OSEG head says Queen Elizabeth Driveway closure could expand next year, NCC says no final decision

A city of Ottawa committee heard Tuesday that the National Capital Commission is considering closing the Queen Elizabeth Driveway to cars permanently, but the NCC says it hasn't made a final call.

The head of the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group said he understands the NCC plans to close the Driveway to vehicles all the way to Preston Street near Dow's Lake.

OSEG CEO Mark Goudie called the plans a "big area of concern" for TD Place and Lansdowne when speaking before the city's finance committee on Tuesday.

"We understand from the NCC that their expectation and their plan for next year is to close QED from downtown through to Preston, which obviously significantly impacts us, and I think long term, the plan for the NCC is to close down QED permanently to vehicular traffic," he said.

"I know that's a concern for the city in my conversations with them from a transportation, from a neighbourhood traffic and from a … safety and emergency response perspective," Goudie said. "We heard back from people last year with the partial closures that, you know, people had a harder time getting to to TD Place."

A spokesperson for the NCC told CTV News Ottawa that no decision has been made yet for the 2024 season.

The NCC began closing part of the Queen Elizabeth Driveway during COVID-19, to give cyclists, pedestrians and other active users a place to exercise outside. That closure—from Somerset Street to Fifth Avenue—is planned again for this summer.

But if the road closes all the way to Preston next summer, that's an additional three kilometres of roadway that would be inaccessible to cars.

Leah Geller, a resident of Sandy Hill, says having additional space for active transportation is helpful.

"The path along here gets very crowded," Geller said. "People have their dogs and their strollers and cyclists, so it's nice to spread the pedestrians and cyclists out onto the road."

But Joe Cotroneo, owner of Pub Italia on Preston Street, says closing one road just makes more traffic elsewhere.

"You know, it's fine to say you're closing the Parkway, but all you're gonna do is put it on somebody else's street," he said. "There's plenty of space for cycling and walking paths to add to what's there. It's not like there's no room. I think they should be looking at more of a permanent setup for the walkers and cyclists."

OSEG is the city's partner at Lansdowne. The Queen Elizabeth Driveway is a major artery for people driving to Lansdowne, especially for Redblacks games at TD Place.

"By closing the QED, that's going to be a big imposition on our neighborhood," Goudie said. "And I think we can figure out a way to make this all work happily for everybody."

This summer’s Queen Elizabeth Driveway closure from Somerset to Fifth will happen on weekends until July, every day between July 1 and Sept. 4, and then weekends until Thanksgiving.

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Dave Charbonneau and Michael Woods.