.jpg)
Richmond Road (Ottawa Road #36) is a majorroad inEastern Ontario, Canada.
Richmond Road begins as a western continuation ofWellington Street West inOttawa, beyond the intersection atIsland Park Drive, a division point moved west a few blocks from Western Avenue, the historical township boundary, in 2005. It serves as the primary road forWestboro. Continuing westward, the road passes by Ottawa landmarks such as theLincoln Fields Mall,Bayshore Shopping Centre andQueensway Carleton Hospital. At the intersection withBaseline Road (Ottawa Road 16), it gives way toRobertson Road just before reachingBells Corners, due to a name change made in 2012. At the historical corner, the prior route of Richmond Road diverges to the south as a mostly residential street named Old Richmond Road. The "Old" name now attaches to the remainder of the former route, which regains its stature as a major road as the continuation of southbound Moodie Drive, leaving Bells Corners and running through theGreenbelt. Beyond the Greenbelt, Old Richmond Road passes the communities ofBridlewood andFallowfield before intersecting with Ottawa Road 12 (Fallowfield Road). Continuing southward, the road passes the community of Twin Elm and follows theJock River to Ottawa Road 49 (Eagleson Road) and the village ofRichmond. Its total length fromIsland Park Drive toEagleson Road is approximately 25.1 km (15.6 mi). At Eagleson, Old Richmond Road continues westward as Perth Street, orOttawa Road #10. Beyond Perth, this road becomes Franktown Road, and then reverts to the name Richmond Road inLanark County until its end inFranktown. In Lanark County, the road is known asLanark County Road #10.
Richmond Road is known asOttawa Road #36 fromIsland Park Drive toRobertson Road. Old Richmond Road is known asOttawa Road #59 from Moodie Drive toFallowfield Road. Speed limits range from 40 km/h (25 mph) in school and residential areas to 60 km/h (37 mph) in urban commercial areas, and 80 km/h (50 mph) in greenbelt and rural areas.
Richmond Road was built in 1818 to connect the military settlement at Richmond with Richmond Landing just below theChaudière Falls on theOttawa River inBytown. The British Government had offered land in the Richmond area to British veterans of the War of 1812. Richmond Road was originally a corduroy road. Today, what is left of the road is paved. It is one of the oldest roads in Ottawa.
In his 1896 book "The History of the Ottawa Valley", theRev. John L. Gourlay wrote:
On 13 April 2011,Ottawa City Council voted to rename a portion of Richmond Road fromBaseline Road toRobertson Road (andRobertson Road itself) after the lateCyril Lloyd Francis, a land speculator,LiberalMP andSpeaker of the House of Commons of Canada.[2] The approved proposal would have changed the names of both roads through Bells Corners so that the commercial area would bear a single name, "Lloyd Francis Boulevard" for its entire length despite opposition from local residents and businesses.[3][4][5][6][7] The name change was to have become effective in May 2012.
Because of the controversy, heritage advocates called on the city to overhaul its naming policy.[8] However, on 13 July 2011 a new motion was passed rescinding the original change and renaming Richmond Road fromBaseline Road toRobertson Road,Robertson Road instead.[9] This accomplished the original goal of a single name through Bells Corners with a complete renumbering of the originalRobertson Road, although at considerable inconvenience and expense to the residents and businesses located on it,[10] and separating Richmond Road from Old Richmond Road by an unexplained lacuna of about 1.6 km.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Cotton, Larry D.Whiskey and Wickedness. Lanark, ON: Larry D. Cotton Associates, 2007. Print.