Lees Avenue is both a road and a neighbourhood

Neighbourhood

A neighbourhood or neighborhood is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighbourhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members. "Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition...

 in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The area lies in the narrow stretch between the Rideau Canal

Rideau Canal

The Rideau Canal , also known as the Rideau Waterway, connects the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on the Ottawa River to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario. The canal was opened in 1832 as a precaution in case of war with the United States and is still in use today, with most of its...

 and Rideau River

Rideau River

thumb|Rapids on the Rideau River opposite [[Carleton University]].The Rideau River is a Southern Ontario river which flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 km...

 south of Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill

Sandy Hill is a bilingual neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal and on the east by the Rideau River. To the north it stretches to Rideau Street and the Byward Market area while to the south it is bordered by...

 and the Queensway

Queensway (Ottawa)

The Queensway is a major controlled-access freeway running through Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from Kanata in the west to Orleans in the east. It is the primary east-west transportation artery in the Ottawa-Gatineau area....

 and is part of Old Ottawa East

Old Ottawa East

Old Ottawa East or just Ottawa East is a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada. It is located south of Nicholas Street and between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River. The southern border is generally defined by Main Street and Riverdale Avenue. To the south is the neighbourhood of Old Ottawa South...

. The neighbourhood is dominated by five large apartment buildings, some of the largest in Ottawa. These buildings range from low cost to moderate cost and mostly house new immigrants, students and young professionals. The neighbourhood is similar to Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

's St. James Town, but it is much smaller. Across the Rideau River to the east Hurdman is a more recently built such area.

Originally the area was an industrial zone lying beside the train tracks. In the 1950s the tracks were removed and replaced by the Queensway. Industry also left the area and new towers began to be built. The Eastern Ontario Institute of Technology, (later to merge with The Ontario Vocational Centre and renamed Algonquin College

Algonquin College

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

), opened its new Rideau Campus there in the 1964. After being unused for a number of years, it was sold to the University of Ottawa

University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...

 in January 2007. The neighbourhood remained home to the Canadian military's Lees Avenue Armoury until the late 1980s.
In 1986 while building the Lees Transitway Station the area's industrial past began to cause major problems as it was discovered that large, and leaking, tanks of coal tar

Coal tar

Coal tar is a brown or black liquid of extremely high viscosity, which smells of naphthalene and aromatic hydrocarbons. Coal tar is among the by-products when coal iscarbonized to make coke or gasified to make coal gas...

 sat under the area. For some 35 years up to 1957 the Ottawa Gas Works had operated a coal gasification

Coal gasification

Coal gasification is the process of producing coal gas, a type of syngas–a mixture of carbon monoxide , hydrogen , carbon dioxide and water vapour –from coal...

 plant in the area and had produced this byproduct. This began a many months long argument with the various levels of government, the landowners, and the residents. Eventually a major cleaning operation was launched costing some $12 million.

The actual road of Lees Avenue runs from Main Street

Main Street (Ottawa)

Main Street is a major road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Despite the name, the street isn't Ottawa's "main street", as one would argue that that title would be held by Bank Street. Main Street however is the "main street" for the community of Ottawa East. It was originally the main street of...

 in the west to where it crosses over the Queensway when it becomes King Edward Avenue. It is a moderately-used collector road

Collector road

A collector road or distributor road is a low to moderate-capacity road which serve to move traffic from local streets to arterial roads. Unlike arterials, collectors are also designed to provide access to residential properties...

serving the local community. Lees originally turned into Chapel Street, but was realigned in 1993 to turn into King Edward.