivale to HQ.  Eastbound traffic can cross the Hunt Club Bridge to Merivale and then proceed south.

When the city builds the Strandherd Bridge, west bound traffic will be able to select the river crossing either at Hunt Club or Strandherd.  The Strandherd crossing will take the west bound traffic to the four-lane Woodroffe Ave.

2.  There is little logic to support the closure of Woodroffe Ave between Strandherd and PRINCE OF WALES.  That extension, completed as four lanes from Strandherd to PRINCE OF WALES, can take the flow of traffic from Manotick and southern area to Hwy 417 in complete four lane comfort and convenience.

3.  Widening of River Road makes more sense in the long term for three reasons:

• First, the population density along River Road is less that along PRINCE OF WALES (reducing the impact of noise and vibration);
• Second, River Road connects to Riverside Drive which is already four lanes; and
• Third, the west side of the river already has a four lane road for traffic (Woodroffe), therefore it makes more sense to widen River Road for the Riverside South and future Manotick expansion which has no four lane roadway.

 Figure 3:  Recommended configuration of 4 lane roads within study area

Additional Food-for-thought

The city is trying to emphasize mass or public transit, especially from the suburbs.  There is an argument to be made to putting a Park and Ride lot at the corner of PRINCE of Wales and Rideau Valley Drive/Jockvale Rd., upgrading PRINCE of WALES to three lanes with the third being a bus-only lane which is designed for lane reversal.  An express bus could then be laid on that starts at the Park and Ride, makes one stop at Merivale Rd and then continues to the Woodroffe transit way or north to the downtown.

Respectfully submitted,

Bruce Ricketts

Resident of Havenlea-Chapman Mills Community