The city council has passed a $29 million transportation plan to ease gridlock and improve public transportation in Ottawa. The plan includes measures such as more frequent LRT service, more express buses, and a steep hike to no-stopping fines downtown. However, some city councillors say the new measures aren't enough to keep up with the pressure, and that infrastructure isn't up to the task.
City council has passed a $29 million transportation plan it hopes will get public servants to and from the office an extra day a week, but one city councillor says traffic is going to be 'hell' anyway and the new measures aren't going to fix it.
The transportation plan aims to respond to an expected surge of traffic this fall as most federal public servants spend four days in the office and students head back to class. The city expects that will mean 65,000 additional weekly trips into Ottawa's downtown core. The plan includes measures such as more frequent LRT service, more express buses, a steep hike to no-stopping fines downtown, and $20 million to expand a south-end park-and-ride facility.
However, some east-end city councillors say the new measures aren't enough to keep up with the pressure. They argue that infrastructure isn't up to the task, especially as commuters are still waiting for an LRT expansion to Trim with no opening date in sight. The city plans to pay the bill largely through fees developers pay on new homes, or through a federal-provincial infrastructure fund.
Some of the measures in the plan are simple, such as easing traffic flow through better enforcement and tweaks to traffic signals. The city is also looking to delay some construction work, while expanding night work where possible.
However, the most expensive item in the plan, by far, is a $20-million expansion to the Bowesville LRT park-and-ride. City staff say it sometimes comes close to filling up - and the area is only growing. The city plans to pay the bill largely through fees developers pay on new homes, or through a federal-provincial infrastructure fund.
The plan includes a sidewalk connection from the planned Moodie LRT station to the nearby Department of National Defence campus, which will also see better express bus service. That will cost a combined $3.9 million, though much of that is contingent on federal funding. No-stopping fines will rise to $195 downtown, as the city is planning to extend times at no-parking and no-stopping zones on some downtown streets and increase fines for violations there by 50 per cent. This includes on Rideau, Elgin, Albert, Slater, Metcalfe and O'Connor streets
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