Construction on new noise barriers along Highway 417 in downtown Ottawa could begin as early as this summer, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation revealed at a Feb. 3 transportation committee meeting at city hall.
The five-metre tall concrete walls are designed for noise reduction, dampening the sound of vehicles racing down the highway. Wall retrofits are planned along the Queensway between the O-Train tracks and the Rideau Canal.
Some confusion might be expected around why the walls, also called acoustic barriers, are being constructed at all.
The City of Ottawa’s planning committee recently changed noise-control guidelines to try to move away from the erection of acoustic barriers because of complaints about aesthetics and effectiveness.
“In some of our particular suburban communities, you’d be going to a road and you’d see this one wall . . . it divides that community,” Barrhaven Coun. Jan Harder said at a Dec. 8 meeting.
The idea was that street design and berms, or artificial ridges, should be tried first, and noise walls used as a last resort. In a confined space like the highway corridor, however, berms are not practical.
The planned noise barriers will have sound absorptive concrete panels and in some cases use acrylic, translucent noise panels, according to MTO representative Rebecca Veaudry.
Veaudry said in an email that according to a recent analysis undertaken by the MTO, the new Queensway installations will provide noticeable reductions in highway noise. And the see-through acrylic panels, which are lighter and mostly planned for bridges and overpasses, won’t cut off that visual connection to the surrounding area.
“For the record, I like the acrylic,” said Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney during a committee discussion concerning the translucent barriers. “I think it gives, for residents, more sunlight, feelings of air and space.”
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury had a more negative view on acrylic panels, saying they get dirty very easily and do not get cleaned. “Is it an easy, cleanable material? It is, but I don’t see anyone going out and cleaning
it . . . every time there is a truck that throws some salt . . . it shows, it’s disgusting.”
The three locations that have been selected for this year’s noise-reduction projects include a stretch from the south side of the 417 O-Train tracks to Preston, the north side from Bronson to Lyon and the south side from Lyon to the Rideau Canal.
As further studies are completed by the MTO, additional barrier retrofit sites may be added to that list. McKenney also asked about possibilities for sound reduction between Elgin and Kent streets on the north side of the highway.
In response, David Lindensmith, MTO Senior Project Engineer, said a noise barrier retrofit site had been looked into and would be added to the list, although there is currently no timing for when it might be constructed.
“Number of people, deriving of benefit, cost and other factors . . . it is a priority tool,” says Lindensmith about the order and times for construction.
Construction of the barriers will see various ramps and lanes closed along the Queensway for certain periods of time this year.
According to the MTO, some ramps and lanes will be closed for night work only, while a few ramps will be closed full time during the construction period.
Construction for different parts of the retrofits will vary in length from approximately three weeks to three months.