Ottawa Highway Bypass Corridor/Ring Road

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by roger1818

In other words, a north/south Ottawa bypass would be much more useful than an east/west bypass. I will try to draw a map when I get a chance.

I know this is a few years late, but here is what I was thinking. This would pair well with a Kettle Island bridge (also shown on the map). I have it split near Kemptville to avoid having to cross the Rideau, but it could split further north to make it work with a future East-West bypass, if that were ever built.


Legend:

• Yellow: Existing divided highway
• Blue: Existing roadway (converted to a highway?)
• Purple: New Bypass
• Red: New Bridge (and approaches)

[FrostyMug]

As someone who semi regularly travels from Orleans to S Ontario and back I can confirm that a version of this has been my recommended quickest route for the past year. Taking back roads over the provincial highway system because they are the fastest route seems contradictory. Actually my route travels even further east as the 417 and particularly the 174 are congested.

So as odd as that suggested route appears, it's an accurate reflection of what makes sense to get east and if/when the new bridge is built, north to Gatineau as well.

[J.OT13]

As much as I'm no fan of Tierney and bringing up the ring road within a few weeks of the final TMP vote when he had years to advocate for it, a bypass isn't a terrible idea. His argument that we should build a ring road instead of the bridge is non-nonsensical, of course.

Roger's proposal would be good, but probably not supported by the ring road advocates on Council because it doesn't serve the suburbs.

The current plans to extend Hunt Club and Walkley through the Greenbelt to connect to Innes is pure lunacy. It wouldn't solve anything since that part of the 417 has capacity to spare, and Hunt Club's stroadafication makes it useless as a ring road.

[FrostyMug]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The current plans to extend Hunt Club and Walkley through the Greenbelt to connect to Innes is pure lunacy. It wouldn't solve anything since that part of the 417 has capacity to spare, and Hunt Club's stroadafication makes it useless as a ring road.

I'd disagree. A significant contingent of Orleans residents work in the south end of Ottawa. Hawthorne Business park area, Ottawa airport, etc. Providing options to the few current connections (174, Innes, St Joseph/Montreal Rd.) will benefit and help with traffic. The current plan to just funnel it back to Innes will create a massive bottleneck between the connection point and the 417. Getting to the 417 let alone beyond it, is the challenge for many commuters in the East end.

I can agree that Hunt Club is useless as a ring road but I believe the province already has plans to expand the 417 to three lanes in both directions to Anderson from the split so I'm not convinced there is "capacity to spare."

[BGO]

Originally Posted by roger1818

I know this is a few years late, but here is what I was thinking. This would pair well with a Kettle Island bridge (also shown on the map). I have it split near Kemptville to avoid having to cross the Rideau, but it could split further north to make it work with a future East-West bypass, if that were ever built.


Legend:

• Yellow: Existing divided highway
• Blue: Existing roadway (converted to a highway?)
• Purple: New Bypass
• Red: New Bridge (and approaches)

Never in a thousand years. Your east connection makes sense, not the west one. The best way imo is convert leitrim from east then jump to fallowfield and finally woodroffe and hunt club into an hwy to connect to 416. Cheapest option for sure. Less expropriations.

[dougvdh]

Originally Posted by BGO

Never in a thousand years. Your east connection makes sense, not the west one. The best way imo is convert leitrim from east then jump to fallowfield and finally woodroffe and hunt club into an hwy to connect to 416. Cheapest option for sure. Less expropriations.

The north part of the east connection doesn't really make sense either. It should be further east to connect the Shefford industrial area to the Gatineau airport industrial area and also to avoid going through residential areas on both sides of the river.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by BGO

Never in a thousand years. Your east connection makes sense, not the west one. The best way imo is convert leitrim from east then jump to fallowfield and finally woodroffe and hunt club into an hwy to connect to 416. Cheapest option for sure. Less expropriations.

So are you suggesting the following (in Green) as an improved bypass for getting vehicles from the 401 up to the proposed Kettle Island Bridge (and eastern Ottawa)? That would be a significantly longer route and I am not convinced it would be significantly cheaper, given that most of the land you would need to expropriate is already developed and it requires building a new bridge over the Rideau River.

My route was picked to stay east of the Rideau and avoid developed land while making the route reasonably direct.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by dougvdh

The north part of the east connection doesn't really make sense either. It should be further east to connect the Shefford industrial area to the Gatineau airport industrial area and also to avoid going through residential areas on both sides of the river.

It was chosen to align with the proposed Kettle Island bridge. For trucks to get from the bypass to Shefford Rd, they could exit from the 417 to the 174 and then exit at Montreal Rd.

If the NCC decides the build the bridge further east, the bypass would still be helpful. It could be extended north of the 417, but finding a route that isn't either protected or developed would be difficult.

[rocketphish]

Should Ottawa build a ring road? The province says it's worth exploring.
Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said there is “a good case” for the ring road concept and that the province would look at its feasibility

By Michael McBean, Ottawa Citizen
Published Jun 23, 2026 | Last updated 2 hours ago

When Gerry Dust wants to get from his home in Orléans to his cottage west of Ottawa, the journey often begins with a gamble.

Will Highway 417 co-operate?

For the retired lawyer, the answer increasingly seems to be no.

What was once a drive of about 90 minutes can now stretch far longer as traffic snarls across the city.

“It’s a pain in the butt, quite frankly,” Dust said. “I’m astonished at how blocked up it usually is.”

Dust believes Ottawa should finally build what generations of politicians and planners have discussed but never delivered: a ring road around the city.

Dust isn’t new to the debate. He served on a committee examining a ring road in the 1970s alongside former Cumberland mayor Brian Coburn and other local leaders.

“When I first came to Ottawa in the early ’70s, this was being talked about,” Dust said. “Fifty years later, we’re still having the same conversation.”

The idea has resurfaced after Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said in April that the province is exploring a southern ring road around Ottawa. Speaking at a Mayor’s Breakfast event, Sarkaria said there is “a good case” for the concept and that the province would look at its feasibility.

<more>

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ring-road-ottawa

[FrostyMug]

Considering the flak that the Feds are talking over Alto and putting together a land package for the right of way I can only imagine how this would be received by every land owner on the perimeter of Ottawa. Or Ford's croney's already own large swaths of this land and are looking to cash in.

My two cents (and it won't be popular) is to build it completely within the Greenbelt. No urbanization of surrounding areas, nothing to encourage sprawl and no one has to profit. Limited access I.e 416, Woodroffe, Prince of Wales, Riverside, Bank, Hawthorne and 417. After all, it's supposed to be a "Bypass", not an additional commuter route to get around the city.

I can hear it already.... But Greenbelt... and I fully understand dealing with the NCC is 100x worse than a trip to the dentist.

[Tesladom]

It makes the most sense to use this as a template, but the NCC (Feds) own the Greenbelt so fat chance

[urbanforest]

Originally Posted by Tesladom

It makes the most sense to use this as a template, but the NCC (Feds) own the Greenbelt so fat chance

How many people/who would that road actually serve? Someone travelling from Carp to Cumberland? I’d be interested to know how many vehicles travel the Queensway downtown or Hunt Club with origins/destinations beyond the 416/ 174 split.

[FrostyMug]

Originally Posted by urbanforest

How many people/who would that road actually serve? Someone travelling from Carp to Cumberland? I’d be interested to know how many vehicles travel the Queensway downtown or Hunt Club with origins/destinations beyond the 416/ 174 split.

It's probably more than you realize. Locally anyone west traveling to Montreal or beyond and anyone east traveling to Toronto or beyond crosses. Then there is an abundance of truck traffic. There are many Logisitics firms located in the east end of the city near Walkley/Hunt Club/St Laurent. Those distribution centres service a significant portion of Eastern Ontario. I haven't touched on the traffic bound for Quebec.

Currently when I return from or am headed to S Ontario from Orleans, Waze takes me well south of the city as the 417 is a roadblock. I know where Dalmeny road is because that's how far south I get routed to avoid Ottawa 417 delays.

So I believe there is demand. How much is a fair question for sure but there is a need and it should be thoroughly investigated.

[Richard Eade]

Yes, there is demand, at the moment. With the mess on the 417 and the limited crossings of the Rideau River and Canal, west-east traffic is currently pretty bad. However, part of that is only temporary. By the end of June, the lane reduction at Pinecrest should be gone. If the Province can get its contractor to speed things up, so that the central section gets all of its lanes back, then that will just leave a few week-end closures for bridge replacements. Then, of course, there will be the future work around the 417 / 416 interchange; but, again, that will be temporary.

The real problem is the lack of alternative routes. This goes for roads and transit. And, of course, this is a major factor of proper transportation planning that seems to be lacking at the City of Ottawa.

Ottawa should not need the Province to come in and build a large southern west-east roadway. That should have been planned and done by the City decades ago. By this time, there should be at least 3 main west-east highways, and at least 5 north-south highways. All of which should be at least 3 lanes pre direction. I know that many of those on this forum consider themselves as Urbanists, and will reject the idea of large roads, considering the idea to be outdated. The problem with that is reality.

As a city grows, there will be more need to handle traffic – even if other modal shares increases. In a city of 500,000 people, if 80% drive, then that is 400,000 cars. If Urbanists are successful, and the car modal share drops to only 60% while the city grows to 1,000,000 people, there are then 600,000 cars on the roads. That is a 50% increase in traffic, even though the other modal shares increased. That increase in traffic needs to be properly planned for.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by FrostyMug

Considering the flak that the Feds are talking over Alto and putting together a land package for the right of way I can only imagine how this would be received by every land owner on the perimeter of Ottawa. Or Ford's croney's already own large swaths of this land and are looking to cash in.

My two cents (and it won't be popular) is to build it completely within the Greenbelt. No urbanization of surrounding areas, nothing to encourage sprawl and no one has to profit. Limited access I.e 416, Woodroffe, Prince of Wales, Riverside, Bank, Hawthorne and 417. After all, it's supposed to be a "Bypass", not an additional commuter route to get around the city.

I can hear it already.... But Greenbelt... and I fully understand dealing with the NCC is 100x worse than a trip to the dentist.

I imagine there would be less opposition to a 100 meter wide road than a 60 meter wide rail corridor. Unfortunately, there's generally more support for road capacity over rail capacity.

The Queensway is bad now because of construction. Granted, west of Downtown, it's bad at rush hour.

Hunt Club was supposed to be the bypass road, but the City couldn't resist stroadafying it. Might be easier and cheaper to modify Hunt Club back into a bypass highway instead of building yet another road.

[J.OT13]

And also, funny how the Province has all be ignored Ottawa until someone mentions building a new highway.

[OTSkyline]

I'm not convinced that the 417 congestion today is a) temporary due to construction and b) only at rush hour.

The city has grown a lot in the past 5-10 years (in terms of population) and with return to work after covid and the continued reliability issues with transit, driving is more popular than ever.

There's many situations as of late where it doesn't matter if you leave at 2:30pm on a Tuesday afternoon or 9pm on Saturday night, you are stuck bumper to bumper on the 417 trying to get anywhere.

As the city continues to grow (especially in the south like Barrhaven and Riverside South) a southern highway or bypass will only get more useful as time goes on.

[hwy418]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

I'm not convinced that the 417 congestion today is a) temporary due to construction and b) only at rush hour.

The city has grown a lot in the past 5-10 years (in terms of population) and with return to work after covid and the continued reliability issues with transit, driving is more popular than ever.

There's many situations as of late where it doesn't matter if you leave at 2:30pm on a Tuesday afternoon or 9pm on Saturday night, you are stuck bumper to bumper on the 417 trying to get anywhere.

As the city continues to grow (especially in the south like Barrhaven and Riverside South) a southern highway or bypass will only get more useful as time goes on.

Yes - agree 100%! What we're seeing now is not temporary at all. It's the new norm and it will only get worse.

[Dengler Avenue]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I imagine there would be less opposition to a 100 meter wide road than a 60 meter wide rail corridor. Unfortunately, there's generally more support for road capacity over rail capacity.

The Queensway is bad now because of construction. Granted, west of Downtown, it's bad at rush hour.

Hunt Club was supposed to be the bypass road, but the City couldn't resist stroadafying it. Might be easier and cheaper to modify Hunt Club back into a bypass highway instead of building yet another road.

The freeway ROW can be brought down to 90 m. 80 m will be pushing it but still doable.

Originally Posted by hwy418

Yes - agree 100%! What we're seeing now is not temporary at all. It's the new norm and it will only get worse.

That’s why I went to the Southern Truck Route study in Barrhaven/Manotick last Wednesday night and told the city to collaborate with MTO.

[dougvdh]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

The freeway ROW can be brought down to 90 m. 80 m will be pushing it but still doable.
. . .

And Italy does 300km/h high speed rail in a 35m ROW (double track, electric, fenced and with drainage ditches) 60m is only used in locations where there's a substation.