Strandherd Drive is a major

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

serving the community of

Barrhaven Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 10 ...

in southwest

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

Realignment and extension

Up until the mid-1990s, Strandherd Drive was an east-west coursing road extending from Moodie Drive to

Woodroffe Avenue Woodroffe Avenue ( Ottawa Road #15) is a major north-south arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's west end. It runs south from the Kichi Zibi Mikan through Baseline Road and Barrhaven to just short of Prince of Wales Drive near Manotick. T ...

. With the introduction of Highway 416 and the growth of Longfields and Chapman Mills, Strandherd Drive has been realigned and has seen an increase in traffic. Standherd Drive begins in the west at an intersection with Fallowfield Road near Highway 416 as a two-lane road. The original portion of the road from Moodie Drive to Cedarview Road has been renamed McKenna Casey Drive and sees little traffic. Heading to Jockvale Road, Strandherd is a high-speed road at ; further east, there is a significant commercial area surrounding the intersection with Greenbank Road. The original part of Strandherd that terminated at Woodroffe has been renamed Deerfox Drive, and the new, higher-speed arterial road that originally ended at Crestway Avenue just east of Woodroffe has been extended to Prince of Wales Drive and across the

Rideau River The Rideau River (, ) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champl ...

Vimy Memorial Bridge

Work to extend the road across the Rideau River by combining a road bridge to connect to another growing community, Riverside South took place in the early 2010s. This bridge connects Strandherd Drive to Earl Armstrong Road in Riverside South. Initial plans for the bridge included a Light Rail track as a part of an

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 ...

extension to Barrhaven, but this project was canceled in 2006. Ottawa City Council cited the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge, soon renamed the Vimy Memorial Bridge, as one of the priority projects for the future as it would relieve pressure from the Hunt Club Bridge located further north. Delayed several times, the bridge was finished in July 2014. The federal government with in lead Nepean—Carleton MP

Pierre Poilievre Pierre Marcel Poilievre (born June 3, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has been the Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative Party since 2022. He was the Member of Parliament (Canad ...

announced $35 million in funding for the project but the majority of the

Ottawa City Council Ottawa City Council () is the governing body of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of 24 city councillors and the mayor. The mayor is elected at large, while each councillor represents wards throughout the city. Council member ...

refused the funding as it was money coming from a previous $200-million Liberal government announcement in 2004 for the light-rail extension. Despite the cancellation, then President of the Treasury Board John Baird left the money available for future transit projects. The Ontario government refused to pledge money as it did not, after the

light-rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features fr ...

cancellation, include a rapid-transit corridor or lane.

Ongoing projects

Starting in 2020, a widening project is currently underway to bring Strandherd Drive to four lanes between Maravista Drive and Jockvale Road. At the same time, a road bridge over the Via Rail line is being constructed in place of the original grade crossing. This project is planned to be completed in 2023.

References

{{Ottawa Roads Roads in Ottawa