Transportation Impact Assessment Guidelines

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Update to Transportation Impact Assessment Guidelines Effective July 2023

On April 14, 2022, the Province’s Bill 109 received Royal Assent providing legislative direction to implement the More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022. The purpose of Bill 109 is to increase the supply of a range of housing options to make housing more affordable. Through Bill 109, the Province mandated a series of changes that affect the development application review process which are intended to reduce the time required for the development approval process. Revisions have been made to the TIA Guidelines to comply with Bill 109 and streamline the process for applicants. 

Highlights of the TIA Guideline Update

  • Collapsed Step 3 (Forecasting) – moved forecasting to Step 2 and Step 4
    • Removes one check-in point with City and one interim report (Forecasting Report).
  • Reduced number of TIA’s completing the intersection analysis
    • Should reduce scope of TIA for developments with low-moderate auto trip generation.
  • Minor modifications to other modules
    • Parking (eliminate Spillover Parking analysis); Neighbourhood Traffic Calming (aligned with new City standards).
    • Improve clarity in setting scope of TIA.

Engagement

  • The review included engagement with internal and external stakeholders between September 2022 and April 2023 to inform changes to the Guidelines.

The Transportation Impact Assessment Guidlines Revisions [ PDF 8.150 MB ] documents the changes to the TIA Guidelines.

Transportation Impact Assessment Guidelines

The City of Ottawa Transportation Impact Assessment (TIA) Guidelines assist land developers and their transportation consultants with the integration of their proposed developments with the City of Ottawa transportation network.  TIA studies support the City’s goal of creating an integrated land use and transportation system as expressed in the Official Plan and the Transportation Master Plan by:

  • Evaluating the consistency of a proposed development’s transportation characteristics with City goals and policies;
  • Comparing transportation network performance both before and after development; and
  • Enabling negotiations between the City and developers about the sharing of costs for transportation system modifications.

The Transportation Impact Assessment Guidelines 2017 [ PDF 3.876 MB ] are to be used for assessing the transportation needs of all development applications submitted to the City of Ottawa.   

Transportation Demand Management Measures Checklist [ PDF 464 KB ]

Transportation Demand Management Supportive Development Design and Infrastructure Checklist [ PDF 345 KB ]

Transportation Impact Assessment Certification Form

Transportation Impact Assessment Screening Form

For more information contact:

Emmett Proulx
Specialist, Development Review & Roadway Modification 
emmett.proulx@ottawa.ca

June 2021 Update to assist with the Forecasting Module of the Guideline

The 2009 TRANs Trip Generation Manual has recently been updated. Like the previous edition, the 2020 TRANS Trip Generation Manual Background Report and TRANS Trip Generation Manual Summary Report blend locally collected data with non-local databases to establish residential trip rates and mode share. The current update also identifies mode shares for non-residential sites including schools, employment generators and commercial generators based on data available from local surveys and the TRANS Origin-Destination Survey.

City of Ottawa staff prepared an Excel spreadsheet that assists applicants with the calculation of trips for developments in Ottawa and Gatineau area. The City prefers the use of TRANS data for residential development TIA submissions and encourages the use of the new non-residential data as well.