The City of Ottawa’s public works and infrastructure committee has approved a pilot project that would close streets in front of three Ottawa schools to vehicle traffic during drop-off and pick-up times this fall. The “school streets” pilot project would involve the city partnering with the nonprofit group EnviroCentre to create car-free zones, called “school streets” in front of Hopewell Avenue Public School, Francojeunesse Public School on Osgoode Street, and École élémentaire publique Trille des Bois on Alice Street, the latter of which was added via a motion from Coun. Jessica Bradley on behalf of Coun. Stéphanie Plante on Thursday. “School Streets involve temporarily closing a segment of roadway near a school to vehicular traffic during drop-off and pick-up times, creating a controlled environment with limited to no motorized traffic,” a report prepared for the committee meeting said. “This type of road closure, typically carried out with temporary barriers, is intended to improve safety and encourage healthy active transportation choices.” The partnership with EnviroCentre is due to limited resources at the city level. A previous report said neither city staff nor the Ottawa Police Service have the resources to manage recurring road closures required for school street programs, but if a third party were to bear the cost and manage the logistics, it could be feasible around a select number of schools. During the pilot, EnviroCentre would be responsible for the day-to-day management of the initiative, coordinating with partners and meeting all safety and regulatory requirements. City staff would monitor the initiatives and gather data. The information gathered will help evaluate impacts, identify improvements and guide future agreements. In 2024, EnviroCentre partnered with the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) to study the feasibility of school streets in Ottawa that laid out several recommendations for operating a program. Cassie Smith, EnviroCentre’s strategic lead of transportation, told the committee examples of school streets in other jurisdictions have proven successful. “I think that’s one of the things that we’re hoping to be able to do with this pilot is provide evidence that this works in Ottawa, that it’s not as intimidating as it may seem,” she said. “It’s a short period of time; it’s a really happy occasion. Often, the neighbours that are on a street also comment that it’s just nicer for them too—the air quality is better, there’s less traffic and congestion. It’s just it’s a win-win in a lot of ways.” Similar programs have been undertaken in Montreal, Kingston, Calgary, and Winnipeg. Smith said city staff provided EnviroCentre with a list of eligible schools where such a pilot might be feasible, which she said was about one out of every five schools in Ottawa. “So, that significantly reduced the pool from there we did our own evaluation of those schools from more of an inflammation implementation perspective, so what would the impact of this type of initiative be there?” she said. “Some of the streets were very, very small, there would be like just a very 100-meter closure. It wouldn’t really have the impact that we’re hoping to see out of this type of pilot. And then we also reached out to a number of schools and principals to see, like, are you on board with this? Is this something you feel would be a good fit for your community?” The length of the pilot has yet to be determined. Smith said she’s hopeful the pilot would last between one and two months, depending on the number of days that school streets are implemented. Plante, who is not a member of the committee, but who attended and spoke at the meeting, said it took a few weeks before the community started getting involved, but it may be a rocky start. “The times didn’t work, and then one week we had too many volunteers, and then the next week we didn’t have enough volunteers, so just expect a bit of speed bumps, if I can use an analogy, when you’re just kicking this off the ground, it is not perfect,” she said. “But I’m telling you, by week three, by week four, it was literally a community event, like people would come with their coffee, they would come with their dogs… And what I think the most heartwarming thing I heard is, ‘My child doesn’t like going to school, but on Tuesdays it was a race to get out of bed and a race to get ready, and they were so excited about the school street, and they would bring chalk, and they would bring toys or balls to play with.’ So, it can become a bit of a community event.” Plante said the closures typically last for about 20 to 30 minutes at a time. The approved motion would direct staff and EnviroCentre to coordinate closing part of Osgoode Street, Henderson Avenue or Nelson Street, adjacent to Francojeunesse school, as well as part of Hopewell Avenue in front of Hopewell Avenue School and Alice Street in front of Trille des Bois school for the pilot project. Full details on the timing have yet to be determined. The motion will be brought to city council for approval in July.
