Ottawa leaders uncertain over Ontario government's plan to restrict bike lanes

Local political leaders are reacting to the Ontario government's announcement that will require municipalities to receive provincial approval before removing traffic lanes to install new bike lanes.

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Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sakaria made the announcement on Tuesday.

"When strategically placed, bike lanes are a vital part of every city, offering residents a safe and a reliable way to move around," Sarkaria said. “What cities should not be doing, however, is taking away lanes of traffic on our more most congested roads."

Critics, including Ottawa city councillor Jeff Leiper, are not convinced traffic congestion is the fault of bike lanes. Lieper says such a decision would overstep the province's authority to oversee municipal decisions.

"It comes across as absolute pandering," Leiper told Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron.

"The province is well outside of its wheelhouse here. The local transportation networks are the responsibility of the municipality to decide."

In his announcement, Sakaria singled out Ottawa, Kitchener and Toronto as examples of where bike lanes have expanded drastically, creating uncertainty about their impacts to traffic.

"Like for the underused bike lanes on Cedar and Joseph Streets in downtown Kitchener that are making it difficult for emergency vehicles to get through or O'Connor street in Ottawa, where lanes were pointlessly taken away on a key artery making it unsafe for drivers and cyclists alike," he said.

Sarkaria questioned some of the data used to estimate cycling traffic and the impact of bike lanes on congestions, saying he believes very hot and rainy days were not counted.

Existing bike lanes will not have to be ripped up under the first stage of new legislation, Sarkaria said. However, he said that the province will also be asking municipalities for data on projects initiated in the past five years to assess whether the province agrees.

Leiper said he does not support the government limiting the city's powers to decide its transportation priorities. He added it remains to be seen what the legislation would mean for Ottawa.

"I don’t know how that process is going to go," he said.

"We have to get permission from the Minister – these are going to be political decisions and I don’t know how that affects our ability to put cycling tracks in."

Transportation committee chair Coun. Tim Tierney says he's waiting to see what the tabled legislation will look like.

"Until it actually passes within the house, we'll have to wait and see. But we're already working in the background to see what the impacts could be or would be on a city like Ottawa," Tierney told CTV's Austin Lee.

"There is a bit of work to do if the province does come down and say, yes, these are the new policies and procedures that we have to follow."

For many Ottawa residents, congestion is among one of the biggest issues with the city's roadways.

"Normally, it would take me 30 minutes or so from Kanata to downtown. lately it's about an hour," driver An Trinh told CTV News Ottawa.

"I noticed that the traffic has increased. Especially along the lines of Carling Avenue," said Clara Caceres.

A recent survey from the City of Ottawa suggests cycling is becoming more prevalent in the community.

From 2011 to 2022, the percentage of trips completed on a bike more than doubled – from 1.9 per cent to 3.9 per cent. Meanwhile, the city is in the process of updating its Transportation Master Plan, which includes the possibility of more bike lanes.

"There would be impacts, so we just want to know what's in that legislation and how we can best deal with that," Tierney said.

Meantime, critics like Dave Robertson, the vice-president of the advocacy group Bike Ottawa, argue the province’s plan is counter intuitive.

"It's a backwards policy that's not going to accomplish what they say,” he said.

“If we’re looking to make things better for residents, to make our transportation system more equitable, to reduce the cost of living for residents, to lower the death rate and injury rate for vulnerable road users, then we need to start giving people good options to get out of cars."

Sarkaria said the call about whether or not a new bike lane can be installed in place of a traffic lane in a municipality will ultimately rest with the minister of transportation.

He said the government is also developing a plan to allow vehicles to travel safely at speeds higher than 120 km/h on new highways and to freeze driver testing fees at current levels.

With files from Newstalk 580 CFRA and CTV Toronto

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