NCC proud of active use projects as mayor calls for Queen Elizabeth Driveway to reopen to vehicles

The National Capital Commission is peddling forward with its active transportation program on Queen Elizabeth Driveway despite calls to reopen the road to vehicles, saying it is "proud to provide safe, accessible, and unique active use experiences and destinations throughout the capital." 

This comes after Mayor Mark Sutcliffe renewed his call for the NCC to reopen the section of Queen Elizabeth Driveway between Pretoria Avenue and Fifth Avenue to vehicles. 

On Wednesday, the Mayor posted a video on social media detailing results from a city of Ottawa traffic study that shows only about 100 cyclists an hour are using the active transportation project on Queen Elizabeth Driveway. 

He says the city conducted a traffic study during a week at the end of July.

Sutcliffe says the traffic study by the city shows that only 1.7 cyclists a minute are using the road.

"We are displacing more than 10 cars per minute, instead of using the road (cars) are now using residential streets," Sutcliffe said Thursday.

The National Capital Commission opens Queen Elizabeth Driveway for active transportation seven days a week in the summer from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., closing the road to vehicles. 

The NCC was not available for an interview with CTV News Ottawa on Thursday, but said in a statement that, "The Queen Elizabeth Drive Active Use Program is very popular, with nearly 74,000 visits since May."

The statement also says, "Surveys conducted last year by the NCC indicate that 91 per cent of respondents are supportive of the continuation of the NCC active-use programs."

The NCC is also gathering additional data and conducting further public survey to “help inform future iterations of our active use initiatives.” 

Sutcliffe telling CTV News his push to reopen a section of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway is not intended to be a distraction from the ongoing light-rail transit shutdown. 

"I think the people of Ottawa are capable of thinking about more than one thing at a time. We are dealing with multiple issues as a city, we always are," Sutcliffe said. 

"There is a team of people who are working hard to fix our issues with light rail and there are different people who work at the city who are addressing very legitimate traffic concerns in the Glebe. I don’t want to say to the people of the Glebe who are concerned about traffic, 'Sorry, I am too busy! I can't help you until light rail is fixed.' We need to be able to deal with more than one problem at time and that is what we are doing."

One resident who lives in the Glebe says there have been significantly more congestion on streets such as O’Connor this summer.

"Definitely a lot more congested, particularly along this block…people are forced to kind of make illegal turns. Cross over onto other streets in the wrong direction."

Sutcliffe says he is aware of concerns from the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group and traffic disruptions into Lansdowne but has not met with OSEG representatives.

"I know what their feelings are, and have not had many conversations with them directly. I know they have spoken to city staff and I have heard what they have said publicly about the fact about when they have major events or even smaller events that are happening at Lansdowne Park, like the farmers' market on Sunday, it makes it more difficult to get there and creates more congestion on roads in the Glebe."

CTV News Ottawa reached out to OSEG, but did not hear back by Thursday evening.

Sutcliffe says he has raised his concerns with the National Capital Commission.