Mayor, councillors send letter to NCC asking to help make several road intersections safer

By Dani-Elle Dubé

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and city councillors Tim Tierney and Jeff Leiper teamed up to send a letter to the National Capital Commission (NCC), asking to work together with the city to improve cycling safety at several intersections on NCC lands. 

Tierney, councillor for Beacon Hill-Cryville, released a copy of the letter that was sent to NCC’s CEO Tobi Nussbaum on his Twitter Wednesday afternoon, discussing the city’s Transportation Services staff’s Cycling Safety Review of High- Volume Intersections with heavy traffic and cycling intersections. 

The mayor and councillors say they hope to provide potential options for safety improvements and develop a roadmaps for changes to existing and future cycling facilities. 

In the letter, the mayor and councillors say they’ve consulted stakeholders that included Bike Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa, the Healthy Transportation Coalition and EnviroCenter for feedback and input on the city’s preliminary list of 10 locations during the intersection screening stage. 

“The review resulted in considerations for safety improvements, potential conceptual designs and high-level cost estimates for implementation at several intersections within the City of Ottawa,” the letter said. “The locations were screened based on criteria to select locations with a high volume of cyclists, turning vehicles, high posted speed limits and a trend in collisions involving cyclists.”

The letter says Transportation Services staff will be bringing the safety review to the city’s transportation committee, which was held on Wednesday. 

Through the screening exercise, 10 intersections were identified to fall under NCC jurisdiction, or at least partially. 

However, staff found that two locations where they could fall within the city’s right-of-way. They include: Richmond Road and Island Park Drive and Preston Street and Prince of Wales Drive/Queen Elizabeth Driveway. 

The following five locations were screened out because they partially fall under NCC jurisdiction and are currently under construction or part of planned projects: 

  • Booth Street and Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway/Wellington Street
  • Hawthorne Avenue and Colonel By Drive
  • Island Park Drive and Carling Avenue
  • Montreal Road and Aviation Parkway
  • Scott Street and Island Park Drive

The last three locations were screened out because the majority of the required works likely falls under NCC jurisdiction, the letter explains. 

They include:

  • Island Park Drive and Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway
  • Island Park Drive and Clearview Avenue
  • Queen Elizabeth Driveway and Hawthorn Avenue/Elgin Street

The mayor and councillors say they are requesting that the NCC undertake a review of the last three high-volume intersections that have been identified to primarily be on NCC land. 

They’re also asking that the NCC continue to work with the city on projects that are currently underway to make sure opportunities “are not missed to address cycling concerns at high-volume locations that are fully or partially located on NCC land.”

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