New dedicated bus lanes on 417 will open June 28

The work to expand Highway 417 from Nicholas to the Split is winding down. Starting Sunday June 28, a dedicated bus lane on Highway 417 in both directions will be used so the O-Train Confederation Line project can start converting the Transitway from Hurdman to Blair to a Light Rail Transit system.

Motorists should still expect periodic lane closures until this fall to allow for the remainder of the construction and clean-up operations to occur. Until this time, the speed limit will remain 80 km/h.

As of June 28, three lanes of general traffic and a dedicated bus lane will be open in both directions. The outside lanes in both the eastbound and westbound direction will serve as the dedicated lanes for OC Transpo and emergency vehicles only until 2018, when the O-Train Confederation Line Light Rail Transit Project will start operating. This will require all vehicles to follow the rules specific to roads with both general-traffic and transit lanes, notably:

 * 
All other vehicles must not travel on marked bus-only lanes. These are reserved for OC Transpo and emergency vehicles only.

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Motorists in the general-traffic lanes must move over to allow emergency vehicles with lights flashing to overtake them, whenever the emergency vehicles need to travel faster than they could in the bus lane.

Also as of June 28, the ramp from the westbound Highway 417 east of the Split, to Highway 174 eastbound, will be closed until 2018. Motorists are encouraged to use Innes Road as a detour. An additional eastbound lane on Innes Road is being constructed and will open in the fall to compensate for increased traffic during peak periods.

OC Transpo has made adjustments to east-end routes to keep travel times as fast as possible and has added trips to provide more capacity between Hurdman and Blair Stations. Approximately 84 per cent of customers will not be affected by these adjustments; however, some customers will have changes to their current routes and connection points. For more information on the new locations of stops and stations, please visit octranspo.com .

With all of the construction-related activities underway, residents are encouraged to be flexible with commuting times, stagger work hours or use alternative means for travel. The public is asked to consider options such as transit, walking, cycling or carpooling.

The City of Ottawa has tools on ottawa.ca to help motorists and transit users plan their routes and manage their commute including:

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[
 OttawaNav
](http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/transportation-and-parking/traffic/ottawa-nav)
– the City’s mobile application for real time construction and traffic information

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[
 City of Ottawa Traffic Report
](http://ottawa.ca/cgi-bin/trafficreport/report_search.pl?lang=en)
– outlining citywide road closures, traffic restrictions and detours

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[
 Travel Planner
](http://www.octranspo1.com/?from=splash)
at
[
 octranspo.com
](http://octranspo.com/)
– transit users can chart and plan routes

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[
 Interactive traffic map
](http://traffic.ottawa.ca/map/index?lang=en)
– showing construction areas and live traffic cameras throughout the city

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[
 Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) cameras
](http://traffic.ottawa.ca/map/intersections)

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[
 Cycling maps
](http://ottawa.ca/en/roads_trans/cycling/index.html)
and information – detailing bicycle pathways and lanes throughout the city

For current information about traffic and construction around the city, visit ottawa.ca .

This work is part of the Confederation Line Light-Rail Transit project, and Ottawa on the Move. Ottawa on the Move is about keeping our community and economy moving forward through strategic investments in a number of transportation, water, and sewer projects to build a better city and create jobs.