Carling Avenue

Carling Avenue is a major east-west arterial road in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from March Road in Kanata to Bronson Avenue in the Glebe. The road is named for Sir John Carling, founder of Carling Brewery and Conservative MP and Senator, Postmaster General and Minister of Agriculture.

Road description

It begins north of Kanata and runs east until the Ottawa River where it bends south to go around Crystal Bay and Britannia Bay. At this point it runs in a straight direction towards the city core and ends at the fringes of the Glebe neighbourhood. It used to run all the way to O'Connor Street, one block east of Bank Street, but the part east of Bronson was renamed Glebe Avenue in the 1970s. It is a four to six-lane principal arterial road for most of its urban length, with a speed limit of 60 km/h (about 40 mph). The portion through the Greenbelt and into Kanata is generally a two-lane rural highway (although widening is planned, which would also remove a substandard underpass in the 3700 block about midway between March Road and Moodie Drive), with a speed limit of 80 km/h (50 mph).

In December 2005 one lane in each direction between Booth Street and Cambridge South just before Bronson was converted to a bus-only lane. This very short (roughly 150m) bus-only section speeds up bus traffic through the Carling/Bronson intersection during rush-hour.

Features

Carling is home to Andrew Haydon Park, the Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre, Carlingwood Mall, Fairlawn Plaza, Westgate Mall, the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, the Ottawa Civic Hospital and the Old Dominion Observatory, and the Communications Research Centre. It also runs along the northern boundaries of the Central Experimental Farm and Commissioner's Park.

Others

Carling is now known as Ottawa Road #38 but used to be Highway 17B east of Richmond Road until the Ontario government downloaded the highway to the local government. Until the 1970s, the western part of Carling was also part of Highway 17.

In every year from 2004 to 2007, Carling Avenue has been named one of Ontario's worst 20 roads in a CAA survey, [cite web
url = http://www.worstroads.ca/inc/db2file.asp?fileid=4
title = Ontario's worst municipal roads – top 20
publisher = Canadian Automobile Association
format = PDF
date = 2007
accessdate = 2007-12-26] [cite web
url = http://www.worstroads.ca/rankings/roadfinal.asp
title = Top 20 Worst Municipal Roads in Ontario for 2007
publisher = Canadian Automobile Association
date = 2007
accessdate = 2007-12-26] citing frequent bumps and potholes. Construction is underway through certain portions of it.

OC Transpo service

Key OC Transpo bus routes on Carling Avenue include:
*6 from Parkdale to Bronson, serving Carling O-Train Station,
*14 from Holland to Parkdale
*16 from Lincoln Fields Transitway Terminus to Carlingwood,
*18 from Lincoln Fields to Carlingwood,
*85 from Bayshore to Bronson Avenue, serving Lincoln Fields Transitway Terminus and Carling Station
*97 from Pinecrest Road (Richmond Road for eastbound trips) to Lincoln Fields
*101 from the Queensway to Booth, serving Carling Station
*151 from Kirkwood to Merivale,
*156 from Carlingwood to Maitland,
*166 from Moodie/Grandview to Bayshore,
*176 from Holland to Merivale, serving the Royal Ottawa Hospital, as well as Westgate Shopping Centre.

These are supplemented by peak hour routes:
*15 from Lincoln Fields to Carlingwood,
*55 from Kirkwood to Holland,
*59 from Grandview to Lincoln Fields,
*102 from Holland to Booth, and Carling Station,
*116 from Nortel to Lincoln Fields,
*169 from Herzberg to Moodie,
*182 from Herzberg to Moodie and Bayshore to Lincoln Fields,
*187 from Clyde to Churchill.

There is a Carling Station (OC Transpo), presently servicing the O-Train, that connects with the aforementioned routes, as well as Route 3 from nearby Preston Avenue.

Major intersections

The addresses change erratically on Carling; they are not consistent from point to point and rise rapidly in the eastern part, then slow down to a very slow rise west of Bayshore.

Major intersections (from west to east, approximate address point):
*March Road (4100)
*Moodie Drive (3500)
*Holly Acres Road, an approach to Highway 417 (3200)
*Bayshore Drive (3100)
*Pinecrest Road (2800)
*Richmond Road (2700)
*Ottawa River Parkway (2500)
*Woodroffe Avenue (2200)
*Maitland Avenue (1800)
*Queensway/Kirkwood Avenue (1500)
*Merivale Road (1300)
*Fisher Avenue/Holland Avenue/Island Park Drive/NCC Scenic Driveway (1100)
*Parkdale Avenue (1000)
*Preston Street (800)
*Booth Street (600)
*Bronson Avenue (300)

Neighbourhoods

* Crystal Beach
* Bayshore
* Michelle Heights
* Britannia
* Pinewood
* Lincoln Heights
* Carlingwood
* Whitehaven
* Carlington
* Hampton Park
* Civic Hospital
* Glebe

External links

[http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=Carling+at+March&daddr=Carling+at+Bronson&sll=45.39952,-75.698505&sspn=0.04056,0.075188&dirflg=h&ie=UTF8&z=12 Google Maps: Carling Avenue]

References