Last week, the NCC and the City of Ottawa signed an agreement that will result in the realignment of Renaud Road. This project is long over-due, and will see the northern portion of Renaud Road, extended along the hydro corridor, connecting to the roundabout at Brian Coburn Boulevard and Navan Road.
This project will also see the entire southern portion of Renaud Road completely closed ; the decommissioning of the dangerous S-curve with its two 90-degree turns, which required two crossings of the Prescott-Russell Trail; and permanently eliminating cut-through traffic from the residential community of Bradley Estates.
This change also brings about new protections to the environmentally sensitive Mer Bleue Bog. The new roadway will not only permanently move traffic further north, away from the Bog, making use of existing cleared lands along the hydro corridor; but it will close down the entire section of Renaud Road that is currently running through the RAMSAR boundary, which outlines the internationally recognized wetland.
In addition to the realignment of Renaud Road, the agreement between the NCC and the City also moves forward various interim measures supporting active transportation and carpooling/bus transit. Innes Road, west of the Blackburn Bypass, will be widened, with the addition of an HOV lane. As well, a new multi-use pathway will be installed, removing active transportation from Innes Road along this stretch, and instead providing a safe, new connection at Pepin Court in Blackburn Hamlet.
While the Bypass vehicle lanes themselves will remain unchanged, the Navan/Innes intersection will be reconfigured to support an HOV lane, as well as the installation of a new active transportation connection into Blackburn Hamlet via Cléroux Crescent.
These projects move the needle on a conversation that has been ongoing for over a quarter century, tangibly moving toward the future vision of improved, multi-modal transportation connections for Orléans to the rest of Ottawa.
It is a huge step in the right direction for Orléans, and all east end residents, for years to come.
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