Ottawa's clogged roads near capacity

Tom Fitzgerald probably knows better than anyone when it’s going to be a bad day on Ottawa roads.

When the program manager of traffic engineering for the City of Ottawa arrives for work at the city’s Traffic Control Centre on Loretta Avenue every morning at about 7 a.m., a quick look at a wall of monitors tells him everything he needs to know.

The monitors display live video feeds from the 140 cameras installed at key locations around Ottawa. The room could have easily been stolen from a Bond villain’s secret lair.

Staff can pan, tilt and zoom the cameras to display high-quality images directly from the streets. With the flick of a joystick, for example, they zoom closely enough to clearly read the writing on a manhole cover at the corner of King Edward Avenue and Rideau Street.

All this makes traffic slowdowns very easy to spot.

“When it’s a bad day you’ll notice severe congestion at a number of different intersections,” says Fitzgerald.

According to the 32-year veteran of Ottawa traffic, some of the worst rush-hour congestion in the city is found near the Hunt Club Bridge, on each of the Ottawa-Gatineau bridges, at King Edward Avenue, and on Innes Road. But there are problems throughout the grid.

“Many of our roads are at capacity right now. During peak periods, we can’t get a whole lot more traffic through the intersections,” he says. “We probably have about 140 to 150 critical intersections that are over capacity right now. That means they have more traffic than the intersection can handle.”

Councillor Maria McRae, chair of the city’s Transportation Committee, disagrees that Ottawa roads are at capacity. But she acknowledges that there are problems.

“Certainly we know we have volume issues. And that’s why the key to establishing better movement of our vehicles is to get the [light rail] tunnel built downtown.”

Fitzgerald says traffic jams are a result of the rapid pace of development across the city.

“Road building can’t keep up with the growth in homes in the suburbs and major growth areas,” he says.

Fitzgerald suggests that people who live in suburban areas, such as Barrhaven and Orleans, and who work downtown have the worst commutes in the Ottawa area.

From the Traffic Control Centre, city employees can help clogged streets. Their computers are wired into 1,072 key intersections across Ottawa. By adjusting the lengths of individual traffic lights, employees can relieve some of the pressure on particular intersections and restart the flow of vehicles along the road.

Few cities are able to control the lights the way Ottawa does, but it’s hardly a permanent solution.

McRae says she would like to see the city make other modes of transportation more attractive to commuters. “The more public transit we have, the more walking facilities, the more cycling facilities, the more options we can give people to keep the car at home.”

For now, Fitzgerald says it’s important to think about your commute in the morning. “Plan your route out as much as possible. Take a look at our map at Ottawa.ca. You can see our traffic cameras from there and whether there is any major incident on the roadway. If possible, travel outside the peak hours, but that’s always difficult. Take the bus if you can, too.”