Ottawa has 8th worst traffic congestion in Canada, survey finds

Motorists travel over the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge connecting Ottawa and Gatineau at the start of the Colonel By Day long weekend. (Natalie van Rooy/CTV News Ottawa)

Commute times are a little longer in Ottawa as more people return to the office, but traffic jams in the capital are not as bad as most Canadian cities, according to a new survey.

The newly released TomTom Traffic Index, looking at data from the location technology company’s navigation systems, found the average travel time for a 10-kilometre drive in Ottawa increased 50 seconds in 2022 to an average of 14 minutes.

That commute time was the eight-longest of 12 cities in Canada and 210th in the world. Toronto had the slowest commute time in Canada, at 22 minutes and 30 seconds, followed by Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal and London, Ont.

"Workers have increasingly been heading back to the office, with travel times seeing a rise across 62 per cent of the cities (242 out of 389)," TomTom said.

The TomTom data shows the worst rush hour in Ottawa is Thursday between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., with the 10-kilometre drive taking an average of 18 minutes and 20 seconds. The 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. hour is the worst traffic in Ottawa every day during the week, ranging from 16 minutes to drive 10 kilometres on Monday to 18 minutes on Wednesday and Thursday.

More time in the car

Ottawa drivers spent a total of 123 hours driving in rush hour last year.

The TomTom survey shows drivers spent an extra 37 hours driving due to congestion.

The time spent driving in rush hour was 11 hours and 26 minutes more in 2022 than in 2021 when there were fewer cars on the road due to work-from-home measures and COVID-19 restrictions.

The survey shows motorists spent an extra three minutes in the car during the morning rush hour for the 10 km trip, while the evening 10 km trip took an extra six minutes.

Motorists spent 199 hours driving in Toronto last year, with 77 hours added to commute times due to congestion.

Feb. 18^th was the worst day to travel through Ottawa

The worst day to travel through Ottawa was on Feb. 18, 2022, when police began the operation to move in and end the 'Freedom Convoy' occupation in downtown Ottawa.

A vehicle exclusion zone was set up around downtown Ottawa to limit traffic moving into the area as police moved in to clear the Parliamentary Precinct, with long traffic lines on the Queensway and other roads heading into the downtown core as police checked motorists.

The survey found the average travel time that day to drive 10 kilometres was 20 minutes and 40 seconds.

How much are drivers spending to drive in rush hour?

TomTom estimates Ottawa drivers spent $577 on driving in 2022.

The survey finds Ottawa motorists spent $52 in fuel just sitting in traffic.

Travel times in Canada - 10 km