Ottawa’s ravaged roads require serious Attention
It’s disappointing, although not surprising, that we have gotten so far into our municipal election without a solid discussion of the abysmal condition of our roads. Mayor Jim Watson is hardly going to highlight the road deterioration, since he has had eight years to fix the problem and hasn’t done it. His main opponent, former councillor Clive Doucet, isn’t exactly a roads kind of guy.
Some council candidates have identified fixing roads as a top priority, but if they were members of the last council, you’d have to take that with a grain of road salt.
The road-deterioration problem in Ottawa simply comes down to city councillors choosing to spend less than is required to keep roads in good shape. The numbers are not encouraging. The city’s 2017 report on the condition of our roads revealed 75 per cent are in less than a good state of repair and 30 per cent are so bad they “may negatively impact the level of service.”
That sounds bad and it is. An organization called Municipal Benchmarking Network Canada looked at roads in 15 cities across the country and found that in 2015, Ottawa’s roads were the worst. The average city had about 60 per cent of its roads in good repair. Ottawa had 21 per cent. Compare that to Toronto with 79 per cent.
The Canadian Infrastructure Report Card, an authority recognized by city staff, recommends a repair budget of two per cent of the replacement value of roads. A detailed city study shortly after amalgamation pegged the required number at 1.5 per cent. Despite that, the city’s 2017 long-range financial plan only provides 0.9 per cent funding.
The city’s roads budget is so threadbare it hasn’t even been able to keep the lines on roads painted.
The city’s roads budget is so threadbare it hasn’t even been able to keep the lines on roads painted, even though doing a thorough job would only cost a maximum of $5.3 million more a year. Ottawa has 5,705 kilometres of roads and only one line-painting truck.
Last year, city councillors adopted a plan to correct the road repair backlog, but ever so slowly. They will add small, incremental amounts to the road budget with the hope everything will be sorted out by 2027.
This latest 10-year plan replaced a previous one that began in 2012. So if all goes well, the city will have spent 15 years getting our roads back into shape.
It’s worth noting that a tax increase of 0.5 per cent dedicated to road repairs would fix the problem in five years. It seems like a modest campaign promise, but not one that candidates are making.
Part of the reason is the city’s fixation with transit. Councillors are pouring all the money they can get into transit expansion, while suburban road networks are being overwhelmed by growth. Operating costs for transit suck up far more dollars than the city spends on roads. Transit is budgeted to cost $520 million this year and transportation only $183 million. That includes things such as parking and city fleet costs, as well as roads.
One could build a solid case for rebalancing roads and transit spending, but that’s not a fashionable point of view. Instead, the campaign focus is on slowing traffic down. Speeding is certainly a legitimate problem, but it is dwarfed by the need to deliver an adequate network of roads and keep them in good repair.
Still, attacking speeding is a low-budget promise and thus far more attractive than fixing roads. Watson has vowed to hire 15 new traffic-enforcement officers. Is that a big increase? Hard to say. Ottawa police traffic enforcement is done by a squad that also provides traffic escorts for dignitaries. Police will not disclose how many officers are devoted to this super-sensitive work.
Of all the issues this city faces, roads affect the most people. And yet most candidates are offering non-specific solutions at best. This city could use a road warrior.