Highway 174 progress in a ‘nebulous state of nowhere’: MPP

Liberal MPP Stephen Blais says the Provincial government's and City of Ottawa's lack of transparency leaves Highway 174 in a 'limbo' state. originally printed on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen - August 19, 2025

Orléans residents hoping to see change along Highway 174 will be out of luck for a little while, according to an Orléans member of provincial parliament.

Last year, Ontario Premier Doug Ford pledged that Ontario would assume responsibility for the busy and expensive east-end artery.

But with only a City of Ottawa and Ontario government-signed agreement promising to “evaluate” the highway before possible uploading, Liberal Orléans MPP Stephen Blais says the needs of the highway and Orléans residents are lost amid a non-transparent process and messaging.

“What is being communicated publicly by the politicians — which is that the upload is happening — is not what the agreement says,” Blais said. “Since neither the province nor the city is being particularly transparent about it, it’s difficult for the public and for people who are not getting private briefings to have a clear understanding as to the status of things.”

The March 2024 Ontario-Ottawa agreement to help “accelerate the city’s economic recovery and growth” details $56 million in provincial funding and a three-step assessment for Highway 174.

Step 1 is a provincial review of “operational implications” related to the ownership of the road. Step 2 is a financial assessment of related costs. Step 3 is the consideration or implementation phase, which could include municipal and provincial government cost-sharing deals.

“Assets and associated property to be transferred to the province at no cost,” the agreement reads, “understanding that some property on which LRT is situated would become provincial property subsequently leased to the City at no cost.”

The agreement allows the Ministry of Transportation “sufficient time” to conduct a review of the highway before making a recommendation on the conditions of the upload of Highway 174 to the province, the city’s director of Strategic Projects Office, Will McDonald, wrote in an emailed statement.

But with few known details about the progress, Blais says the city needs to provide “transparency” in its coordination efforts with the provincial government and the evaluation of the highway.

“The City of Ottawa has abdicated its leadership role and responsibility for Highway 174,” Blais said. “The highway is in a nebulous state of nowhere.”

According to Jennifer Armstrong, the city’s acting director of transportation planning, Highway 174 is not included in the 2025 Transportation Master Plan because of the province’s ongoing “uploading responsibility.”

“Any future widening decisions will be the responsibility of the Province,” Armstrong wrote.

But until the province has completed its review and presented city staff with a transfer plan, “the highway continues to be owned and operated by the city,” according to McDonald.

During this interim period, “the province will provide funding to Ottawa to support the rehabilitation and maintenance of Ottawa Road 174,” says Ontario Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Julia Caslin. “The results of the third-party due diligence assessment will help inform future government decisions about all aspects of the roads, including timeframes.”

But the lack of foreseeable progress means residents are left “rightly frustrated” with degrees of “stress and anxiety,” Blais said, with lane closures due to LRT construction and bottlenecks of traffic from where the road splits from four lanes down to two in rural areas.

The latter issue could become further complicated, he added, with the United Counties of Prescott and Russell recently announcing their decision to widen Road 174 on their side of the municipal border.

“You could theoretically have a section of a highway that’s four lanes going to two lanes and then going back up to four lanes,” Blais said. “It continues to be very dangerous.

“The impact on residents is that there’s uncertainty about their future.”