Highway 417 on-ramp to close Monday — for good

A Queensway on-ramp behind the Westgate Shopping Centre will permanently close Monday, according to Ontario's Ministry of Transportation.

The closure of the on-ramp to the eastbound Highway 417 from Carling Avenue is part of a provincial project to widen the highway between Maitland Avenue and Island Park Drive.

Once the on-ramp closes, the roughtly 3,900 drivers who take the ramp daily will be rerouted. Eastbound drivers will instead have to use the ramp at Carling Avenue and Kirkwood Avenue.

The on-ramp remained open as of Monday morning. 

The province said it's closing the "low volume" ramp because of plans to both add a fourth lane to the highway and give the other eastbound ramp a proper run-up to merge with traffic.

Some community groups, however, are concerned about the closure because of major developments set to take place nearby.

In a press release, the Civic Hospital Neighbourhood Association said that they were protesting the closure "in light of the expected increase in demand for eastbound 417 access routes from the soon-to-be-expanded Westgate and the new Civic campus."

The Ottawa Hospital is planning to eventually open a new Civic campus on the northeast corner of the Central Experimental Farm, while a high-rise tower could be part of the plans for the Westgate Shopping Centre, Ottawa's oldest mall.

Traffic worries

Many residents are also afraid the closure will encourage cars to cut through quiet neighbourhoods in the area, which would add two to three times more traffic, said Robert Brinker of the Carlington Community Association. 

"This is the shortest route," he said Monday. "I would do the same, so I cannot blame them." 

Coldrey Avenue is one of the streets cars will use to cut through, Brinker said.

"In the morning a lot of kids are walking here to school," he said. "You can see the sidewalks [are] in very bad shape, in the wintertime they are walking on the street. It will definitely be a safety concern." 

The province says it will work with the City of Ottawa to manage traffic issues, which may result from the closure.

There are no other permanent ramp closures expected during the expansion.