'Few people are moving over from the pathway': Mayor renews call to reopen Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles
CTV
Ottawa's mayor is renewing his call for the National Capital Commission to reopen a stretch of Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles, saying statistics show between 30 and 100 cyclists an hour are using the road for active transportation.
Ottawa's mayor is renewing his call for the National Capital Commission to reopen a stretch of Queen Elizabeth Driveway to vehicles, saying statistics show between 30 and 100 cyclists an hour are using the road for active transportation.
"All that's really happening is a few people are moving over from the pathway to the road," Sutcliffe said in a video posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
"What's the result of that? It's a lot of inconvenience and congestion on neighbourhood streets, making it more difficult for everyone, including emergency vehicles, to get to where they are going."
The NCC opens Queen Elizabeth Driveway for active transportation seven days a week in the summer from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., closing the road to vehicles.
In July, Sutcliffe called on the NCC to open the road to vehicles every day, saying he does not "see a lot of cyclists and walkers and runners using the road."
Now, Sutcliffe is sharing statistics compiled by city of Ottawa staff about active transportation users on Queen Elizabeth Driveway to back his argument that the road should be reopened to vehicles.
According to statistics presented by the mayor, an average of 104.3 cyclists per hour was observed using the QED in July, and 1.7 cyclists per minute. Sutcliffe says, "Sometimes there are as few as 30 or 40 cyclists in an hour."
