U.S. Embassy Sussex Entrance Construction Project to Improve Customer Service

Press Release: For Immediate Release

February 13, 2009

OTTAWA: The Embassy of the United States of America is undertaking a construction project to expand the indoor waiting area of its Sussex Drive entrance. This will provide more shelter from the weather for visitors arriving at the Embassy. Work has already begun in coordination with the City of Ottawa to minimize traffic interruptions for the project. The estimated start date of outside construction is February 17, 2009 and the estimated completion date is early December, 2009.

It is anticipated that one lane of traffic on Sussex Drive will need to be closed for a couple of hours sometime between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 17th. The Embassy and City of Ottawa have worked closely with construction contractors for the project to make sure that there will be very little work that will require interruptions to Sussex Drive traffic. In the few instances when lane closures may be needed, the work will be scheduled according to City of Ottawa permit requirements. Whenever possible the work will be completed overnight in order to reduce the impact on normal traffic flow along Sussex. The sidewalk on Sussex Drive directly in front of the Embassy will need to be closed for the majority of the renovation work.

The primary contractor for this project is Enviro-Management & Research, INC. However, the majority of the work will be sub-contracted out to local contracting companies hiring various types of skilled trades.