Summary

The City has proposed a project to spend $2 million to modify the intersection of Bank Street and Hunt Club Road, a major intersection bordering South Keys Centre. The project as initially proposed includes widening the eastbound approach to add a third eastbound lane that continues to Albion Road and adding a new sidewalk and eastbound cycle track adjacent to the widening. BSKC reviewed the initial proposal and did not support it. The original proposal was inconsistent with the Community Design Plan for the area, worsened conditions for vulnerable road users, offered poor value-for-money, all to save drivers an expected 20 seconds of travel time for a cost of $2 million. Our full rationale can be found in BSKC’s letter to the City, dated May 19, 2022.

A substantial number of collisions occur at Bank and Hunt Club. Compared with other intersections in Ottawa, Bank and Hunt Club ranks 13th, with 139 collisions occurring between 2015 and 2019. It is BSKC’s position that any City investment in this intersection must make a deliberate effort to improve its safety.

Thanks to the advocacy of BSKC, with the support of the community associations and Councillor Bradley, the City has progressed a revised design that addresses all modes of travel. Designs should become publicly available in 2024.

Our Actions:

• After learning about the project via Councillor Deans’ blog in February 2022, BSKC contacted the Councillor’s office and requested a public meeting be held (one had not initially been planned)
• On April 21, 2022, several BSKC members attended the virtual public meeting hosted by the City and Councillor Deans and asked several detailed questions
• Following the meeting, BSKC formed our opinion on the project and submitted a letter to the City on May 19, 2022, as well as published a blog post to our website on May 20, 2022
• In early 2023, thanks to the efforts of Councillor Bradley, we learned that the City had agreed to pursue a more comprehensive design for the intersection to improve conditions for all modes of travel
• In September 2023, BSKC successfully advocated for the City to conduct a Road Safety Audit (RSA) of the proposed design, which will ensure that a qualified road safety professional reviews and recommends improvements to the design

Additional Resources:

• Public Meeting April 21: Bank St. and Hunt Club Rd. – Proposed Intersection Modification | Diane Deans
• Supplementary Project Info Document – Provided by the City
• Higher Resolution Preliminary Design Drawings – Provided by the City
• Hunt Club Widening Position – Better South Keys Centre
• Bank Hunt Club BSKC Position Letter_FINAL.pdf – Google Drive

Want to get involved? Contact us!