Feeling the pinch of Ottawa's precarious commute

Our fair city has several traffic pinch points. Maybe that's a real term, maybe I made it up. What I'm talking about here are the places where, if a collision occurs, traffic will be snarled worse thanusual no matter how big or how small the crash.

King Edward is a royal pain

If a crash happens here southbound in the morning or northbound in the afternoon it's hellish, mostlybecause this is the only route for trucks headed to and from Quebec.

It's also a pretty popular inter-provincial route for the rest of us, so it's pretty busy most of the time. Not only that, but if you get a crash in and around the area between the Shepherds of Good Hope and the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, it also messes up the feeder routes from Sandy Hill and Beechwood. St. Patrick Street, for instance.

So, one badly-timed crash can cause back-ups on King Eddy itself back to uOttawa, Rideau, St. Patrick, Nicholas, Waller and Cumberland. That's just coming from Ottawa. Coming from Gatineau, the back ups are felt on the southbound 5, Fournier, the westbound 50 and St-Raymond.

174 problems

Another doozyis the 174 between Blair and Montreal roads.

There aren't many efficient routes to and from Orlans, apart from the 174. Soif you get a crash here, it causes serious backups.

Again, not just on the 174, but on the nearby 417 if the crash is eastbound, on Montreal and Blair roads, as well as Innes, Bearbrook and the Sir George-tienne Cartier Parkway.

Scenic stagger

Finally, I mention the overused Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.

Collisions cause misery here because so many treat it as an east-west freeway, but it is completely without shoulders. In winter, you can't even get up on the median. Even the most minor collision here causes a 50 per centlane reduction.

All that traffic headed to and from downtown/Hull/Aylmer/Tunney's/the west end is gridlocked, and there arefew options to bail: you can't turn at Lemieux Island or turn south at Booth.

Many of the parks and parking lots along the parkway are closed and snowed-in during winter.

Feeling the pinch of Ottawa's precarious commute

6 years ago

Duration 1:22

Traffic specialist Doug Hempstead explains why King Edward is a royal pain

This is part of CBC Ottawa's special seriesNowhere Fast, a look at how and why people commute in the capital region.

We'll be looking at the people, numbers and stories that are part of your daily tripto and from work.