Highway 417 reopened to traffic between Metcalfe and Carling/Kirkwood avenues about 12 a.m. Monday, six hours ahead of schedule, after crews worked through the weekend to replace the bridge in Ottawa’s west end. “Good News! The 417 is now fully open between Carling/Kirkwood and Metcalfe,” Twitter account Ottawa_Traffic said at 12:15 a.m. The weekend closure forced thousands of vehicles off the freeway onto city streets, causing traffic delays on Carling Avenue, Catherine Street, Bronson Avenue and other streets through Centretown, Little Italy and Westboro. The motorway was originally scheduled to be closed for 82 hours from 8pm on Thursday to 6am on Monday, but road closures and detours were lifted six hours earlier. On Sunday afternoon, construction crews finished paving the new section of highway, painting traffic lanes and installing barriers before it reopened. Using “rapid bridge replacement” technology, construction crews are replacing the existing Booth Street Bridge. Thursday night and Friday, crews demolished the original bridge and then moved the new bridges into place. “The conventional approach would take about two construction periods and would mean closing one lane at a time, obviously with a huge traffic impact,” Department of Transportation, Highway Engineering and Planning Frank Vanderlaan said Thursday. “Being able to do it in 82 hours is a huge benefit.” The Booth Street Bridge replacement is the first of five bridge replacements planned in Ottawa over the next three years. The Rochester Street Bridge is scheduled to be replaced in the fall, with the Bronson Avenue and Percy Street structures being replaced next summer. The Preston Street Overpass is scheduled to be replaced in 2024. A live stream of the bridge replacement work along the Queensway is available on YouTube.
