Report to/Rapport au :
Comité des transports
and Council/et au Conseil
9 August 2007 / le 9 août 2007
Submitted by/Soumis par : R.G. Hewitt,
Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
Public Works and Services/Services et Travaux publics
Contact
Person/Personne ressource : W.R. Newell, P. Eng., Director/Directeur
Infrastructure Services/Services
d’infrastructure
613-580-2424 x16002, Wayne. Newell@ottawa.ca
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SUBJECT: |
Cost Estimate for Feasibility
study to estimate the impact of permanently reducing the number of lanes on
King Edward Avenue from 6 to 4. |
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OBJET : |
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REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That
the Transportation Committee and Council receive this report for information.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité des
transports et le Conseil municipal prennent connaissance du présent rapport.
BACKGROUND
The Environmental Study Report (ESR) for the King Edward Avenue Renewal project, dated September 2002, evaluated different roadway cross-section options including four-lanes and six-lanes. The conclusion of this evaluation was that a six-lane cross-section is required until measures are in place to significantly reduce traffic volumes on King Edward Avenue, particularly the volume of truck traffic. Possible measures to reduce traffic volumes, as identified in the ESR, included the construction of a new inter-provincial bridge.
Construction of the King Edward Avenue Renewal project commenced in 2005. Phase 1 construction has been completed and includes a new overpass south of Macdonald-Cartier Bridge. Phase 2 construction commenced in 2006 and includes reconstruction of King Edward Avenue between Macdonald-Cartier Bridge and St. Patrick Street to a six-lane cross-section. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2007. Phase 3 is currently at a final design stage and includes the reconstruction of King Edward Avenue between St. Patrick Street and Besserer Street to a six-lane cross-section. The design and construction of King Edward allows for conversion to a four-lane cross-section in the future.
Report
ACS2007-CCS-TRC-002 titled "Pedestrian Crosswalk at the Intersection of
King Edward Avenue and Cathcart Street", was considered at the
Transportation Committee meeting of 16 May 2007. That report had two recommendations which were carried as
amended. The second recommendation was:
"That
the following recommendation be referred to staff for cost estimates:
That
during the actual construction process, which has reduced the number of lanes
on King Edward from 6 to 4, a feasibility study be undertaken to estimate the
impact of permanently reducing the Avenue to four lanes."
City Council at its meeting on 13 June 2007 asked that the request for a feasibility study be refered to staff for a cost estimate on the understanding that no funds existed in the project for this work. This report provides those cost estimates.
DISCUSSION
A
feasibility study to estimate the impact of permanently reducing King Edward
Avenue to four lanes would require extensive data collection and analysis to
properly assess the network-wide operational impacts resulting from
redistribution of traffic from the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge corridor. The study cannot be based simply on traffic
counts taken along King Edward Avenue during the period while construction
activities have temporarily reduced it to four lanes; rather, it must reflect
the network-wide impacts resulting from lane reductions on a permanent
basis. This not only requires traffic
counts along King Edward and parallel routes such as Dalhousie and Sussex, that
serve the catchment area leading to and from the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, but
also counts at key signalized intersections along arterials that serve the
catchment areas of the four other inter-provincial bridges.
The feasibility study must also
consider the network-wide impacts on transit.
A transit ridership study would be required and passenger trips analyzed
at each river crossing to be able to compare scenarios where King Edward is
permanently reduced to four lanes versus the current temporary arrangement of
four lanes north of Murray Street only.
All analysis pertaining to
redistribution, both in terms of vehicular flows and transit ridership, must
attempt to rationalize its validity given the subjective relationship that exists
between data collected during temporary construction conditions, versus which
would ultimately prevail following establishment of permanent conditions once
traffic patterns stabilize.
An addendum to the ESR would be required if further consideration of reduction to four lanes is to be pursued prior to implementation of the measures to reduce traffic and truck volumes on King Edward Avenue. The amount of effort required to prepare this addendum is dependant upon the extent of public participation required to address concerns raised during the study.
Based on this the preliminary estimated costs to undertake the additional work is as follows:
Feasibility Study $125,000
Addendum to ESR (if
required) $150,000
TOTAL $275,000
CONSULTATION
The
feasibility study will involve taking traffic counts and carrying out a traffic
analysis based upon those counts.
Public consultation is not required to determine the estimated cost of
this feasibility study.
If there is to be further consideration of permanently reducing King Edward Avenue to four lanes subsequent to completion of a feasibility study, then an addendum to the ESR would be required. Public consultation would be required as a component of the addendum.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The requested cost estimates to undertake the feasibility study are indicated in the body of this report. As indicated in the previous report (Ref No. ACS2007-CCS-TRC-0002) funds are not currently available to complete this work.