Truck Traffic in Manotick
At the urging of our office, City staff have agreed to a temporary truck connection from First Line to the Mahogany development along Century Road. Minto has informed its operators to have vehicles redirected. The net effect is that fewer trucks will be transiting in the village and near the developed portion of Mahogany. They will instead use First Line and the portion of Century where there are fewer residences.
Though this is a temporary measure and does not fully address the issue of truck traffic in Manotick, it is a step toward providing some needed relief for residents in the Village and the Mahogany Community. Our office will continue working with staff to ensure that every effort is made to continue reducing truck traffic in Manotick. We continue to advocate for getting heavy trucks out of Manotick once and for all.
Quick Facts
Trucks are allowed to deviate from the full-load route when doing so is the most direct path from their origin or to their destination. This is why heavy trucks are already turning from Manotick Main / Rideau Valley onto Century Road, despite Century Road not having been part of the full-load route.
The new exemption, alongside negotiations with the developer, will mean that fewer trucks are navigating through the village or near the completed section of the Mahogany community. It may take some time for residents to notice a change.
As a result of this change, some residents may see more truck traffic than usual on Bankfield, First Line, and on Century from First Line to the portion of the Mahogany community that is under construction.
Background
Manotick has long been part of Ottawa’s truck route network, largely due to the fact that Ottawa has few bridges crossing its rivers and many of the North-South roads in this part of the City are not equipped to manage truck traffic. However, Manotick is very quickly developing, as is the South end of the City generally. This has meant that the number of heavy trucks navigating through Manotick has exploded in recent years. Today, hundreds of very large, heavy trucks transit through the village daily.
As residents know, Manotick is very poorly suited for this heavy truck traffic; the combination of tight turns, often narrow streets, and the character of the village mean that truck traffic is often causing significant health and safety risks to residents, disruptions to businesses, delays and congestion for commuters, and more issues. We are committed to doing everything we can to remove trucks from Manotick; this temporary truck route change is a partial measure that will provide some relief, though we recognize that more work must be done.
The principal challenge is that staff have argued that removal of Manotick from the City’s truck route network would require a comprehensive truck route review. However, staff only plan to review the City’s truck route network when a bridge is built between Ottawa and Quebec; that is the current trigger for staff to engage in this work. There is no indication that there is a bridge forthcoming; moreover, this fails to account for new infrastructure and demands in Ottawa’s south end, or for East-West traffic throughout the region. Put simply, the trigger that staff are using in considering a review is inadequate.
To address this, our office is working with the Mayor’s office and Council colleagues to move this item up the agenda. During the 2023 budget cycle, our office only brought two priorities to the Mayor’s office for attention and consideration. One of those two priorities was getting the trucks out of Manotick. Although this was not included in the 2023 budget, it remains the top priority in communicating with the Mayor.
Additionally, we have invited the Mayor, City staff, and several Councillors to come and visit Manotick this spring to observe the heavy traffic for themselves to better understand the issue. We believe that if Council saw the scale of this issue firsthand, they would agree that action must be taken to address it.
Working with Council colleagues, we are attempting to get the votes necessary to provide new direction to City Staff to do a truck route review sooner and more regularly. Once again, a comprehensive truck route review is necessary to make long-term changes to the existing truck route network to finally get the trucks out of Manotick.
The challenge in advancing a motion through Council is that Councillors often defer to staff recommendations and expertise to inform their decisions. As staff are recommending a different direction, it takes considerable time and effort to convince colleagues around the Council table that circumstances demand that action be taken despite staff recommendations.
It is important to note that if a matter is brought to Council and is voted down, it cannot be brought to Council again during this term. This means that if a matter is unsuccessfully advanced at Council, it will set back progress for years. We must therefore ensure that we have the votes necessary to succeed at Council before bringing motions forward.
Once again, we remain committed to taking every reasonable action possible to get trucks out of Manotick. This current change is a step in the right direction and we will continue pursuing solutions that advance the goal of getting heavy trucks out of Manotick once and for all.
For questions and comments, residents are encouraged to connect with my team and I at ward21@ottawa.ca