LINKED: The $100-million Strandherd Drive widening boondoggle

Last week, we posted an update from the City of Ottawa about the Strandherd Drive widening project. Brigitte Pellerin wrote a good column on her Medium blog that explains why it’s kinda a waste of money.

She writes: “Do you know how much the Strandherd Drive widening project is expected to cost? I do. I know it because the City told me in that email it sent Friday. Approximately $100 million. One hundred million dollars. For 3.3 kilometres of road. That’s roughly $30 million per kilometre, if I know my math. (That’s assuming the work is completed more or less on budget, which nobody ever guarantees, but let’s go ahead just for fun and believe that this one will be.)”

As Pellerin points out, the $100-million project costs about one-fifth of OC Transpo’s whole operating budget. Also, the price for widening only 3.3 kilometres of road for the benefit of drivers totally blows away the 2018 city budget’s earmarked $4 million for cycling network improvements. Read Pellerin’s full column here…