Drivers, active-users split on future of Queen Elizabeth Driveway, poll finds

Unpave Paradise: Park proposed for QED An urban planner says Ottawa should replace the Queen Elizabeth Driveway with parkland. CTV's Dave Charbonneau reports.

Drivers and regular active users have different visions for the future of Queen Elizabeth Driveway for cyclists and vehicles, according to a new poll.

The Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association commissioned Nanos Research to conduct a survey on the closure of Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles, as the NCC closed the roadway between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. seven days a week through the summer.

The Nanos Research survey found 48.3 per cent of respondents want the NCC to keep Queen Elizabeth Driveway open to vehicles during the summer, compared to 28.6 per cent of respondents that want the roadway closed to vehicles seven days a week between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. When it comes to year-round use of Queen Elizabeth Driveway, 44.6 per cent of respondents said they wanted the road open year-round to drivers and 37.3 per cent of respondents want it closed to vehicles seven days a week.

The split in the survey comes when Nanos Research breaks down the results based on regular active users and non-active users along Queen Elizabeth Driveway.

Eight-one per cent of non-active users want Queen Elizabeth Driveway open for driving year-round compared to 7.7 per cent of regular active users, according to Nanos Research. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents identified as active-users want the QED closed to vehicles seven days a week year-round, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. compared to 3.1 per cent of drivers who support closing it year-round to vehicles.

Seventy-three per cent of non-active use respondents want the NCC to keep Queen Elizabeth Driveway open to vehicles seven days a week through the summer, while 73 per cent of active-users want the NCC to close the roadway to vehicles seven days a week between Canada Day and Labour Day.

The Ottawa-Gatineau Hotel Association told Newstalk 580 CFRA in August it commissioned Nanos to conduct the survey to obtain independent research to get an accurate read on how the public feels about the closure.

Nanos says a total of 5,357 individuals shared their views through the online survey between Aug. 22 and Sept. 11.

"Competing visions for Queen Elizabeth Driveway leads to a very stark split between those that are never active users and those that are regular active users," Nik Nanos of Nanos Research said in a release.

The poll found 49.5 per cent of all respondents said the closure of Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles between Canada Day and Labour Day had a negative or somewhat negative effect on them, while 41.1 per cent said it had a positive impact.  When broken down by active and non-active users, the survey found 86 per cent of active-users reported the closure had a positive impact on them, while 85 per cent of non-active users said the closure had a negative impact on them.

A total of 91 per cent of non-active users said the closure of Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles had a negative impact on the time it took to travel downtown to visit a business.

Nanos released the poll less than an hour after Ottawa's Transportation Committee discussed the National Capital Commission's Active Use Program along Queen Elizabeth Driveway.

Statistics released by the city of Ottawa shows traffic volume increased on O'Connor Street north of Fifth Avenue this summer, compared to last summer.  A four-hour snapshot of traffic shows 120 more cars using O'Connor Street between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on July 21, compared to July 15, 2022.

Traffic on O'Connor Street dropped after 8 p.m. because the QED reopened to cars, the report says.

Councillors on the Transportation Committee called on city staff to continue to work with the National Capital Commission on the future use of Queen Elizabeth Driveway, and have floated the idea of Colonel By Drive as an alternate plan for active use programs.

"It's unfortunate the NCC won't sit down with us and discuss in a professional manner Colonel By, something that has been suggested as a compromise," Chair Tim Tierney said. "I think this is a wake up call for the NCC….I think people want us to sit down and have a discussion about this."

City staff say they suggested the NCC conduct a pilot project on Colonel By Drive this year, but it wasn't considered due to construction along the road.

"I do think it's important to highlight from the city's perspective, the closure would be better placed on Colonel By," Coun. Catherine Kitts said. "In my view, it's kind of a compromise. It's the same location, it's still adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage site."

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe has called on the NCC to open Queen Elizabeth Driveway south of Pretoria Avenue, saying residents have raised concerns about traffic on streets in the Glebe.

Data collected by the city of Ottawa on the Queen Elizabeth Driveway Active Use Program showed between 856 and 3,631 cyclists and pedestrians a day used the roadway between July 25 and July 30, while 1,284 and 2,629 cyclists and pedestrians used the pathway each day.

The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group said in the spring that the NCC has looked at closing Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles all the way to Prescott Street.

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Ted Raymond