It’s a known fact that nothing in this city gets done very quickly – the LRT being one example. Two other projects that come to mind which are specific to the east end are the Trim Road realignment and widening which took 10 years from approval to construction and the Orléans Health Hub, which was first promised in 2009 but wasn’t completed until 2019.

The latest example of a project that’s moving at a snail’s pace is the Brian Coburn Boulevard Extension (BCE), also known as the Renaud Road Realignment (RRR) and the Bradley Estates Bypass (BEB).

The BCE/RRR/BEB was first proposed in 2015 by the Bradley Estates Community Association which was fed up with Orléans commuters driving through the community’s back yard to avoid the traffic on Innes Road.

The City got involved because they saw it as a way to open up another east-west link to the rest of Ottawa. Unfortunately, there is only one problem. Renaud Road runs through the Greenbelt which means the City needs the cooperation of the NCC, which isn’t known as being the most cooperative agency in the world. To be even more specific, the City needs the cooperation of the NCC’s board of directors, which in the past has been loathe to do anything that might increase road traffic through the rural part of the Greenbelt. To that end, they have already rejected the City’s hoped for plans to extend Brian Coburn to Renaud Road which they want to widen to four lanes.

Last week, the City’s transportation staff released an update on their discussions to solve the impasse with the NCC – discussions that began nearly 18 months ago. The result of those talks is a proposed compromise whereby Brian Coburn would be extended to Renaud Road, but Renaud would remain two lanes. For this to work, the City also wants to expand the Blackburn Bypass from four to six lanes with High Occupancy Vehicle lanes.

The compromise proposal would get rid of the traffic going through Bradley Estates, while at the same time increasing the capacity of the Blackburn Bypass. The Brian Coburn Extension/Renaud Road Realignment part of the plan would cost $50 million. That’s a heck of a price tag to solve the traffic woes of one particular neighbourhood, especially when the rest of the city is expected to help foot the bill

But before we get ahead of ourselves, the proposal would still need the approval of the NCC’s board of directors. And before that can happen, the city still needs to complete the Environmental Assessment for both the Brian Coburn Extension/Renaud Road Realignment and the widening of the Blackburn Bypass, which could take up to another year.

How and when this will all end is anybody’s guess. The odds that the board of directors will approve both interim projects is very good. Whether or not they will take the extra step and approve Option 7 remains highly unlikely, but only time will tell.