Motorists travelling in Ottawa’s east end are being warned to expect delays this weekend due to the closure of Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard at Highway 174.
The City of Ottawa says Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard and the highway ramps will be closed from Friday at 9 p.m. until Monday at 5:30 a.m. as part of construction on Stage 2 of the light-rail transit project. During the closure, access to Highway 174 from Jeanne d’Arc will be blocked all weekend.
The construction work includes electrical work and paving on Jeanne d’Arc.
“As a reminder, the closure of the Jeanne d’Arc overpass is required to allow for paving of the roadway and to move forward on the final reconfiguration of the sidewalk and lanes on the overpass for the Jeanne d’Arc Bridge rehabilitation work,” Coun. Laura Dudas said on Facebook.
“This project and the related community impacts were detailed by Stage 2 in their presentation last fall, and at that time, it was anticipated that ten weekend closures would be required for the work. This weekend is one of the final remaining closures in the schedule, with the work tracking to wrap up in the coming months.”
Highway 174 will remain open to motorists during the construction this weekend.
Motorists in Orleans admit the weekend closure is frustrating.
“It’s like, here we go again,” Marsha Dowd says.
“More inconvenience and we will have to take the long road around every time we want to get out of here. So it’s not going to be fun.”
Jane Barban says travel this weekend will require you to plan ahead.
“You have to figure out how to maneuver around these things,” Barban says.
“It is inconvenient for people. But unfortunately, these things have to be done.”
The city is warning that work will occur during the night to meet the construction timelines.
“Site lighting and generators will be used to power lights which are a safety requirement for overnight work. Crews will place and/or direct the light away from residences to mitigate any impacts,” says a statement on the OC Transpo website.
OC Transpo says the work must continue overnight to finish by Monday morning.
“The reason why is so that they can get as much work done in a short period of time as possible,” Katrina Camposarcone-Stubbs, OC Transpo public information officer, says.
“And we will have vibration noise monitors in place to ensure that everything stays, you know, below the standards. So it has the least amount of impact on residents as possible.”
Noise and vibration monitors will be in place.
Detours
Motorists can access Highway 174 in both directions at the Place d’Orleans/Champlain Street interchange or at the Montreal Road interchange.
If you are travelling to the Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard area, you can exit the highway at Montreal Road and Place d’Orleans and travel along St. Joseph Boulevard.
The City of Ottawa released a map outlining the detours during construction on Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard from July 12 to 15. (OC Transpo/website)
With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Peter Szperling