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June 22, 2005 - A Slight Mea Culpa

As you may recall, one of my earlier blogs was on provincial planning and the expansion of the Queensway in Ottawa. In it, I slammed the provincial government for irresponsibly intruding on municipal affairs and imposing their own transportation vision on the city. I stand somewhat corrected.

After perusing the Ministry of Transportation's website on the 417 widening, it appears that they have indeed taken into account the City of Ottawa's targets for modal splits in their methodology for selecting alternatives. In addition, they also appeared to take into account that a widening of the Queensway through the core would have unwanted impacts on the urban fabric of the area. I stand gladly chastened.

However, I still take issue with the timing of their project. Although it is not the intent of the ministry to hijack the transportation plan for Ottawa, a premature widening of the Queensway would likely impact negatively on the city's ability to achieve it's transit modal split (Ottawa is aiming to move from 17% transit modal split to 30% transit modal split by 2021, an ambitious target for a North American city). Making the roads available now makes it all the more enticing to drive now, instead of take the bus or light rail. I still wish they would hold off until the end of this period to decide if they really need a widening. After all, congestion in Ottawa is a bit of a joke.