Last June, Council approved the scope of work for completing the Transportation Master Plan update including updates to the Active Transportation Plan with the intended completion date of April 2022. This deadline was created based on the key milestones listed in the Scope of Work including; a new Origin-Destination Survey, coordination with the Official Plan review, and public consultation milestones.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be some changes with respect to the timing for this much anticipated Transportation Master Plan (TMP) Update.
The first phase of public consultation was completed in January 2020. The second phase of consultation began in February 2020 and was scheduled to be completed in May 2020. This phase has been extended into the fall to ensure enough time for public consultation. Online consultations for this phase will begin shortly.
Given the ongoing impacts and restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the TMP Update funding project partners have agreed that travel patterns across the City of Ottawa will not have returned to normal by the Fall of 2020. Hence, any data collected in this time period would not reflect the long-term trends valuable to the development of the priority network for implementation as part of the TMP Update. The Origin-Destination Survey set to begin in October 2020 has now been deferred until Fall 2021. This means that it will not be possible to complete the TMP Update in the originally planned timeframe. To accommodate the new Origin-Destination Survey timing, the Municipal Election in October 2022, and transition to a new Term of Council, the new completion date for the TMP Update and the new Active Transportation Plan is the Fall of 2023.
In the meantime, staff will continue their focus on transit, road, cycling and sidewalk projects based on the current TMP and the 2019 City-Wide Development Charges Background Study and subject to annual capital budget approvals.
Other important elements that continue to move forward include:
- The Development of the new Official Plan.
- Exploring emerging issues such as alternative funding sources, “new mobility” and climate change mitigation in transportation planning.
- Transportation policy review and development.
- Identifying missing links in the active transportation network.
- Developing criteria for prioritization of projects.
- Updating project costs.
- Public engagement.
You can find further information and updates here.