Ottawa downtown a congested, noisy work in progress

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Summer is usually a time for Ottawa residents to complain about construction and its less-than-welcome side effects: gridlocked roads and narrow sidewalks and bike pathsnot to mention noise and pollution.

But even by summer's standards, downtown Ottawa residents, commuters and tourists can be forgiven for thinking, "Has it ever been this bad?"

Well, not recently.

The City of Ottawa currently lists eight construction projectsin the core Somerset and Rideau-Vanier wards that have a "high impact" on traffic.

Some of those projects the Transitway work that has diverted buses onto Nicholas Street, the development around the Rideau Centre and the future Rideau light rail station, and construction around the future Lyon Station are holdovers from last year.

But in addition, the city has closed off half of Queen Street as part of its work to build the Confederation Line, done the same to a busy portion of O'Connor Street, and closed off sections of main arteries like Wellington Street and Kent Street during off-peak hours.

Add in the National Arts Centre's renovations which have closed a sidewalk and one lane on always busy Elgin Street and it all adds up: getting around isn't so easy.

Here we take a look at some of the streets in the core, and how they've changed with recent road work.

Street views, then and now

Queen has been reduced to one eastbound lane from Bay Street to Metcalfe Street, taking with it one of the few east-west streets in the core. Here's a look from three different intersections, as well as some other trouble spots at O'Connor Street, Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue.

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