Planning Context

Highway 417 is a critical east-west corridor for moving people and goods across Ottawa. However, while it connects the city for drivers, it also creates a significant barrier for walking and cycling by limiting safe and comfortable north-south connections between nearby neighbourhoods, transit stations, schools, parks, and other community destinations. Today, travelling through Highway 417 interchanges at Richmond Road, Pinecrest/Greenbank Road, Woodroffe Avenue, and Maitland Avenue can be difficult for people walking and cycling due to limited facilities, indirect routes, high-speed traffic, and complex ramp configurations. These conditions make even short local trips uncomfortable for many users and inaccessible for others.

In 2018, the City completed the Queensway Pedestrian and Cycling Connections Study which identified priority opportunities to improve active transportation (walking and cycling) connections across Highway 417. This work focused on enhancing access to transit stations delivered as part of the Stage 2 LRT West Extension, as well as improving connections between surrounding communities.

Following the recommendations of the 2018 Queensway Pedestrian and Cycling Connections Study, active transportation improvements across the Richmond Road, Pinecrest/Greenbank Road, Woodroffe Avenue, and Maitland Avenue interchanges with Highway 417 were included as First Phase projects in the City’s Transportation Master Plan (TMP).

The Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) is currently advancing bridge replacements where Richmond Road, Pinecrest/Greenbank Road, Woodroffe Avenue, and Maitland Avenue cross over Highway 417. As part of this work, MTO will include new walking and cycling facilities across the bridge structures themselves. However, the scope of the provincial project is limited to the bridges and does not include the adjacent connections needed to link these facilities into surrounding neighbourhoods and pathway networks. Additional information related to this bridge replacement project can be found on the Provincial Project Website.

To complete these connections and realize the full benefit of the new bridges, the City is advancing this functional design project for the connecting active transportation facilities through the four interchanges. The functional designs presented on this website establish the proposed layouts and future walking and cycling connections that will guide subsequent detailed design and future implementation.