Transportation Master Plan Update

Thank you to everyone who participated in the recent consultations on the Transportation Master Plan (December 2021 to April 2022). The TMP Team has been working to review the comments and feedback received. The following three documents provide summaries of the input received:

• “As We Heard It” report on the draft TMP Part 1 – Policies.
• “As We Heard It” report on the proposed active transportation candidate projects and rural active transportation network
• A “Question and Answer” document from the Open House on March 29, 2022

As part of finalizing the TMP Part 1 – Policies and the active transportation projects in Q1 2023, we will post a separate document that shows the changes. A separate report will document the results of the June 2022 consultation on the draft road and transit project evaluation frameworks.

Part 1 of the TMP, released in draft in December 2021, proposed sets of evaluation criteria (Policy 8-1 and Policy 9-2).

The City is now expanding on these proposed criteria and are inviting the public to provide feedback on the methodologies that will be used to score future road and transit projects in Part 2 of the TMP, the Capital Infrastructure Plan. Highest scoring projects will be prioritized for implementation and lowest scoring projects will not be pursued.

The proposed evaluation criteria can be found at these links.

Road Project Evaluation Criteria

Transit Project Evaluation Criteria

You can view an FAQ on the evaluation criteria here.

The evaluation frameworks address the prioritization of projects of the same types – i.e. evaluating new roads and road widening projects relative to one another, and evaluating transit projects relative to one another.

When will residents be able to provide input on the allocation of funding between different project types?

• Within the TMP Part 2, the City expects to develop two or three alternative network investment scenarios to meet future travel demand. These scenarios will consider the City’s climate change, mode share objectives, as well as affordability. The network investment alternatives would feature different levels of funding for different project types.
• The alternative network scenarios will be shared with the public once the Origin-Destination Survey has been completed and the City has analyzed future travel needs.

In the Roads evaluation framework, why is “Mobility Needs” weighted so much higher than “City Building”?

• The framework is designed to identify the new road and road widening projects critical for access to development and congestion reduction (i.e. mobility needs). If a project does not meet a mobility need, it should not be constructed.
• Once the mobility need is established, projects will rank better or worse based on their ability to support key City Building objectives, including their impact on natural systems, support for transit and healthy streets, and impact on equity.
• Projects that provide access to new development are expected to score the highest.
• Projects will score higher on the congestion metric if the corridor is already congested today, compared to projects that address anticipated future congestion.

What else is new in the Roads evaluation framework, compared to the 2013 TMP?

• The framework includes a minimum threshold. Not all candidate road projects are expected to be included in the Ultimate Network.
• We are proposing a separate evaluation process for complete street enhancements to existing roads. In the last TMP, there were only a few road projects that were of this type, as most complete street projects were intended to be implemented as part of other projects (such as road renewal). In the new TMP, we expect to consider more of these types of projects as stand-alone initiatives.

Why isn’t there a scoring rubric for complete street enhancements to existing roads?

• Before presenting a detailed scoring rubric with weightings, we would like to test the framework against a list of sample projects.
• The TMP team will be working on the scoring rubrics and a list of sample projects in the coming months. In the meantime, residents are welcome to provide feedback on the proposed bullet points in the Road Project Evaluation Framework document (pages 4-5).
• What is new within the transit project evaluation framework, compared to the 2013 TMP? The framework is designed to identify the transit projects that are most critical to encouraging mode shift, attracting new riders and improving service for existing riders.
• A a new type of equity metric for transit projects is proposed: expected number of transit riders using the corridor/project who live in an (Equity) Priority Neighbourhood.
• A new category of projects, called “isolated priority measures” has been added, focused on specific intersections or bottlenecks.

Is there overlap between some of the criteria such as Ridership Growth and Service Improvement?

• There is some “double counting” in the framework – projects that score highly on Ridership Growth are also expected to score well on Service Improvement and Major Destinations & Economic Development. However, we think all three criteria are required as they capture slightly different aspects of a project’s value.
• For example, Service Improvement captures the number of existing riders who will benefit from a project, while Major Destinations & Economic Development focuses on the need to provide high-quality transit service to destinations that support economic development and regional services.

Why are you consulting on this aspect of the TMP Part 2 now?

• It is important to get public feedback on the project evaluation frameworks before bringing them to Council for approval, since the evaluation frameworks will lead to the prioritization of different projects across the City.
• The TMP team would like to get Council approval of the project evaluation frameworks in Q1 2023 at the same time as the TMP Part 1 policies are approved, before applying the approved evaluation frameworks in Part 2. This is similar to the approach used for the new Official Plan, where the evaluation framework for expansion lands was considered by Council and approved before it was applied.
• The City is exploring how the project evaluation frameworks could be used to inform the next Development Charge Bylaw update.
• This component of the TMP Part 2 does not rely on the Origin-Destination Survey. The proposed evaluation frameworks are based on the new Official Plan and draft Transportation Master Plan policies.
• Establishing the evaluation frameworks now will help us set up our tools and models for efficient analysis within the TMP Part 2, once the Origin-Destination Survey is complete.

When will you be consulting on the other aspects of the TMP Part 2?

• Public engagement on Origin-Destination Survey results and existing travel patterns is expected to occur in Spring 2023.
• Public engagement on project priorities and proposed road and transit networks is expected to occur in Spring 2024.

On March 29^th, 2022 the Transportation Master Plan Team hosted a Public Open House.

Thank you to all residents that participated in this important discussion that will help guide our transportation decisions and networks to 2046.

The slide presentation that was presented at the Public Open House is now available here.

The TMP policy has created a Q&A document from the Public Open House and it can be found here.

Don’t hesitate to let us know at tmpupdate@ottawa.ca if you have any questions.

As a result of the declared State of Emergency and unrest in the City of Ottawa, the TMP Open House originally scheduled for February 15^th was postponed.

The TMP is an important document that will guide our transportation decisions and networks to 2046 and the public requires ample time to engage on these significant policies and projects. As a result, the City will be delaying the original approval date for Part 1 of the TMP from Q2 2022 to Q1 2023. This will allow staff sufficient time to complete consultation and review all feedback. This timeline also ensures we do not engage the public during the Municipal Blackout Period.

As a next step, the Public Open House has been rescheduled for Tuesday, March 29^th at 6:30 p.m. Those who still wish to register can do so here.

Residents are encouraged to submit their questions ahead of time and can do so here. Please note that questions submitted for the previous meeting have been noted and do not need to be resubmitted.

The surveys and online tools will remain open until April 5^th, and the TMP team will continue to review all comments and submissions received.

The public is invited to provide feedback on the close to 70 proposed transportation-related policies to be included in Part 1 of the TMP.

The full draft document can be found below:

Transportation Master Plan

Proposed policies include, among others, policies to:

• build a clean and sustainable transportation system;
• create a more equitable transportation system;
• use transportation to support the city we want to build;
• maximize walkability;
• develop a great cycling city;
• expand and improve transit city-wide;
• provide safe, multimodal streets;
• manage the curb, parking, and the movement of goods; and,
• advance transportation demand manage.

These draft policies - developed in line with the Official Plan, and the new realities of our growing city - will guide our transportation decisions and networks to 2046 and help Ottawa fulfill its vision of becoming the most liveable mid-sized city in North America.

The public is encouraged to review the draft policies and complete the surveys by February 18, 2022. Residents can also provide feedback directly by emailing tmpupdate@ottawa.ca. The Phase 3 consultation strategy will also include a Public Open House to be scheduled for early in 2022. Please say tuned for more details.

Residents are also invited to learn more and provide feedback on Active Transportation candidate projects and the proposed rural network. Find more information here.

Residents are invited to use our online engagement tool (closed) to provide feedback on the pedestrian and cycling projects that are proposed for implementation from 2023 onwards.

Projects may add or upgrade facilities such as sidewalks, multi-use pathways, bike lanes, cycle tracks or street crossings to address critical missing links in the City’s active transportation networks. Candidate projects are in addition to facilities that will be delivered through road resurfacing, road construction, rapid transit projects, and other planned works. Active transportation candidate projects were informed by public consultation, Councillor input on priorities, and a network review using a policy lens. You can find out more about how the candidate projects were selected here.

The City is also looking for feedback on a proposed network of paved shoulders to be added to rural roads at the time of resurfacing. If you walk or bike on roads in Ottawa’s rural areas, we encourage you to view the map and add comments to let us know what you think. You can find more about how the proposal rural network was developed here.

For more information please email tmpupdate@ottawa.ca

NOTE: The April 2022 draft proposals for the rural active transportation network and future active transportation projects can be found on GeoOttawa under the Cycling or Pedestrian Plan layers, ‘Draft 2023 Transportation Master Plan

Thank you for your interest in the draft TMP policies. The TMP is a complex document. In order to facilitate your feedback, we have created a series of one-pagers on the key topics we heard in our engagements so far.

Each paper is listed below and you can select the topics of interest to you or go through them all.

If you have any questions or would like to provide general comments, you can always do so through tmpupdate@ottawa.ca.

Residents have until February 18th to complete the surveys.

For more information on how the draft TMP aligns with the Healthy Streets approach please read more here.

The TMP policy document has been developed in line with the New Official Plan, and the new realities of our growing city. The document will guide our transportation decisions and networks to 2046 and help Ottawa fulfill its vision of becoming the most liveable mid-sized city in North America.

Please read this FAQ to see if it answers your questions. If you have a question that has not been answered below you can email it to tmpupdate@ottawa.ca

In developing the TMP, it is important to consider the relationship between transportation and climate change – one of the most pressing issues of our time. As a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the transportation sector has a key role to play in reducing climate change. It is also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As such, measures to improve resiliency must be considered in the design, implementation, operation, and maintenance of transportation infrastructure.

The Climate Change and Transportation Planning discussion paper explores the relationship between transportation and climate change, including various strategies to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

You can view the discussion paper here.

Please share your feedback and comments by sending an email to TMPUpdate@ottawa.ca.