Ottawa Road 174-Prescott-Russell County Road 17 Study

Notice of Completion of Environmental Study Report for improvements to Ottawa Road 174

 

Minister of the Environment and Climate Change – Letter of October 6, 2017

Minister of the Environment and Climate Change – Decision_ Letter of November 10, 2017

The United Counties of Prescott and Russell in partnership with the City of Ottawa have completed the Class Environmental Assessment (EA) Study for improvements to Ottawa Road 174 from the Highway 417 Interchange to Canaan Road and improvements to Prescott-Russell County Road 17 from Canaan Road to Landry Road (County Road 8).

This Study was planned under Schedule C project under the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment. The Recommended Plan includes:

  • Widening OR 174 to 3 lanes in each direction between Highway 417 and Trim Road
  • Widening OR 174 to 2 lanes in each direction between Trim Road and Canaan Road
  • Widening CR 17 to 2 lanes in each direction between Canaan Road and Landry Road

The Environmental Study Report (ESR) has been prepared to document the planning and design process and the functional design of the recommended plan. The ESR is available for public review at the following locations during regular business hours for a period of 30 calendar days, starting on Thursday June 2, 2016.

The United Counties of Prescott-Russell
59 Court St., L’Orignal

Clarence-Rockland Town Hall
1560 Laurier St.,

Rockland Clarence-Rockland Library
1525 Du Parc Ave.,Clarence-Rockland

Ottawa City Hall Client Service Centre
110 Laurier Ave. W., Ottawa

Orléans Client Service Centre
255 Centrum Blvd.,

Orléans Cumberland Museum
2490 Old Montreal Rd., Cumberland

Carleton University
MacOdrum Library
1125 Colonel By Dr., Ottawa

Ottawa University
Morisset Hall
65 University Pvt.,

Ottawa Main Public Library
120 Metcalfe St., Ottawa

Orléans Library
1705 Orléans Blvd., Orléans

North Gloucester Library
2036 Ogilvie Rd.,

Gloucester Cumberland Library
1599 Tenth Line Rd., Orléans

Ministry of Environment and Climate Change
103-2430 Don Reid Dr., Ottawa

The Executive Summary of the ESR will also be available for download at www.hwy174and17study.ca(link is external) in both French and English.

 

Alternative solutions

There are capacity, safety and operational deficiencies in the study area.

  • Predicted traffic volumes are expected to exceed operational standards at the majority of key road crossings even with an increased transit ridership
  • An arterial-type lane is required in each direction to provide additional capacity in 2031 from Highway 417 to Rockland
  • There is potential for safety improvements in site-specific areas where higher than predicted collisions occur

In order to address these deficiencies a long list of alternative solutions was developed.

  • Do nothing
  • Enhance other modes and/or manage travel demand
  • Improve the existing corridor with transportation systems management (TSM)
    • Split to Trim Road: add interchange at Trim Road
    • Trim Road to Rockland: improve transition zone cross-section; improve intersection at bottlenecks such as Cameron Street in Cumberland, Quigley Hill Rd, Old Montreal Rd, Canaan Rd, Laurier Street and Landry Road; consolidate private laneways to one or more service road(s) from Meadow Lane Road to Quigley Hill Road; add passing lanes and/or reversible lanes
  • Provide additional road capacity
  • Expand the 174/17 existing corridor
    • Split to Trim Road: widen freeway from 4 to 6 lanes
    • Trim Road to Rockland: widen arterial from 2 to 4 lanes
  • Expand other east-west arterial roads such as Old Montreal Road, Wilhaven Drive, Frank Kenny Road, Trim Road and Innes Road
  • Construct new east-west roads:
    • From Trim Road easterly up the escarpment to south of Wilhaven Drive to Baseline Road to Landry Road
    • At Rockland, southerly bypass of existing development
  • Combination of the above solutions

Screening of alternative solutions

Screening criteria were developed to assess the merits of the long list of alternative solutions.

The screening criteria are:

  • The ability of the alternative to address the project need.  Alternative solutions must provide transportation capacity and improve safety
  • Adherence to policies, regulations, and local standards of practice. Alternatives should not contravene provincial/federal policies or municipal regulations or policies

Consideration of environmental impacts. Alternatives were reviewed to determine their high level impacts on the various environmental conditions. The ability to avoid /reduce /minimize impacts was considered