No chance Highway 417 St. Laurent northbound ramp will reopen, MTO says
Posted Feb 1, 2020 09:38:00 PM.
Despite road safety concerns from City Hall, the province's Ministry of Transportation (MTO) says it is not considering reopening the St. Laurent Boulevard northbound ramp on Highway 417 to general traffic.
The update comes as a response to Beacon Hill-Cyrville ward City Councillor Tim Tierney's October inquiry of wanting to know the rationale for the closure and if the decision to keep it closed would be re-assessed in the future.
The ramp has been closed for over four years and only emergency vehicles have been permitted to access the ramp.
According to Tierney's inquiry – which can be found on the Transportation Committee meeting agenda for February 5 – drivers wanting to access the east end to go down Ogilvie Road and Innes Road are instead accessing the ramp by making U-turns southbound, which is creating traffic problems.
The City's Transportation Services Department says they've contacted the MTO and received an email confirming the permanent closure of the ramp citing MTO's own safety concerns for the reason behind their decision.
“During the Environmental Assessment (EA) for Highway 417 from Highway 416 easterly to Anderson Road, it was determined that traffic entering the highway from this ramp and moving across all lanes of Hwy 417 lanes to access Ottawa Road 174 eastbound was contributing to poor highway operations and safety concerns at the split,” the email reads. “The EA therefore recommended permanent closures of this ramp to general traffic.”
And by expanding the 417 by one lane in each direction from Nicholas Street to the 174 for the Confederation Line, it would create additional safety issues if the ramp was to be reopened to general traffic.
The ramp, the MTO adds, will remain permanently closed.
However, the additional lane (portions of which were used for reserved bus lanes during Light Rail construction) is expected to open in the fall of this year.
Full details of the MTO's response is expected to be presented at the upcoming Transportation Committee meeting.
