2013 Transportation Master Plan

Transportation Master Plan 2013 Update

November 2013 Update:   Draft 2013 TMP published on Oct 9th

 Some of the highlights include:

Active Transportation:

- agreement to fund 50% of Active Transportation projects from development charges

- commitment to build 3 new active transportation bridges

    - Rideau R crossing at Somerset-Donald (2014-2016)

    - Ottawa R. crossing on PoW bridge (2016-2020) if co-funded by NCC and City of Gatineau

    - Canal Crossing at 5th-Clegg (post 2020)

- specific list of 69 cycling links to be added with 70m$ funding over next 18yrs

- commitment to expand winter maintenance for key cycling links

Roads:

- removal of AVTC (Alta Vista Transportation Corridor) from the road plan until at least post 2031 

   (ie a postponement of 15 years relative to the 2008 plan)

- similar postponement to the plan for 4-laning PoW drive (except for 1 short section north of Hunt Club)

- pulling forward in the plan the 4-laning of the airport parkway north of Hunt Club

- reduction in the overall pace of road expansions by as much as half compared to 2008 plan

- agreement in priniciple to take a 'complete streets' approach to street redevelopments and an agreement to develop metrics for evaluating quality of service for walking and cycling so that these quantitative metrics can be used to help in allocation decisions for the limited space in the right-of-way among all the different corridor users.

Transit:

- acceleration of the build out of the next phase of the LRT network from completion in 2031 (2008 plan) to completion by 2023

- while also expanding the size of the LRT plan relative to 2008 by:

  - extending LRT from Blair Rd all the way to Place d'Orleans

  - extending the O-Train south to Bowesville (& adding more stations downtown)

  - adding a western LRT branch from Lincoln fields to Bayshore

- advancement in timing of BRT northward from 417 along March Rd

- postponement of plans for southeast BRT line from Blair station towards Navan

- postponement of plans for western BRT line Kanata towards Stittsville

- addition of many measures for bus priority in mixed traffic areas throughout the city

Mar 2013 Status Update:  Preliminary TMP Policy Proposals

There are 2 main dimensions to the TMP.  A statement of policies and principles and a refresh of the 20 year vision for spending on infrastructure for transit, roads, walking, and cycling

A.  Policy Development

The 2013 policy update was "not a complete re-write" but an update with a special focus on several transportation policy topics identified for further development.  The City published a high level summary of the proposed topics for focus and invited feedback on those topics.   These are listed as:

1. Affordability

2. Safe and Efficient Transportation Infrastructure

3. Sustainable Transportation

4. Complete Streets

5. Active Transportation

6. Public Transit

B.  Road and Transit Network 2014-2031  'Refresh'

In addition to the policy directives listed above the Plan will 'refresh' the view out to 2031 of the road and transit network that the City will invest in.

The first release of public information related to this process was the January 2013 release of the results of the 2011 Origin-Destination Survey

This document is the holy grail of trip data for the National Capital Region with detailed information about trips taken in the region by time of day, by purpose of trip, and by origin and destination, etc, etc. This data is used to derive the future transportation requirements across the different major 'screen-lines' in the city and is a key source of information used to drive the City of Ottawa Transportation Master Plans.

The Survey is performed every 5-10 years via a telephone survey to over 25,000 residents collecting data on all types of trips made by all persons within the household.  This data is then extrapolated up to the full population to give trip volumes representative of what is happening across the whole city.

Observations of changes in travel patterns from survey to survey are extremely useful in projecting the future transportation needs.

On the bright side, use of transit and cycling  increased faster than the use of cars and the rate of trip generation per household per day continued to decline.  However, on the whole, it was claimed there was still 100,000 more trips made per day in the region in 2011 compared to 2005 and the majority of the growth in new trips was still being absorbed by the use of cars.  This means pressure continues to spend large sums of money on expanding the road network.

Where that will be focused will be driven by information from this survey. It serves the basis for the projection of future travel needs and trends and is extrapolated into the future based on further projections of trends in population and employment growth in Ottawa. 

This process was carried out during winter of 2013.  This future transportation demand scenario was then sub-divided across the different transportation modes (car, transit, cycling, walking) and fed into a computer model of the City's road network. This resulted in a list of road expansions required to meet the projected demand and was provided for public comment by Spring of 2013.

These road expansion projects were ordered in time according to when it was believed they would be required and then an estimate of the costs and financing required to build them over the next 20 years was made available at the end of summer 2013.

Final approval of the plan by council happened in Dec 2013.

This plan included in its scope the planned Transit Network for the next 20 years as well as information about the development of cycling and walking facilities in the City.