Alayne McGregor
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe recently suggested chopping half of the active-transportation-only section of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway. He’s got a lot of pushback from community groups, city councillors, and the CEO of the National Capital Commission (NCC).
For July and August, the NCC has closed the Driveway to motor vehicles from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week to allow more space for pedestrians, cyclists, scooter users, and those in wheelchairs. After Labour Day, it will be open to cars on weekdays but still closed on weekends until Thanksgiving.
The exceptions when cars are allowed are three hours before and after major events at Lansdowne Park (such as football games), and the two weekends (including this weekend) when Queensway bridges are being replaced. Emergency vehicles are also allowed on the Driveway.
The result has been a peaceful throughway, noticeably more quiet than the rest of Centretown. On one Sunday in July when The BUZZ walked down the Driveway, pedestrians tended to stay on the associated pathway and bikes and scooters on the Driveway. There was a steady stream of users, without it being crowded and with no apparent conflicts.
The closure covers a 2.4 km stretch of the Driveway between Somerset Street West and Fifth Avenue. In an op-ed in The Ottawa Citizen in mid-July, Sutcliffe proposed that the closure should only run from Somerset to the Pretoria Bridge, because he contended the closed southern section increased traffic on residential streets in the Glebe and on Bank Street.
Councillor Ariel Troster disagreed. “The vast majority of residents whom I spoke to during the election campaign are desperate for more active transportation options, particularly north-south. It’s a very small piece of road in the context of the city, and I really support the NCC’s move towards ensuring more space for people who get around the city in other ways.”
Councillor Jeff Leiper responded to Sutcliffe in an open letter, saying he was upset the mayor would “advocate to reverse a real safety gain” for residents who travel by active modes. “Suggesting that residents who travel by foot, on bike and using mobility devices share very crowded Canal paths in order to make connections between neighbourhoods is not a solution […] in an intensifying city.”
The Centretown Community Association (CCA) has been pushing for the Driveway to be people-first, since it was originally closed to cars for periods during the pandemic. Derrick Simpson, the co-chair of the CCA Transportation Committee, objected to Sutcliffe’s proposal.
“I know a lot of people, myself included, use all of the [Driveway] to get to the south. I’m not really comfortable biking down Bank or Kent or any of those streets so when I head all the way to the south, I take the [Driveway]. So I think it does make a difference.”
The advocacy group Parkways for People has been pushing for more active transportation on NCC parkways since 2021. Co-lead Erin Maher described the Mayor’s idea as “perplexing” and “a huge lost opportunity.”
She said the closure should at least include The Glebe because it provides a more meaningful route into other city neighbourhoods. She noted that the city’s Official Plan calls for more than half of trips to be made by sustainable modes by 2046, and “this would seem to be a very simple way” to do that.
She suggested increasing signage on streets connecting to the Driveway, like Fifth Avenue, to let drivers know about the closure so they can pick alternate routes not on local streets.
Benefits of removing cars
Closing the Driveway to cars is “better place making,” with less air pollution, Simpson said. Walking or cycling in greenspace is good for mental health; making it easier to walk and bike improves equity; and removing cars makes it safer for children.
He said he’d heard from many people that they go to the Driveway with their children, or they use it as the only place they really feel they can run without having to stop.
“We know there’s a path, and we do appreciate the path, but it gets very busy. It can be difficult with pets and with kids and with with older people and people in wheelchairs. So we find the active use program works very well in making sure that everyone can participate.”
Maher said that removing cars from the Driveway during the pandemic “allowed us to see our city in a different way.”
She said the current closure allows Centretowners to access other dense neighbourhoods like the Glebe safely. “It allows them to experience active transportation with their families. I have small children, so it allows a family ride to do an errand that wouldn’t frankly be as accessible navigating through city streets.”
She uses the Driveway “all the time” from her home in Ottawa South. Her five-year-old daughter is new to cycling and “the experience of seeing her use the Driveway in a safe way feels revolutionary. As a parent who is nervous about their young kid toddling around on their bike, it’s really quite amazing to see her just travel freely. I can ride beside her instead of calling ahead and hoping she does the right thing. I can speak to her in a normal voice and she sees me. I see the future of what we could have at the city if we embrace this comfortable and safe active transportation route.”
Her three-year-old son rides in a chariot or in a bike seat, she said. In the quiet of the Driveway she can talk to him while cycling, which isn’t possible in the noise and smells travelling with cars on Colonel By Drive.
“It is quite special and it’s not something that you’re used to having in a city. It really shows you what we’ve been missing this whole time.”
The Driveway is blocks away from many shopping streets. When asked if that’s actually convenient for errands, Maher said riding on the Driveway still allows the main portion of a trip to be made in a car-free zone, and then the rest on side streets. “It provides a backbone to the densest parts of the urban core.”
The canal pathways, on the other hand, are so crowded that “it really doesn’t work when you’re trying to actually use it for transportation.” A cyclist will have to slow down or stop over and over again to give pedestrians priority or look out for dogs, she said. “You wouldn’t expect a car to do that kind of stop.”
Being able to separate modes on the Driveway gives a more comfortable experience for everyone, she said. It allows pedestrians to avoid being surprised by a cyclist lingering behind them waiting to pass, and allows cyclists to travel at a consistent speed.
Other solutions to traffic woes
Troster said the city should be looking at dedicated bus lanes on Bank Street to handle traffic demand from large events at Lansdowne, especially since Lansdowne is being built up with more housing and entertainment destinations. “It’s not sustainable for people to get [to Lansdowne] solely by using their cars.”
“Bank Street is absolutely a parking lot on game days, even when the Queen Elizabeth Driveway is open. So I think we have to deal with the real problem, which is how to deal with the traffic flow on Bank Street, and the best way to do that is to get more people out of their cars and on to the bus.”
Ultimately, Simpson said, the CCA wants to reduce car traffic downtown by improving transit (especially on Bank Street) and cycling access. Leading cities like New York and Toronto provide very efficient and convenient ways to get downtown that are not cars, he pointed out.
“There’s such limited space downtown that if everyone tries to drive, it can be difficult for anyone to get around.”
Maher argued that allowing parking on Bank Street was not as useful as a transit lane. “Why should we let five cars or 10 cars or 20 cars dictate the use of space that could otherwise be afforded to dedicated transit lanes? It would be successful in helping to reduce car traffic for everybody, but those those things aren’t being tried and there’s no indication that they will be tried. I find it a bit lacking ambition.”
New visions for the Driveway
Simpson said the CCA would like the Driveway to be permanently redesigned to be people-focused without cars. That could include street trees for shade, more public washrooms, and more places serving food and drinks, he said. “We would love to hear more ideas and lots of public input.”
Maher said the NCC should look at what other cities are doing with their waterfront spaces and make the Driveway more of a linear park. Possibilities include floating docks, picnic tables and places to sit – “affording people the opportunity to to linger and enjoy the beautiful greenspace.”
It could even climate-proof Winterlude by providing winter activities and vendors along the Driveway for times when the Rideau Canal hasn’t frozen over, she suggested, “so people can still appreciate that same vibe that Winterlude offers.”
Greening the Driveway could also help Ottawa mitigate and adapt to climate change, she said, by creating an outdoor space for people when temperatures spike. The city’s heat island maps show most of Centretown as orange (very high) except for along the canal, which is the coolest spot in the area. “The more trees we plant along there, the cooler we can make it.”
NCC response
The NCC (which reports to the federal government) controls the use of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway. Mayor Sutcliffe sits on the NCC board, but does not have a vote.
In a Citizen op-ed two days after Sutcliffe’s, NCC CEO Tobi Nussbaum responded by pointing out that the city’s own Official Plan calls for reducing the Driveway’s “importance as a commuter route in favour of pedestrian activity and green space connections with consideration of canal crossings. This may include limiting vehicular access and reducing traffic speed.”
Since May, he said, there have been “thousands of users daily on the [Driveway] street alone, not counting the neighbouring, often crowded, pathways.” The NCC’s parkways were never designed as commuter corridors but rather as destinations themselves, he explained.
Nussbaum also noted that the closure to cars reduced carbon emissions, “especially urgent as we experience a summer of unprecedented climate impacts.”
According to the NCC, over 100,000 visits have been made each year during the Driveway’s active use program.