Queen Street is an east–west

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights o ...

located in

Downtown Ottawa Downtown Ottawa is the central area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is sometimes referred to as the Central Business District and contains Ottawa's financial district. It is bordered by the Ottawa River to the north, the Rideau Canal to the east, ...

, Ontario, Canada. The street is two-way with one to two lanes going in each direction.

O-Train The O-Train is a light rail system in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operated by OC Transpo. The O-Train system consists of three lines, all of which are fully Grade separation, grade-separated. As of March 2025, one line is currently being extended an ...

Line 1 runs underneath Queen Street.

Route description

The road is only long, making it a little longer than

Sparks Street Sparks Street () is a pedestrian mall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was a main street in Ottawa that was converted into an outdoor pedestrian street in 1967, making it the earliest such street or mall in Canada.Elgin Street, at the intersection of Elgin and Lawrence Freiman Lane. From eastbound on Queen Street the northbound section of Elgin appears to be a continuation of Queen. Heading west the road has two lanes in each direction. The road is surrounded by

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s, many of which are used by the Canadian government.

Renewal

From Metcalfe Street to Bay Street, the road is reduced to a single eastbound lane due to construction. The

City of Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatinea ...

is renewing the street in anticipation of the Confederation Lines' opening as well as to build the tunnels and stations for the Confederation Line. The city is expanding the pedestrian infrastructure on the street, adding wide boulevard

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

s, priority crosswalks, and additional landscaping. The construction also includes shared

bike lane Bike lanes (US) or cycle lanes (UK) are types of bikeways (cycleways) with lanes on the roadway for cyclists only. In the United Kingdom, an on-road cycle-lane can be firmly restricted to cycles (marked with a solid white line, entry by motor ...

s, upgrades to

sanitary sewer A sanitary sewer is an underground pipe or tunnel system for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings (but not stormwater) to a sewage treatment plant or disposal. Sanitary sewers are a type of gravity sewer and are part of ...

s and

storm sewers A storm drain, storm sewer (United Kingdom, U.S. and Canada), highway drain, surface water drain/sewer (United Kingdom), or stormwater drain (Australia and New Zealand) is infrastructure designed to drain excess rain and ground water from imp ...

, the addition of planters and street furniture, installation of curbs and resurfacing of the street. The construction will be done at the same time as Confederation Line construction as two Confederation Line stations will be located on Queen Street. Queen Street is planned to become

's (Transit) Showcase Street. It will have wide sidewalks, decor, and it will be pedestrian-friendly for economic opportunity. The renewal has been identified as a "priority move", but has proved controversial.

Historic burial site

While the water mains on Queen Street were being replaced in 2013, workers discovered several human bones and later an historical burial site. The burial site was Ottawa's oldest

Christian cemetery A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation and practiced inhumation almost exclusively. Today this opposi ...

dating back to around 1828-1845. Archaeologists found the remains of 19 individuals, and they suspect that there are around 500 people buried there. The burial site is believed to have been for workers constructing the

Rideau Canal The Rideau Canal is a 202-kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River at Ottawa with the Cataraqui River and Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 Lock (water navigation), locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres (272 ...

. Researchers think that it extends to Queen Street to the south, Sparks Street to the north, Elgin Street to the east, and Metcalfe Street to the west.

Public transit

Queen Street is currently served by route 10 from Bay Street to Elgin Street eastbound and Elgin Street to Lyon Street westbound, route 16 from Bay Street to

O'Connor Street O'Connor Street is a downtown arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a north–south route, operating one way southbound, providing a key thoroughfare parallel to Bank Street. The roadway begins at Wellington Street, at Parliament Hil ...

eastbound and Elgin Street to Lyon Street westbound. The route is also served by routes 7 and 6 from Bank Street to Elgin Street.

Line 1 has

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

stations of Queen Street.

References

External links