Island Park Drive is an important and scenic north-south thoroughfare in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with a length of about 4 km. It is one of several

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

s in Ottawa administered by the

National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; french: Commission de la capitale nationale, CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), i ...

providing scenic routes throughout Canada's capital region. Many luxury homes and several

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

line the street. The north end connects to the

Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, formerly the Ottawa River Parkway, is a four-lane scenic parkway along the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Carling Avenue near Connaught Avenue, to Booth Street at the Canadian War Muse ...

and the Champlain Bridge, which crosses the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

into

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Island Park Drive is named for Bate Island, the largest island crossed by the Champlain Bridge, which has a small park with road access. The south end connects to the

Central Experimental Farm The Central Experimental Farm (CEF), commonly known as the Experimental Farm, is an agricultural facility, working farm, and research centre of the Science and Technology Branch, formerly the Research Branch, of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. ...

, where it becomes the NCC Driveway. Island Park Drive has a northbound offramp from the westbound Queensway and no other ramps. Hampton Park is north of the Queensway and borders Island Park Drive. Island Park residents often walk their dogs in the park. During the summer of 2007, the Highway 417 overpass was replaced using a rapid replacement technology technique which uses heavy lift and rolling equipment. This process lifted out the old bridges and replaced them with new bridges built nearby. The full operation, which required about 15 hours, occurred during the night of 11-12 August 2007, and it is the first time that this method was used in Canada, although it previously was used in other countries including the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was the first of two similar operations in the 417 corridors, the other being at a future date near the

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 John Carling, founder of Carling Brewery and Conservative M ...

area

Truck, Commercial vehicles are prohibited from Island Park Drive, which is a two-lane arterial road with a 40 km/h (25 mph) speed limit due to the

residential A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

nature. Image:Island Park Drive.jpg, Island Park Drive, then known as Western Drive, in the 1920s. File:Residence Peruvian Ambassador Ottawa, Island Park Drive.jpg, Residence of the Peruvian Ambassador to Canada at the intersection with Helena Street

External links

{{Ottawa Roads Roads in Ottawa National Capital Commission