Traffic on the 174 Could Get A Lot Worse

Earlier this week, the Ottawa Citizen published an interesting article about the upload of the 174 to the province. While I generally agree that the residents of Ottawa should not be on the hook for paying for infrastructure that is designed to move people across different cities, the article shows a risk that we will be exposed to because of that upload.

The article mentions that the United Counties of Prescott and Russell currently plan to widen their section of the 174 to four lanes. The article then quotes our MPP, Stephen Blais, who appears to support an expansion of the 174 to four lanes from Trim to Rockland:

“You could theoretically have a section of a highway that’s four lanes going to two lanes and then going back up to four lanes,” Blais said. “It continues to be very dangerous.”

This could be a problem for those of us who use the 174 for our commute. This expansion would create induced demand. By making it easier for Rockland residents to get downtown, they will likely change their travel patterns to utilize the extra capacity. Currently, many people from Rockland arrive at work early to avoid rush hour traffic. These people will inevitably create traffic on the 174.

Another consideration is that exurbs have seen a lot of growth in the last few decades. This is in part due to the lack of housing in the city itself, which drives up home prices, forcing people to move to the exurbs where housing is cheaper. One factor limiting that growth is the finite amount of time people are willing to spend driving. The additional capacity on the 174 could spur additional growth in the eastern exurbs, which will further increase the amount of congestion on the 174.

The city is trying to mitigate the impact of growth in the exurbs by providing generous parking at the Trim LRT station. That means that, once the additional highway capacity has been gobbled up by the people who change their habits and new development, we will likely see the LRT parking lot being filled by residents from the exurbs. Since more than half of our transit system is funded by property taxes, this means many users receive a significant discount on their rides (the PCs have promised to upload the LRT, but the details and implementation timelines are unknown). Let’s not forget that if we used the space reserved for the park and ride for transit-oriented development, we could get more residents who pay taxes in the city. It would also provide a significant boost to our local businesses, offering opportunities for additional businesses and amenities that Orléans residents can utilize.

So while the uploading of the 174 will provide a much-needed financial relief to our city, it appears that Orléans residents will bear the cost through more traffic on the 174, more crowded trains, and fewer opportunities to improve life around our LRT stations. If you want to prevent this, email Stephen Blais to let him know that you don’t support the widening of the 174 east of Orléans. You can also email Laura Dudas, Matt Luloff, and our mayor to support transit-oriented development instead of parking lots around our LRT stations. We should also encourage growth in our community instead of the exurbs.