MTO bridge replacement pedestrian and cycling detours

There will be a major change soon to the Trillium pathway as construction gets underway to replace the 417/O-Train bridge. Councillor McKenney and I were engaged early in this process, and working with MTO and the City have achieved a detour that will be as safe as possible during the lengthy construction process. For a couple of weeks, unfortunately, Trillium path users will need to detour to Gladstone avenue while they construct the new pedestrian/cycling by-pass. Once that's opened in June, cyclists will be able to use a segregated, bi-directional lane on Preston to get around the construction. The details are as follows. Click on the .pdf files below to see those visualized.

Councillor McKenney and Councillor Leiper,

I would like to advise you that the Ministry of Transportation has awarded R.W. Tomlinson the construction contract for the replacement of the Highway 417 bridges over the O-Train Trillium line. This project will include the removal and reconstruction of the existing Highway 417 bridges; the reconstruction of adjacent retaining walls on the west side of the O-Train; the construction of a multi-use pathway detour around the construction site; and the demolition and site restoration of the building located at 47 Young Street. The Highway 417 bridges replacement will occur during a weekend full closure of the highway and will include the rapid demolition of the existing bridges followed by the sliding in of the new bridges.

In order to facilitate this work, the multi-use pathway between the Gladstone Avenue and the pedestrian bridge at Young Street will be detoured starting on May 27, 2019 for the duration of the project. Pedestrian and cycling detours have been developed by the City of Ottawa and will be in-place prior to construction. For your reference, I have attached the interim detour which will be in-place during the construction of the ultimate multi-use pathway detour (also attached) which is expected to be open prior to the end of June 2019. The Pedestrian bridge at Young Street that crosses over the O-Train will remain open at all times.

There are no schedule traffic impacts on Highway 417 this year. As part of the construction of the ultimate multi-use pathway detour along Preston Street, there will be daily and possibly nightly single lane closures on Preston Street that avoid weekday peak traffic hours 7AM-9AM and 3PM-6PM. Young Street and Louisa Streets will remain open to local traffic at all times. The ultimate multi-use pathway detour is expected to take 21 calendar days to complete.   

Project milestones with anticipated schedule dates are as follows:

• Start of Construction – May 27, 2019
• Interim detour of the multi-use pathway – May 27, 2019
• Opening of ultimate multi-use pathway detour – June 21, 2019
• New Bridge Construction – June 2019 to October 2020
• Retaining Walls – June to December 2019
• 47 Young Street Demolition – June to July 2019
• 417 Bridge Replacement Weekend (Full Highway 417 Closures) – July 3 to 5, 2020 (tentative)
• Contract Completion – December 2020

The Ministry had retained the services of McIntosh Perry Consulting Engineers to assist with the administration of this contract.