City to offer fall update as summer of construction 'hell' winds down

Could construction relief be on the way? Or will it be more of the same in downtown Ottawa this fall?

Those questions will hopefully be answered this afternoon, when city staff and Coun. Keith Egli, chair of the transportation committee, offers council anupdate on how the next few months of construction willaffect drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

• Ottawa's 'crazy' construction snarls downtown traffic, bedevils businesses
• Construction forcing pedestrians in downtown Ottawa to take dangerous risks

All summer, Ottawa's downtownhas been a maze of orangetraffic signs, work crews, and confused commuters.

Stretchesof Bank, Queen, O'Connor, Kent, Lyon and Wellington streets have all seen construction projects, which the city hasdeemed to have had a "high" impact on traffic, according to a municipal website devoted to monitoringroadwork and street closures.

Some of the projects, such asthe ongoing Confederation Line lightrail construction and the National Arts Centre rebuild, have been planned. Others,like the sinkholethat swallowed a portion of Rideau Street in June, have come as complete surprises.

"It's hell. It adds a good 30 minutes to your bus ride," said Annie Molimard, who rides the bus daily into downtown Ottawafrom Clarence-Rockland, Ont."Normal time is an hour, during [rush] hour. Now we're looking at an hour and a half."

Carole Elhagesaid she also hasa lengthier-than-normal transit ride in from Orlans,and that the construction challenges don't end when she steps off the bus.

"You definitely have to wear your flats. Because if you're in your heels, you're definitely falling some places," she said. "There's a lot of detoursbecauseoften the roads areclosed,so you have to turn around and take another [entrance]to your building."

While Erik Foisy's35-minute walk wasn'taffected too much, he did suggest that his favouritedowntownToronto restaurant'sapproach to livening up a construction zone could possibly be applied in this city.

"The owner, the bartenders, the clients played bocceball [on a gravelpatch] for hours and hours ... where all the construction was happening," Foisy told CBC News.

"I can't see Ottawa allowing that to happen."

Today's fall constructionbriefing is scheduled for 1 p.m. at city hall. No one with the city was able to speak Wednesday before the briefing.