These three Ottawa roads are among the worst in Ontario

OTTAWA -

Three Ottawa roads are among the 10 worst in the province for drivers, according to a new poll.

Motorists have voted Carling Avenue, Hunt Club Road and Innes Road among the Top 10 Worst Roads in Ontario in the annual CAA poll.

Carling Avenue was voted the second-worst road in Ontario, Hunt Club Road is sixth, and Innes Road in eighth.

Jean-Marie Lubangi drives daily down Carling Avenue. He agrees it should take home the gold medal, but for him, it’s not the condition, it’s the congestion.

"Because of the construction first," says Lubangi. "After that it’s because most people living in Kanata, if the highway is busy they take a shortcut onto Carling."

While Hunt Club Road ranked sixth, Mike Phillips says it should be number one because of the amount of potholes.

"The worst road that I’ve been driving on is the lower end of Hunt Club," says Phillips who has lived in Ottawa for 65 years. "It’s super busy and with all the trucks it’s eating up all the roads."

CAA paused the worst roads campaign in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No Ottawa roads were ranked among the top 10 worst roads in 2019 or 2018.

Carling Avenue was voted the eighth-worst road in Ontario in 2017, while Hunt Club placed seventh.

There are approximately 6,000 kilometres of roads in Ottawa, and the city does have a system to maintain them.

"It’s based on an assessment for competing priority and needs and based on our annual capital budget funding," says Gen Nielson, Ottawa's manager of assessment management. "We assess the needs based on condition, the risk to service, which includes things like traffic volumes as well as cost and affordability. We also coordinate with nearby projects which are occurring to make sure that we are minimizing the impact to the traveller on the road and we also consider public concerns."

The city plans five years ahead, and there is a list of capital infrastructure projects planned for roads. 

Victoria Road in Prince Edward County was voted the worst road in Ontario in 2021, with voters citing potholes and crumbling pavement as the main concern for the road.

The CAA Worst Road Campaign is designed to make roads safer by helping municipal and provincial governments understand why roadway improvements are important.