Greenbank - Darjeeling Intersection

Ward 3 Office
Jul 5, 2024
3 min read

Updated: May 29

Fall 2023: A problematic intersection

My office has been made aware of at least three pedestrian accidents at Greenbank and St Joes High School in the past year. This morning I observed traffic here with the president of the Half Moon Bay Community Association in order to identify short and mid term solutions to the traffic safety. With the opening of Darjeeling avenue, traffic has gotten worse.

I am committed to improving the traffic congestion on Greenbank Road at St Joseph’s High School. Bottom Line. I have visited this site during the morning rush with the President of the Community Association and have asked for their community perspective on options. I recognize that the ultimate solution is a realigned Greenbank Road – and I am working on this – but there is absolutely a need for immediate and mid term ‘band-aid’ solutions that will mitigate pedestrian risk. Stay tuned. I know that you are frustrated and so am I… I also recognize that there are many other roads that folks have concerns about and I can assure you that I don’t ignore these concerns – I am working in an environment that is very process driven in order to prioritize resource investments across the city. As much as I have 8-10 streets of concerns, multiply that by 24 councillors and you can understand why the city has a process that is completely driven by their year over year budget process. Please reach out to me by email if you feel you have not been heard or that I am not aware, as my top priority this winter is to prioritize these dangerous crossing and road upgrade requirements in order to ensure that they have buy-in from community associations in terms of priority, and so that I can advocate for them in the order that they are required by City staff. This will ensure we get the best outcomes with the best turn-around times. Thank you for your patience on this.

Winter 2023: A work in progress

Many of you have written me regarding the intersection of Darjeeling and Greenbank. There remains a significant safety issue with students needing to cross the road to get the St. Joe's High School along with cars trying to turn from Darjeeling on to Greenbank. I have been working with City staff and local developers and am happy to say that lights are being considered at this intersection.

Winter 2023: A signalized intersection is confirmed

Summer 2024: Finalization on paper

The City of Ottawa has confirmed that a signalized intersection will be coming to Greenbank and Darjeeling.

Great news! Transportation Planning has finally approved the road modifications to 3370 Greenbank Road (Greenbank and Darjeeling). The design is to construct a new three-legged intersection along with a pedestrian signal which will allow students to safely cross Greenbank. With this approval, the project can now proceed to detailed design and construction. I await a timeframe from staff when a shovel will hit the ground as I know many folks who live off Darjeeling will want to know this information.

It must be emphasized that the following road modifications (see below) are conceptual and intended only to illustrate the proposed function. The approval of any detailed design of the road modifications stemming from this report will be subject to the City’s detailed design review process.

Proposed road modifications:

• Construction of a new three-legged intersection with pedestrian signals for the north leg crossing. The west leg is to be stop-controlled for vehicles.

• Construction of new concrete sidewalks on the northwest and southwest corners of the new intersection.

• Construction of a northbound left-turn lane and a painted hatched median opposite the left-turn lane.

Summer 2025

Construction to begin. Work is expected to be complete in late 2025.