The city is considering alternatives to the unsightly barricades along Sussex Drive.
The city is moving to recapture the Sussex Drive lane that the U.S. Embassy closed off with concrete barricades in 2003 as an added security measure following the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001.
The embassy wants to keep the barrier, but would now be willing to replace the cement blocks with short metal posts, Alain Miguelez, a program manager in the city’s infrastructure services unit, during a recent transportation committee meeting.
Rideau-Vanier Ward Coun. Georges Bédard proposed the motion to “eliminate or reduce the negative impact of the security barricades,” which are widely seen as an aesthetic disaster and a major impediment to downtown traffic.
The U.S. Embassy was voted biggest eyesore in Ottawa by readers of Ottawa Xpress in 2005. The ugliness of the concrete blocks is part of the issue, says Bédard. The other concern is that traffic is bottle-necked around one of the city’s key intersections, he adds.
“They [the U.S. officials] were quite clear that they would still need the lane,” Miguelez said. While a barrier of short posts will still block off the third lane of traffic, they’re thinner and will still meet the embassy’s security needs, Miguelez said.
The posts were suggested by the embassy, and city staff did not insist on completely removing the barrier, Miguelez said. “We get a little bit more space.”
“I’m not sure the right question was asked,” said Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, noting that losing the lane of traffic causes congestion problems in a popular area of the city.
The goal should not be looking at alternatives to the existing barrier, she said, but exploring how the barrier can be removed entirely.
“That building’s going to be there for a very long time. It’s too bad it went in that location.”
The U.S. Embassy appreciates its high-profile, central location and always strives to be a good neighbour, said Stacy White, a press officer with the embassy. She said embassy officials are working with the city on the barrier issue, but won’t publicly discuss details for security reasons.
Near Parliament Hill, on Elgin Street, the British High Commission also uses concrete barricades. Most of them are placed on the sidewalk, though, and the ones on the street don’t block the lane, said high commission spokesperson Courtney Battistone.
The British building’s security seems to be fine with this arrangement, said Battistone, but she added that U.S. officials might have other security issues at their location.
“The more we talk about this the crazier it gets,” said Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess. He said the motion should simply say: “Eliminate the security barricades.”
The cost estimate for the metal posts is $900,000. A memo from infrastructure services said this wouldn’t include the underground work required for installation, possibly including the shifting of sanitary storm sewers, water pipe and gas main realignment, and relocating hydro connections, Bloess says.