Ottawa drivers who rely on Highway 417 and its connecting roads are being warned to expect a fall full of lane closures as crews race to finish the remaining LRT construction work tied to the Stage 2 east extension.
The biggest hit: Place d'Orléans
The most significant impact for east-end commuters will be a closure of the eastbound on-ramp at Place d'Orléans, which is expected to last three to four weeks while crews complete water main work. Drivers who use that ramp to get onto the 417 eastbound should plan for detours during that stretch.
West end: Pinecrest and Moodie
In the west end, construction around Pinecrest Station will continue until November, with lane reductions on Pinecrest Road between Highway 417 and Queensview Drive. Moodie Drive will also see lane reductions and nightly closures of its highway on-ramps.
Holly Acres Drive, between the highway and Richmond Road, will see additional lane closures in late September into October, including full closures of the highway on-ramps in one direction at a time.
Nightly closures and a short full shutdown
Across the corridor, drivers can expect nightly closures on Highway 417 off-ramps this fall for paving and line painting work. Officials also confirmed a short full closure of both the westbound and eastbound lanes of the 417 is planned for November, to allow crews to install overhead signage. No exact date for that closure has been announced yet.
Richard Holder, director of the rail construction program, said the timing of the road work has been deliberately staged. "Overall, the road work has been planned to minimize impacts on transit operations wherever possible," he said.
Why the road work matters for the LRT timeline
The closures are tied to finishing touches on the Stage 2 east extension of Line 1, which will add stations from Blair to Trim. OC Transpo expects that extension to begin pre-trial running in early October, followed by a 21-day trial running phase. Adding up all the required steps, officials say an opening date for the east extension could come some time in November at the earliest, meaning the timeline for riders and the timeline for drivers dealing with lane closures will run in parallel for the next couple of months.
Flooding still being assessed near Moodie Station
Separately, OC Transpo general manager Rick Leary said the transit agency is still working through the fallout from severe weather on Canada Day, which caused flooding in the guideway and rail infrastructure near Moodie Station. "In the short term, a detailed assessment of the flood impacts will be completed and a review of next steps will be completed," Leary said. It is not yet known whether that flood damage will affect the broader construction schedule beyond the west-end road work already planned.
For Ottawa drivers, the practical takeaway is to build in extra time this fall on the 417, especially around Place d'Orléans, Pinecrest, Holly Acres and Moodie, and to watch for nightly ramp closures that could pop up with little warning as paving and signage work moves along the corridor.
Sources: Ottawa Citizen (via Yahoo News Canada), CBC News (via Yahoo News Canada)
