Ottawa Road 174, formerly Ottawa-Carleton Regional Road 174 and commonly referred to as Highway 174, is a city-maintained road in the City of Ottawa which serves the eastern suburbs of

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Cumberland. The four-lane freeway segment between Highway 417/Aviation Parkway junction to Trim Road (Ottawa Road57) is also known as the Queensway, in addition the ''Queensway'' name continues to be applied to Highway417 west of that intersection. Although the road continues through the towns of Rockland and

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...

to the

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

border, the portion east of the Ottawa city boundary is known as Prescott and Russell County Road17. Originally the alignment of Highway 17, which was the route of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

between Ottawa and the Quebec border, Regional Road174 (as it was then designated) was created on April1, 1997 when the provincial government of

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. During his time ...

transferred responsibility for portions of the road to the

Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton The Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton was a Regional Municipality and Census Division in Ontario, Canada, that existed between January 1, 1969, and January 1, 2001, and was primarily centred on the City of Ottawa. It was created in 1 ...

and moved the Trans-Canada route onto Highway417. The road was extended by a second transfer on January1, 1998, bringing it to its current length.

Route description

Ottawa Road174 is a freewayThe City of Ottawa classifies Ottawa Road174 as a "''City Freeway''" from Highway417 to approximately east of Trim Road (Ottawa Road57), and an

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below freeways/motorways on the road hierarchy in terms of traffic flow and speed. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector r ...

thereafter to the Ottawa city limits. on the east side of Ottawa that extends from ''The Split'' — an interchange with Highway417 — to the city limits at Canaan Road. The segment between the Highway417 junction and Trim Road is a four-lane controlled-access highway, while the remainder east of Trim Road is a rural two lane

. Dedicated

OC Transpo OC Transpo, officially the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, is the public transit agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It operates an integrated hub-and-spoke system including light metro, bus rapid transit, convention ...

bus lanes are in the shoulder lanes in each direction from

Blair Road Blair Road (Ottawa Road #27) is a road in the eastern part of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It begins just south of the Rockcliffe Parkway, but does not connect to the parkway, except for a small bike-path connection to the Ottawa River Pathway - one o ...

Place d'Orléans Place d'Orléans (; French: ) is a shopping mall in Orléans suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The property is about and has approximately 132 stores and services. Place d'Orléans was originally constructed in 1979 and underwent major expansi ...

. At the United Counties of Prescott and Russell county line it becomes Prescott-Russell County Road 17, which continues to

. Beginning at the split with Highway417, the opposing lanes of Ottawa Road174 (henceforth referred to as Highway174) converge together as a divided four lane highway, and proceed northeast into the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa. An interchange serves Blair Road (Ottawa Road27), after which a pair of bus lanes join the outside of the highway. Construction is underway on Stage2 of O-Train's

Confederation Line The Confederation Line (french: Ligne de la Confédération), also called O-Train Line 1 (french: Ligne 1 de l'O-Train), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as part of the city's O-Train light rail system. I ...

, which will result in an LRT between the opposing lanes of the freeway from east of Blair Road to Trim Road. The route curves northward to run parallel to Green Creek within the Greenbelt along the southeast side of Gloucester, before encountering an interchange with Montreal Road (Ottawa Road34, and the original route of Highway17). After curving back to the northeast and crossing Green Creek, the highway passes through farm fields then enters the

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Highway174 travels in a straight line for approximately through the northern part of Orléans, with interchanges at Jeanne D'Arc Boulevard (Ottawa Road55) and Champlain Street within the Covenant Glen neighbourhood. Between the two interchanges, the highway is crossed by Orleans Boulevard, while the

shopping mall is located at the latter interchange. A final interchange, with Tenth Line Road (Ottawa Road 47/47A), lies northeast of the mall. The divided road ends shortly after an at-grade intersection with Trim Road and the route narrows to two lanes. Beyond Trim Road, Highway174 gradually curves east and follows along the southern shore of the Ottawa River. It passes through the village of Cumberland, where it is briefly sandwiched between the river and the original routing of Highway17 along Old Montreal Road. It passes north of the Cumberland Heritage Village Museum and exits the village. Highway174 ends shortly thereafter at an intersection with Canaan Road. Prescott-Russell County Road17 continues beyond the intersection towards Hawkesbury and the Quebec boundary.

History

Highway174 was created on April1, 1997, when the

Ministry of Transportation of Ontario The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) is the provincial ministry of the Government of Ontario that is responsible for transport infrastructure and related law in Ontario. The ministry traces its roots back over a century to the 1890s, when the ...

transferred the responsibility of maintenance and upkeep along of Highway17, between Highway417 and Trim Road (Regional Road57), to the

Predecessors

The alignment of Highway174 originated during the late 1940s. Aiming to bypass the winding and hilly route between Montreal and Ottawa, the Department of Highways, predecessor to the Ministry of Transportation, planned a new route for Highway17. The majority of this new route was built along the

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

of a former

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton. Man ...

track. Construction began in 1947 at Green's Creek, east of Gloucester, and proceeded east towards Rockland. Another contract, which began in August 1949, extended construction beyond Trim Road to Canaan Road. The new route, which was internally referred to as Highway17 Alt, was completed and opened to traffic on November10, 1952. However, it was not given unique designation until 1955. To the west, construction of the Queensway was soon to begin. It was a major part of the Greber Plan, which was produced by

Jacques Gréber Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber (10 September 1882 – 5 June 1962) was a French architect specializing in landscape architecture and urban design. He was a strong proponent of the Beaux-Arts style and a contributor to the City Beautiful movemen ...

under the direction of Prime Minister Mackenzie King in the late 1940s. Although Gréber had been corresponding with King as early as 1936,

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

halted any plans from reaching fruition at that time. Following the war, Gréber was again contacted and his expertise requested. He arrived on October 2, 1945 and began working almost immediately. The Greber Plan was released in 1950 and presented to the House of Commons on May 22, 1951. The plan called for the complete reorganization of Ottawa's road and rail network, and included amongst the numerous

parkways A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

was an east to west expressway along what was then a Canadian National Railway line. With the rail lines removed, construction of the new expressway got underway in 1957 when Queen Elizabeth visited Ottawa to open the first session of the 23rd Parliament. On October 15, the Queen detonated dynamite charges from the Hurdman Bridge, which now overlooks the highway as it crosses the Rideau River, and formally dedicated the new project as the Queensway. At the ceremony, premier

Leslie Frost Leslie Miscampbell Frost (September 20, 1895 – May 4, 1973) was a politician in Ontario, Canada, who served as the province's 16th premier from May 4, 1949, to November 8, 1961. Due to his lengthy tenure, he gained the nickname "Old Man O ...

indicated that the entire project would cost C$31 million and emphasized the importance of the link to the Trans-Canada Highway. The Queensway was constructed in four phases, each opening independently. The section from Alta Vista Drive (now Riverside Drive) east to the split between Highway17 (Montreal Road) and Highway17 Alt was the first phase, and was opened to traffic on November25, 1960, extending west to the Rideau River. Construction of a new freeway between Ottawa and Montreal, entirely bypassing the route of Highway17, began in the late 1960s. Contracts to construct the route were opened to bidding on November15, 1968; construction began in May 1969 starting at Base Line Road (now Ramsayville Road) and proceeding easterly. The segment of this new freeway that linked to the Queensway at ''The Split'' was the final one to open, on December2, 1975. The portion of the Queensway west of the new interchange became part of Highway417 by 1980, while the portion to the east remained part of Highway17.

Extension of four-laning

The portion of Highway17 immediately east of Montreal Road quickly became known for routine fatal accidents. During the course of a 27-month study conducted between 1966 and 1969, 56deaths occurred on what had by then become known as the "killer strip". However, the provincial government was reluctant to upgrade the highway due to the construction of Highway417 between Ottawa and the Quebec boundary, which it expected would handle the majority of traffic. However, despite the completion of Highway417 at the end of 1975, crashes continued to occur on the stretch Highway17 west of Champlain Street, including 132 in 1978, 5 of which were fatal. Residents and local politicians began a campaign by early 1979, pressuring the provincial government to widen the route and build interchanges. The province announced the widening of Highway17 from Montreal Road to Champlain Street on April 15, 1980; construction began in late May and was scheduled for completion in November, but would not include any

grade-separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction (traffic), junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffi ...

s or interchanges. The Jeanne D'Arc Boulevard interchange was built in 1985. Studies began in 1986 to examine the Highway17 corridor east of Ottawa, and recommended that the route be widened between Champlain Street and Trim Road. Reconstruction of the section between Champlain Street and Trim Road was officially announced on May17, 1988. Work began in mid-1990, with the highway being detoured onto the future offramps to Champlain Street to allow the at-grade intersection to be rebuilt. the Champlain Street/Place d'Orleans interchange and the Tenth Line Road interchange were opened along with the widened Highway17 on November4, 1994. Despite the protests of the city that the road served a provincial purpose, a second round of transfers saw Highway17 east of Ottawa downloaded entirely on January1, 1998 adding to the length of Regional Road174. The Trans-Canada Highway designation was subsequently moved from the former Highway17 to Highway417. Ottawa immediately renumbered the transferred sections of Highway17 as Regional Road174. Regional Road174 was renamed Ottawa Road174 when the

amalgamated with the municipalities of the region to form the new City of Ottawa in 2001. The region, and later city, as well as the neighbouring county of Prescott-Russell, have petitioned the provincial government to "upload" the route back into the provincial highway network since then, and as recently as December 2021. Despite no further work occurring since 1994 to extend the widening beyond Trim Road, several Environmental Assessments (EAs) have taken place since 1988, particularly to widen the segment between Trim Road and Prescott-Russell County Road8 (Landry Road) near Rockland to a

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

Route description

History

Predecessors

Extension of four-laning

Major intersections

See also

References

Explanatory notes