Alta Vista Drive has lived beyond its life expectancy and has been long overdue for repair. I appreciate and share in your frustration over the present condition of the road.
Unfortunately, resurfacing is not the only maintenance needed for Alta Vista Drive; the road itself must be rebuilt and much of the sewer work underneath needs to be renewed. Because of this, the resurfacing and reconstruction of Alta Vista Drive will occur as an integrated road-sewer project between Heron Road and Smyth Road.
When will work on Alta Vista Drive begin?
Unfortunately, the work on Alta Vista Drive is behind schedule. It is scheduled to happen once the Bank Street renewal is completed, a project which was delayed due a number of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, cost inflations and provincial changes to protected intersection design guidelines. For more information on the Bank Street renewal, click here.
Why can’t the be done concurrently with Bank Street??
The Alta Vista Drive redesign is dependent on the replacement of the sewer trunk at Alta Vista Drive and Bank Street The sewer pipes that run along Alta Vista Drive connect to Bank Street, and the receiving pipe on Bank Street needs to be big enough to accommodate the flow from the Alta Vista pipes. If the Alta Vista Drive pipes are replaced first, the Bank Street pipes could become overwhelmed. The sewer trunk replacement is included in the Bank Street Integrated Road project being undertaken presently.
Is there no work that can be done in the interim?
Yes, the detailed design work will be underway shortly. Council has approved design money for Alta Vista rehabilitation for 2025, which will allow staff to hire an engineering firm for the assignment and start the detailed design work while we wait for the Bank Street renewal to be completed. It is expected that the detailed design process will take approximately two years. It builds on the preliminary functional design work that was undertaken in 2019. Alta Vista Drive Functional Design Study | City of Ottawa
What can we do about the potholes and cracks?
Winter Operations will be cold patching the potholes in the coming weeks, and in the Spring will be looking to fill the potholes and undertake crack sealing where possible. Unfortunately, permanent repairs will be several years away given the project dependencies listed above.