Woodroffe Avenue ( Ottawa Road #15) is a major north-south arterial road 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 ...

's west end. It runs south from 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 ...

through

Baseline Road Baseline Road may refer to: ;United States *Baseline Road (Arizona) in Phoenix *Baseline Road (Colorado) in Boulder *Baseline Road (Southern California) *M-102 (Michigan highway) in Southeast Michigan ;Canada *Baseline Road (Ottawa) in Ontario *Bas ...

and

Barrhaven Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 103, ...

to just short of

Prince of Wales Drive Prince of Wales Drive ( Ottawa Road #73) is a road serving Ottawa, Ontario, named after the eponymous road in Battersea, London, U.K. The northern section is a low-speed street running along the west bank of the Rideau River, while southern por ...

near

Manotick Manotick ( ) is a community in Rideau-Jock Ward in the rural south part of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is a suburb of the city, located on the Rideau River, immediately south of the suburbs Barrhaven and Riverside South, about from ...

. The road runs through the heart of

Nepean Nepean may refer to: Places Australia *Nepean Bay, a bay in South Australia, **Nepean Bay Conservation Park, a protected area in South Australia, **Nepean Bay, South Australia, a locality *Nepean Highway, Victoria *Nepean Island (Norfolk Island) ...

's west end. A satellite

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

station ( Fallowfield station) is also located at the intersection of

Fallowfield Road Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's Downtown Ottawa, downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean, Ontario, Nepean. Its population as ...

Sights on Woodroffe

The northern part of the road, from the Ottawa River to

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 ...

contains a mix of homes and a number of public institutions. This includes Our Lady Of Fatima Catholic Church, Woodroffe Avenue United Church, Woodroffe Avenue Public School, and the Carlingwood branch of the

Ottawa Public Library The Ottawa Public Library (OPL; french: Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa) is the library system of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The library was founded in 1906 with a donation from the Carnegie Foundation. Services * Information and reference servi ...

. Near Carling Avenue, Woodroffe runs along the western edge of the

Carlingwood Mall Carlingwood Shopping Centre is shopping mall located in the Carlingwood neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The mall opened in 1956 and was one of the city's first major shopping centres. Since January 2021, it has been operated by Strath ...

. South of Carling Avenue the avenue is considerably busier, especially around the intersection with the Queensway. This portion of the road is home to St. Paul's Presbyterian Church and D. Roy Kennedy Public School. At Baseline Road the road runs past

Algonquin College Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is a publicly funded English-language college located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The college serves the National Capital Region and the outlying areas of Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, and Upst ...

and the College Square shopping plaza (which replaced Shoppers City West) and the closed

Confederation High School Confederation High School was an Ottawa area high school from 1967 to 1999. The building is still owned by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and is used for offices, community events, and sports. History The school was a Carleton Board o ...

. Just to the west is

Ben Franklin Place Ben Franklin Place is a building complex in the Centrepointe area of Ottawa which houses the Centrepointe Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, the Centrepointe Theatre, and a satellite office for the City of Ottawa. It also includes an outdoor s ...

, in the heart of the community of

Centrepointe Centrepointe is a neighbourhood in College Ward in the west end of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was formerly part of the city of Nepean, Ontario, Nepean. It is a newer residential subdivision in the west/central part of Ottawa, develop ...

, and the

Baseline Station Baseline is a public transit station directly across from the main campus of Algonquin College in Ottawa's west end, near the intersection of Woodroffe Avenue and Baseline Road. Many Algonquin College students and Centrepointe residents use this ...

transit complex. South of Meadowlands Drive, Woodroffe Avenue passes through mainly suburban residential areas and south of Hunt Club Road it passes through the

Greenbelt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...

. The most notable site in this area is the large

Nepean Sportsplex Nepean Sportsplex is a sports facility in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located at 1701 Woodroffe Avenue north of the Ottawa Greenbelt, near the former Confederation High School along OC Transpo routes 74 and 75 in the former city of Nepean. Th ...

. After passing through a portion of the Greenbelt, Woodroffe Avenue runs through

, serving as the main street of that bedroom community. South of Barrhaven it again goes through some semi-rural areas, before ending just short of

near the

Rideau River The Rideau River (french: Rivière Rideau) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is . As explained in a writin ...

Features

Woodroffe Avenue has a few unusual features. First, it changes alignment significantly at Carling Avenue, requiring a couple of turns. Second, the middle section south of Baseline Road includes dedicated bus lanes as it incorporates the Southwest

Transitway Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

. Finally, south of

Hunt Club Road Hunt Club Road, also known as Ottawa Road 32, is a major east–west route in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It originally ran from a dead end east of Bank Street to the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club; later, there were many extensions due to the 1970s ho ...

, it was quite narrow and very congested as it was a two-lane rural road heading towards Barrhaven. However, the road was recently widened to four lanes to improve traffic flow between Hunt Club Road and Fallowfield Road. A new section of the Transitway was recently built alongside this road.Southwest Transitway Extension
/ref> The geometrics and design of Woodroffe Avenue change rapidly from section to section. The northernmost section north of Carling is mostly a two-lane minor arterial road, which becomes a four-lane principal arterial road south of Carling Avenue as far as Baseline Road. These sections have a speed limit of . From Baseline Road to south of Hunt Club Road, Woodroffe Avenue is a four to six-lane principal arterial (plus bus lanes on each side) with a speed limit of . From Hunt Club Road to

Strandherd Drive Strandherd Drive is a major road serving the community of Barrhaven in southwest Ottawa. Realignment and extension Up until the mid-1990s, Strandherd Drive was an east-west coursing road extending from Moodie Drive to Woodroffe Avenue. With the ...

, Woodroffe Avenue is mostly a four-lane arterial road (the section north of Fallowfield being more rural). The speed limit is for the most part, with a short section at . South of Strandherd Drive, it is still a two-lane road with a speed limit of 80 km/h, however it may decrease in the future with the continuous growth of traffic in the area. In 2002, a project was announced to widen Woodroffe Avenue from two to four lanes between Fallowfield Park and Ride and Black Rapids Creek. However, it was discovered that there is a rare underground rock formation that would double the cost of the project. It was widened as far south as Longfields Avenue. Another section from Longfields to south of Strandherd Road was widened during the summer of 2007 in conjunction with the widening of the latter from Riocan Marketplace to Crestway Avenue. In 2016, Woodroffe Avenue was dead-ended at the south end to remove a dangerous intersection with Prince of Wales Drive. Access to Woodroffe Avenue from the south is now via Strandherd Drive.

Sights on Woodroffe

Features

References

Further reading