City launches 'mobility plan' to deal with downtown congestion

The City of Ottawa is boosting policepresence in the downtown core this monthas part of a temporary "mobility plan" intended to ease severe traffic congestion.

In a Friday memo, the city's general manager of transportation, John Manconi, announced a series of new measures that will be in place for two weeks startingMonday, June 10.

Those measuresinclude:

• Police officers out enforcing no-turn rules in the afternoon, in the hopes of keeping the Albert and Slater street bus lanes clear of traffic.
• Additional transit supervisors working on the Albert and Slater streetbus corridors as well asin the city's transit operations control centre to keep buses moving smoothly.
• Officers stationed in the afternoon atLaurier Avenue and Nicholas Street, and at Waller Street and the Mackenzie King Bridge.
• Tow trucks placed at "strategic locations" to swiftly remove vehicles parked in no-stopping zones.
• Parking enforcement officers on bicycles will be out ticketing people in congested areas.
• New "tow-away" signson Albert, Slater and Queen streets, as well as a no-right-turn-on-red sign for drivers turning east from Bank onto Queen.

"A number of factors are presently contributing to downtown congestion," wrote Manconi in the memo.

"[They include]the closure of the Chaudire Bridge, construction on the ramps for Highway 5 and 50 in Gatineau, and construction projects in downtown Ottawa that require the closure of important corridors such as Elgin Street, Portage Bridge and the Elgin and Wellington intersection."

The new measures come after Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson asked city staff earlier this week to come up with a plan to address the congestion challenges.

Traffic expected to thin by lateJune

One particular project that has been blamed for cumbersome commutes is the much-delayed Confederation light rail line, which Manconi has attributed to a number of congestion issues that will only be resolved once LRT launches.

On Tuesday, the consortium building the line, Rideau Transit Group, said it would miss yet another deadline and would not be able to deliver LRT to the city by Canada Day.

The project is now more than a year overdue.

Manconi said in his Friday memo that after the two-week period, traffic volumes are expected to decline thanks to the school year ending and the holiday season kicking off in earnest.