New Toll Roads for Ottawa Downtown
Travelling into downtown Ottawa could get costly if a city councillor has his way.
If rising gas prices aren’t enough to make you take the bus, maybe a congestion charge will.
Capital Coun. Clive Doucet wants the city to charge a user fee for every car heading into the downtown core to help pay for road and sewer repairs in older Ottawa neighbourhoods.
He wants the city to experiment with a two-year pilot project to test its effectiveness and gauge the public’s reaction to the charge. The idea is similar to one instituted by London, England, which began charging drivers a toll in an effort to discourage cars in the capital’s core.
Charge is ‘sensible’
“A congestion charge is a sensible way of raising taxes,” Doucet said. “People have to realize we have to do something.”
Under Doucet’s plan, drivers heading downtown and who cross the McIlraith, Billings, Dunbar and Hog’s Back bridges between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. would pay a fee when they register their vehicle licence.
Doucet says the charge could be anywhere from 25¢ a trip to 50¢. Drivers would only be charged from Monday to Friday, and only if travelling into downtown. It would also apply to drivers who travel to downtown via the Queen Elizabeth Driveway at Preston St.
Bay Coun. Alex Cullen says his colleague’s idea about a cure for vehicles cutting through Capital Ward to get to downtown might not be as farfetched as it first seems.
“He’s trying to generate some discussion because cars are destroying the quality of life for his residents,” said Cullen. “It’s the shape of things to come.”
Doucet argues cities don’t have enough money to maintain hundreds of kilometres of roads and alternatives must be considered.
In Doucet’s motion to be introduced at the next transportation committee meeting in two weeks, he suggests council will spend about $145 million on new roads over the next three years and taxes it currently collects are not enough to pay for it.
The city isn’t on board yet, but hasn’t dismissed the idea outright.
Deputy City Manager Ned Lathrop said vehicular congestion is beginning to inhibit the movement of people downtown.
“It’s one of those things that have to be considered,” he said, but added Ottawa’s traffic congestion is nowhere near London’s level.
OttawaSun
If rising gas prices aren’t enough to make you take the bus, maybe a congestion charge will.
Capital Coun. Clive Doucet wants the city to charge a user fee for every car heading into the downtown core to help pay for road and sewer repairs in older Ottawa neighbourhoods.
He wants the city to experiment with a two-year pilot project to test its effectiveness and gauge the public’s reaction to the charge. The idea is similar to one instituted by London, England, which began charging drivers a toll in an effort to discourage cars in the capital’s core.
Charge is ‘sensible’
“A congestion charge is a sensible way of raising taxes,” Doucet said. “People have to realize we have to do something.”
Under Doucet’s plan, drivers heading downtown and who cross the McIlraith, Billings, Dunbar and Hog’s Back bridges between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. would pay a fee when they register their vehicle licence.
Doucet says the charge could be anywhere from 25¢ a trip to 50¢. Drivers would only be charged from Monday to Friday, and only if travelling into downtown. It would also apply to drivers who travel to downtown via the Queen Elizabeth Driveway at Preston St.
Bay Coun. Alex Cullen says his colleague’s idea about a cure for vehicles cutting through Capital Ward to get to downtown might not be as farfetched as it first seems.
“He’s trying to generate some discussion because cars are destroying the quality of life for his residents,” said Cullen. “It’s the shape of things to come.”
Doucet argues cities don’t have enough money to maintain hundreds of kilometres of roads and alternatives must be considered.
In Doucet’s motion to be introduced at the next transportation committee meeting in two weeks, he suggests council will spend about $145 million on new roads over the next three years and taxes it currently collects are not enough to pay for it.
The city isn’t on board yet, but hasn’t dismissed the idea outright.
Deputy City Manager Ned Lathrop said vehicular congestion is beginning to inhibit the movement of people downtown.
“It’s one of those things that have to be considered,” he said, but added Ottawa’s traffic congestion is nowhere near London’s level.
OttawaSun
posted by Ottawa Gas Prices | 10:18 PM
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