Orleans Ignored For Too Long

Even though the population of Orleans is greater than that of Kanata, road access to Kanata has always been better than the highway serving the residents of Orleans. While Orleans has a population of approximately 100,000, the last official count completed in 2006 put Orleans at 95,491 and Kanata at 70,078. The photo of the four-lane highway to Orleans versus the eight-lane highway to Kanata emphasizes the discrepancy in how the transportation needs of these two major urban communities have been addressed. With a larger population than Kanata, the residents of Orleans have been under-served for far too long.

As there does not appear to be any immediate plans to correct that highway access disparity, perhaps the City of Ottawa should be attaching a higher priority to getting light-rail extended to Orleans sooner. OC Transpo has previously reported that the residents of Orleans are the highest users of public transportation.

The high population level coupled with the current inadequate highway access as well as the high-user rate of public transportation provides enough grounds to argue that the residents of Orleans deserve much better than what they now have. Orleans needs light-rail service now, not some time in the future.