Ontario Highway 416

King's Highway 416, commonly referred to as Highway 416 and as the Veterans Memorial Highway, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that connects Highway 417 in Ottawa with Highway 401 between Brockville and Cornwall. The 76.4 km (47.5 mi) freeway acts as an important trade corridor from Interstate 81 between New York and Eastern Ontario via 60 km (37 mi) of Highway 401, as well as the fastest link between Ottawa and Toronto. Highway 416 passes through a largely rural area, except near its northern terminus where it enters the suburbs of Ottawa. Despite this, the freeway bypasses several communities along its length, notably Spencerville and Kemptville.

Highway 416 had two distinct construction phases. Highway 416 "North" was a 21 km (13 mi) freeway starting from an interchange at Highway 417 and bypassing the original route of Highway 16 (known as the Prescott Highway, now Prince of Wales Drive) along a new right-of-way. Highway 416 "South" was the twinning of 57 km (35 mi) of Highway 16 New, a two-lane expressway that was constructed throughout the 1970s and finished in 1983, and a new interchange with Highway 401 to serve Toronto-bound traffic and vice versa. Sections of both opened throughout the late 1990s, with the final link being opened officially by a World War I veteran and local officials on September 23, 1999. The route was commemorated as the Veterans Memorial Highway on the 54th anniversary of D-Day.

Route description

Highway 416 is a 76.4-kilometre (47.5 mi) route connecting Highway 401 with Ottawa and Highway 417, the Trans-Canada Highway. It passes through a predominantly agricultural area for most of its length, servicing the towns of Spencerville, Kemptville, North Gower, and Manotick, all situated near the route. North of Manotick, the route enters suburban Ottawa, and straddles the community of Nepean and the Stony Swamp. While there are still segments of farmland throughout all but the northernmost part of this section, it is far more developed than the southern section.^[2][3]

The freeway begins at an interchange with Highway 401, branching to the north near the community of Johnstown, and this interchange only provides access to and from the west, but immediately north of it a second interchange with the remaining section of Highway 16 provides access from Johnstown and both directions of Highway 401.^[2] Proceeding north, the two carriageways of the freeway are separated by an unconventional 68 m (223 ft) wide forested median.^[4] The freeway is surrounded by thick forests and encounters almost no signs of human habitation for the following 10 km (6.2 mi). As it passes beneath the original route of Highway 16 - the Prescott Highway - south of Spencerville, it escapes the forest and enters farmland. The route travels to the east of the community, access to which is provided by an exit at County Road 21, crosses a swamp and is crossed by the Prescott Highway again.^[3] North of that crossing the two remain roughly parallel but separated as the freeway passes through a mix of farmland and forest. The Prescott Highway crosses the route a third time, this time at an interchange, south of the community of Kemptville.^[2]

The freeway curves to the northeast, bypassing Kemptville and featuring an exit with former Highway 43.^[3] It crosses the old Bytown and Prescott Railway,^[5] then curves to the northwest, providing an exit to River Road before crossing the Rideau River and entering the Ottawa region.^[2] At the southeast corner of the River Road interchange is a public park dedicated in 2000 by the Royal Canadian Legion, the Veterans Commemorative Park.^[6]

Aside from the first couple of kilometres north of the Rideau River, the majority of the freeway cuts through swaths of farmland which fill the Ottawa Valley. The median also narrows to a modest width for the remainder of the distance into Ottawa.^[3] The route provides an interchange with Dilworth Road, then 2 km (1.2 mi) later with Roger Stevens Drive, the latter providing access to North Gower.^[2]

Continuing through farmland, the freeway is crossed by the Prescott Highway for the fourth and final time as that road turns northeast and travels into downtown Ottawa as Prince of Wales Drive. An interchange is encountered shortly thereafter with Brophy Drive / Bankfield Road, the latter providing access to the Prescott Highway. Approaching urban Ottawa, the route passes alongside a large quarry, then abruptly jogs to the west, crossing the Jock River in the process.^[2] After this, an interchange with Fallowfield Road provides access to the suburb of Barrhaven which occupies portions of the land immediately east of the freeway.^[3] The route jogs to the east and passes through an aesthetically designed bridge, alongside the Stony Swamp, which acts as a gateway to the National Capital Region. This structure is the longest rigid frame bridge in Ontario with a 59 m (194 ft) span, and was selected for the 1996 Award of Excellence from the Portland Cement Association.^[7]

The final section of Highway 416 travels parallel to Cedarview Road which was relocated for the freeway.^[8] The Stony Swamp lies west of the route,^[7] while farmland lies to the east.^[3] At the northern end of the swamp is an interchange with West Hunt Club Road. The freeway continues through a section of greenspace before descending gently into a trench. It passes beneath Bruin Road and the Ottawa Central Railway while travelling alongside Lynwood Village. The highway is crossed by Baseline Road and Richmond Road, the former provides an onramp to southbound Highway 416. The freeway ends at a large interchange with Highway 417 (Exit 131) near the shore of Britannia Bay on the Ottawa River; downtown Ottawa is east and Kanata is west.^[2]

Design features

Highways 416 and 407 were constructed during a recession in the mid-1990s. Highway 407 became a tolled highway and for a time it was mentioned that Highway 416 would also be tolled but ultimately this never happened. Instead, a hiatus in construction allowed engineers to evaluate inefficiencies in bridge and cross-section designs. Some of the unique design features include:^[9]

• Pre-tensioned concrete arch bridges.
• Blast furnace slag as base material over unstable leda clay within Ottawa. The slag weighs half that of normal aggregates.
• Sloped rock cuts to reduce the severity of collisions with vertical rock faces.
• Groundwater-retaining walls in the sunken section near Lynwood Village in Ottawa, preventing the lowering of the water table in wetlands adjacent to the route.

History

Highway 16 New

In 1966 the Eastern Ontario Highway Planning Study was published by the Department of Highways (DHO), the predecessor to today's Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), identifying the need for a controlled-access highway between Ottawa and Highway 401.^[10] Highway 16, which crosses the geologically subdued St. Lawrence Lowlands, was selected over Highway 15, which crosses the undulating Canadian Shield to the west, as the ideal route for the new link.^[8] To overcome the issue of abutting properties established along the Highway 16 corridor, the DHO began purchasing a new right-of-way between Highway 401 and Century Road by late 1967, and constructed a two lane bypass of the original alignment, avoiding all the built up areas that the original Highway 16 encountered. This route was designed to easily accommodate the eventual upgrade to a freeway when traffic volumes necessitated.^[11]

Construction of the Super two, dubbed Highway 16 New,^[12] took place between 1969 and 1983.^[10] The Spencerville Bypass opened by 1971, connecting with the old highway in the south near Crowder Road and in the north near Ventnor Road.^[13] By the end of 1973 the new highway was completed from immediately north of Highway 401 through Leeds and Grenville United Counties and into Ottawa–Carleton. This included a bypass around Kemptville and a new structure over the Rideau River.^[13] The new highway ended at Dilworth Road (Regional Road 13).

For nearly a decade, no new construction took place. Then, during the summer of 1982, the MTO awarded a contract to construct the route north from Dilworth Road towards Manotick, bypassing North Gower and extending the route as far north as Roger Stevens Drive (Regional Road 6), including a structure over Stevens Creek. Following completion of this first contract, a second contract was awarded for the remaining distance north to Century Road (Regional Road 8).^[12] The project was completed in 1983,^[10] merging into the original route of Highway 16 northeast of the present Prince of Wales Drive overpass.^[14]

With the completion of Highway 16 New, the MTO needed only to construct interchanges and the southbound lanes in order to create a full freeway corridor. The upgrade to Highway 416 took place between 1989 and 1999 and was carried out through two separate projects: Highway 416 North was a 21 km (13 mi) freeway on a new alignment through Ottawa and an interchange at Highway 417, and Highway 416 South was the twinning of 57 km (35 mi) of Highway 16 New and an interchange at Highway 401.

Change of plans

The original plans for Highway 416, conceived during the late 1960s, had it enter Ottawa along the Merivale Corridor to merge with the Queensway approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the present interchange. However, when it came time to construct this section, public attitudes had shifted and environmental concerns had come to the forefront of everyday life; new roads were now subject to intense public scrutiny. Suburbs grew along Merivale Road, prompting the Region of Ottawa–Carleton to request the MTO decommission the right-of-way along the road in 1977, which it did. The passing of the Environmental Assessment Act in 1975, however, meant that new projects were subject to a lengthy investigation of social and environmental concerns.^[8][15]

In 1981, the Ministry began an Environmental Assessment into a new alignment for the northern connection with the Queensway.^[15] The Environmental Assessment was approved in mid-1987, with Cedarview Drive chosen as the ideal alignment for the new freeway. The MTO set out to design a four lane route to connect the Queensway with Highway 16 New, including a three-level free-flow interchange.^[8] A contract for construction of this interchange was awarded in late 1989 and construction began in 1990. During the 1991 construction season, contracts were awarded to construct several overpasses along the new route.^[16] This contract was complete in 1993, after which budgetary restraints prevented the awarding of further contracts. As a result, aside from the interchange at Highway 417 and some overpasses, construction activity on Highway 416 came to a standstill for two years. During this period the MTO undertook an engineering review of the entire route, including structures, interchanges, alignment, construction techniques and cross-sections in search of cost inefficiencies. It was reported that C$7 million were saved as a result of this review and use of new freeway construction techniques.^[10]

Twinning and completion

On December 8, 1995, in North Gower, the provincial and federal governments announced a financing deal to ensure Highway 416 South was completed by 2000.^[17][18] This section of the route was constructed through a process known as twinning, in which a second carriageway is built parallel to an existing road and grade-separated interchanges are constructed.^[19] With the right-of-way along Highway 16 New already purchased, construction was able to proceed without disruption to local properties or traffic.^[11]

The 57 km (35 mi) project was constructed through five contracts. The first was awarded to Tarmac Canada on June 10, 1996, calling for twinning of 7.6 km (4.7 mi) from Century Road south to Roger Stevens Drive. Another contract was awarded one month later to Bot Construction, on August 19. This contract involved the section from Roger Stevens Drive south to Highway 43, a distance of 13 km (8.1 mi).^[4] On June 12, 1997, the first section opened, connecting with the Ottawa Bypass at Century Road.^[20] On July 10, the third contract was awarded to Armbro Construction to construct the 10 km (6.2 mi) section from Highway 43 south to Grenville County Road 20 (Oxford Station Road). Another contract followed on October 21 for the 12 km (7.5 mi) south to Grenville County Road 20 (Shanly Road) which was awarded to Bot Construction. The fifth and final contract was awarded to Armbro Construction on April 8, 1998, calling for the construction of the southern 9 km (5.6 mi) and two flyover ramps.^[4]

The section between Roger Stevens Drive and Highway 43, including a second crossing of the Rideau River, opened to traffic on June 26, 1998.^[21] This was followed two months later by the section between Highway 43 and Oxford Station Road, which opened on August 24.^[22]

On the fifty-fourth anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1998, Transportation Minister Tony Clement unveiled two signs in Ottawa and formally declared the entire length of Highway 416 as the Veterans Memorial Highway. Six additional signs were also installed along the length of the route.^[23] On September 23, 1999, a ceremony was held in Johnstown to open the final section of Highway 416 that would complete the link from Highway 401 to Highway 417. Premier Mike Harris, Transportation Minister David Turnbull and World War I Veteran James W. Fraser officially opened the highway.^[24]

On December 14, 2009, there was a 60-70 vehicle pileup due to fog and icy conditions, forcing the closure of the highway in both directions.^[25]

Exit list

The following table lists the major junctions along Highway 416, as noted by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario.^[1]

References

External links

• Google Maps: Highway 416 route
• Highway 416 @ Asphaltplanet.ca
• Video of the entire northbound Highway 416