The City of Ottawa is warning motorists to expect “significant traffic” impacts during the 82-hour closure of a stretch of Highway 417 this weekend.
Hwy. 417 is closed eastbound and westbound between Carling Avenue and Metcalfe Street for the replacement of the aging Preston Street bridge. The highway is scheduled to reopen at 6 a.m. Monday.
Preston Street is also closed between St. Anthony Street and Young Street until Aug. 6 for the construction.
Crews will use rapid-bridge replacement technology to remove the existing highway overpass and move the pre-constructed new bridge into position.
Drivers on Friday endured congestion and slow traffic trying to get around the closure.
“The shutdown is just terrible. Even just trying to come down this way from the West End, we got completely stopped there. I’m just tired of seeing all the construction, to be honest,” said John Allarie. “My GPS said 16 minutes to get where it was taking me, and then it took me almost 40 minutes to get here.”
Colin Weneck said he doesn’t even want to get on a bus.
“It’d be quicker if I walked,” he said. “Just stay at home, try to avoid the traffic – that’s all you can really do right now.”
Large swathes of traffic moving slowly in Ottawa on July 26, 2024 (Sam Houpt/CTV News)
Businesses in the area say traffic has slowed down since Preston Street was closed.
“Italian Fest was great, but then ever since the bridge closed, everything just kind of slowed down,” Adele Melanson of the Farinella Snack Bar said.
Highway 417 will be closed at the same time as the O-Train remains out of service between uOttawa and Tunney’s Pasture stations for annual maintenance. The O-Train will be partially shut down until Sunday.
The City of Ottawa is warning motorists to expect “significant traffic and transit impacts” on Friday due to the Hwy. 417 closure, the shutdown of the western extension of the O-Train for maintenance and the Ottawa Redblacks game.
“The peak impacts are expected between 3 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.” the city said in a statement. “If you are needing to travel, please expect delays and plan accordingly to allow for extra travel time.”
Highway 417 will be closed between Carling Avenue and Metcalfe Street this weekend for the replacement of the Preston Street overpass. Preston Street is also closed around Hwy. 417. (Tyler Fleming/CTV News Ottawa)
CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at what you need to know about the Queensway closure for the replacement of the Preston Street bridge.
When
The eastbound and westbound lanes of Hwy. 417 will be closed to traffic between 8 p.m. Thursday and 6 a.m. Monday, July 29.
Lane closures
The Highway 417 eastbound lanes will be closed between Carling/Kirkwood and Metcalfe Street.
Highway 417 westbound lanes will be closed between Metcalfe/Catherine and Carling Avenue.
Highway 417 ramp closures
The Ministry of Transportation and Kiewit Dufferin Midtown Partnership say the following highway on-ramps will be closed to vehicles this weekend:
Eastbound on-ramps
- Maitland Avenue
- Carling Avenue on-ramp
- Parkdale Avenue on-ramp (to reopen in August)
Westbound on-ramps
- O’Connor Street on-ramp
- Lyon Street on-ramp
- Bronson Avenue on-ramp
- Rochester Street on-ramp (to reopen in October 2024)
- Parkdale Avenue on-ramp
Preston Street closure
Sections of Preston Street are closed due to the replacement of the highway overpass.
Preston Street is closed between St. Anthony Street and Young Street until Aug. 6.
Preston Street will be closed between Louisa Street and Young Street from 8 p.m. July 25 to 6 a.m. July 29.
Booth Street
The City of Ottawa says the northbound lanes of Booth Street, between Carling Avenue and Raymond Street, will be closed from 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Monday to “facilitate the Highway 417 westbound detour.”
Detour
Motorists using Highway 417 this weekend are being directed to use Carling Avenue to get around the Preston Street overpass closure.
The detour for westbound motorists recommends exiting Hwy. 417 at Metcalfe Street, then travelling west on Catherine Street to Booth Street, south on Booth Street to Carling Avenue and then driving west to Carling Avenue.
A look at the Highway 417 westbound detour during construction on the highway this weekend. (City of Ottawa website)
The eastbound detour recommends motorists exit Hwy. 417 at Carling Avenue and travel east on Carling Avenue to Bronson Avenue. Drivers will then turn right from Bronson Avenue to Chamberlain Avenue and travel east to the Metcalfe on-ramp to Hwy. 417.
A look at the eastbound detour for Highway 417 during the Preston Street closure this weekend. (City of Ottawa website)
O-Train
The O-Train will remain partially shutdown this weekend due to annual maintenance.
The O-Train is shutdown between Tunney’s Pasture and u-Ottawa stations until Sunday.
R1 replacement bus service is running between Tunney’s Pasture and Hurdman stations.
Other road closures
Here are some other road closures to keep in mind in the area of the Hwy. 417 closure this weekend:
- Scott Street is closed between Bayview Station Road and Parkdale Avenue for LRT construction work.
- Construction is underway on a two kilometre section of Richmond Road between McEwen and Cleary avenues.
With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Tyler Fleming and Sam Houpt