2-year detour planned for Harmer Avenue pedestrian bridge replacement

Pedestrians and cyclists who use the Harmer Avenue bridge to cross Highway 417between the Wellington West andCivic Hospital neighbourhoods will be re-routed for two years during work to replace it.

People attending a Tuesday night public meeting about the upcomingconstructiondescribed their children using the bridge to get to school, meet with friends, walk to bus stops andconnect to cycling routes north and south of the highway.

Elizabeth Murphy, the city's senior project manager onon the file, said that while the replacement of the main highway-spanning portion of the bridge will be done in a matter of days, otherwork will take longer.

"It's not only the bridge ... going over the Queensway, but we have a north and a south ramp that are quite large,"Murphy said.

The two ramps need to belonger than the existing structures to meet provincial accessibility standards, she said, and there will also be utility work, lighting, sound barriers andsignageto install, as well as landscaping to do.

"We're really going to need two years to complete this project," she said.

The detour is scheduled tobegin in early May this yearand the new bridge is set toopenin June 2020.

Make bike lanes permanent,Leiperurges

The detour includes temporary segregated bike lanes runningnorth and south on either side of Holland Avenue between Kenilworth Street and Byron Avenue.

Some parents expressed concernabout children biking on Holland and cars backing out of driveways onto the street. City officials said staff will be taking those concerns into account when coming up with final designs.

Murphy said staff are also in contact with the principals of Fisher Park Summit Alternative School and Elmdale Public School, as well as the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority, to make sure routes are safe.

Kitchessippi Coun. Jeff Leiper said he hopes the temporary bike lanes won't just be used bypeople detouring around the construction.

"It will be interesting to have the discussion with the city at the end of construction as to whether or not those cycling lanes come out," he said.

417 closures in June, September

There will be two closures on the 417 during construction for the demolition and replacement of the part of the bridge that crosses the highway, also known as a truss.

The first closure is expected to last 17 hours overnight the weekend ofJune 2-3 this year, according to the city.

The new, covered steel bridge structure will be installed in another 17-hour weekend closure overnightSept.22-23, also this year.

The bridge will remainclosed until construction is finished.