Othello Avenue Accelerated Traffic Calming Study

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Project status
Planning underway

Overview

Othello Avenue between Smyth Road and Pleasant Park Road is currently on the City of Ottawa’s waiting list for a Neighbourhood Traffic Calming (NTC) study to address speeding concerns raised by residents. This location qualifies for an accelerated study that the City is piloting since it is classified as a local road and is not on a key emergency response route (as identified by Emergency Services) or on a transit route. 

The accelerated NTC study process would only consider simple measures such as speed humps which are among the most effective measures to reduce vehicle speeds along a roadway and can also be implemented relatively quickly compared to other types of traffic calming measures. For this reason, the benefit of the proposed accelerated NTC study process is that permanent roadway modifications to address speeding concerns can be implemented more quickly when compared to the regular NTC study process. 

Speed Humps

Speed humps are raised areas of the roadway, which cause vertical upward movement of traversing vehicles. 

Speed hump

Pros 

  • Reduces vehicle speed at/near measure 
  • Relatively cost-effective and simple to design and implement 
  • Minimal modification of existing roadway geometry, less construction disruption 
  • Self-enforcing 

Cons 

  • May increase traffic induced noise and vibrations 
  • May impact emergency response activities 
  • May increase vehicle travel time 
  • May cause discomfort to some drivers 

Online Consultation

Proposed Plan 

The city is proposing the following conceptual plan to address the concerns raised along Othello Avenue and can be viewed in the image below.

Othello Avenue traffic calming concept plan

Your feedback is important to us. An online survey is available for residents who live near the proposed study area and will be open for residents to complete until November 7, 2024. The survey results will help the study team determine the level of comfort within the community for the accelerated NTC study process and proposed plan. 

If there is not enough community support for this project/proposed plan, this street will remain on the NTC waiting list and a more detailed study to consider alternatives will be undertaken when it prioritizes city-wide (which may take several years). 

Complete the online survey.