Hunt Club and Riverside is a traffic mess, but that’s not stopping a new development in the area

As Ottawa continues to grow and develop, some city councillors wonder if its infrastructure can handle it. 

These are questions that were raised at city council on Wednesday, when they approved a new development for 3930 and 3960 Riverside Drive, at Hunt Club Road. 

This intersection is ranked as one of the worst in the city, given a grade of 'F' for the rate of collisions and the traffic backlogs. 

River ward's Riley Brockington was opposed to the project, as he feels there's a lack of communication between the city's planning and transportation departments. 

“I think, for the average resident, they can't understand the city continuing to approve planning applications along corridors that have this gridlock, that have this kind of congestion,” Brockington explained. “They want the infrastructure to keep pace with development applications, that's the real issue.”

The councillor also wondered how bad the transportation network would have to be before the planning department would consider rejecting an application, noting there are 40,000 cars that go through Hunt Club Road and Riverside Drive, every day. 

Along with Brockington, councillors Diane Deans, Shawn Menard and Carol Anne Meehan also voted against the Riverside Drive development plan on Wednesday.

“When people were told that there was a probability of a development going into that corner they were just, gobsmacked,” said Meehan. 

She explained that people who travel through that area everyday don't really have much of a choice, as she feels there aren't enough public transit options available.  

City staff argued that there are changes coming that will help improve traffic in that area, including the widening of the Airport Parkway, scheduled to happen in the next four or five years, and LRT Stage 2, which is on track to head out to Riverside South and Barrhaven East in the next few years as well. 

But, Councillor Brockington feels that those factors won't help as much as they seem to think. 

“There will be a number of people who drive who will convert to LRT, but it will not be the magic solution that will somehow eliminate thousands of cars from this corridor, both corridors, everyday,” he said. “That's just not going to happen.”

The city will be reviewing their official plan later this year and Brockington hopes to see a balance between transit and the road network.