Which road is the worst in Ottawa?

It’s that time of year again: Ottawa residents can cast their votes for the city’s worst road.

CAA’s annual Worst Roads campaign puts the spotlight on roads across the province. Residents can nominate and vote based on factors including congestion, potholes and poor signage.

Last year three Ottawa roads cracked the top 10 worst in Ontario. Carling Avenue was second, Hunt Club Road was sixth and Innes Road was eighth.

Voting this year is open until April 19.

CAA paused the campaign in 2020 because of the pandemic, and no Ottawa roads were in the top 10 in either 2019 or 2018.

The Worst Roads campaign has influenced change since it started in 2003, CAA says. Repaving and repair work has been done on many of the roads on the list.

“Every spring, we launch the worst roads campaign and that is a survey right across the province, looking for the worst roads — the ones that have the biggest potholes, that will swallow a mini-van, the ones where the sidewalk is crumbling, there is crocodiling all over the pavement,” said CAA North and Eastern Ontario director of communications Julie Beun. “Basically, we’re looking for infrastructure problems that we can then compile a report and go back to municipal and provincial governments so that they can really have a hit list of where they need to focus.”

Beun says a perennial option is already getting a lot of votes.

“I looked at the numbers this morning, and already Carling Avenue is getting the big raspberry from Ottawa once again,” Beun said. “Bronson Avenue has made a surprising appearance on the list, Hunt Club, again, another bad one. We’re also looking at Baseline and Richmond Road.”

Carling Avenue, looking towards Bronson Avenue. Both roads are among the 10 worst in Ontario, according to CAA. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

Carling Avenue frequently appears on worst roads lists. The city of Ottawa says it's a long street with a long history.

“Carling Avenue is a 19-kilometre roadway which accommodates a very large number of daily users. Not all of Carling Avenue was constructed in the same manner. The road varies in width from a two-lane rural cross-section with ditches to a six-lane arterial with dedicated transit lanes. There are some urban sections constructed with a concrete base that are nearing the end of their lifecycle,” said Ottawa's manager of asset management Gen Nielsen in a statement.

“Though some sections of Carling have poor pavement condition, since 2006, the City has consistently rehabilitated the worst sections.”

Nielsen said parts of Carling Avenue will be undergoing resurfacing work in 2022 and there are more rehabilitation plans in 2023.

42,000 POTHOLES FILLED SO FAR THIS YEAR

City staff say they've already been working to fill potholes across the city. Director of roads and parking services Quentin Levesque said as of Monday, city crews had filled 42,398 potholes in 2022. 

He says spring is often the worst time of the year for road conditions.

“As potholes are difficult to repair during the cold winter months, this time of year is typically the worst for road conditions for a few reasons: the amount of freeze and thaw cycles increases, winter weather events (snow, freezing rain and rain) continue to occur, and crews receive an influx of service requests from various areas of the city.”

The city has approximately 6,000 km of roads within its limits.

These were the five worst roads in Ottawa in 2021:

1. Carling Avenue
2. Hunt Club Road
3. Innes Road
4. Montreal Road
5. Merivale Road