Ottawa receives $4 million to install traffic calming measures at photo radar locations

A photo radar camera on Main Street near Immaculata Catholic High School. (Kimberley Fowler/CTV News Ottawa)

The City of Ottawa has received $4 million in immediate, interim funding to install traffic calming measures and boost enforcement at former photo radar camera locations.

The city’s 60 photo radar cameras were turned off on Nov. 14 as part of new Ontario legislation banning the use of automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras on municipal streets.

• New school-zone signs to replace photo radar cameras won’t fit Ottawa’s poles

Ontario established a new Road Safety Initiatives Fund, providing $210 million over the next two years to municipalities that operated photo radar cameras. As part of the funding, Ontario is providing $42 million in immediate funding to municipalities to help facilitate traffic calming measures at speed camera sites.

In a memo to council Tuesday morning, Public Works general manager Alain Gonthier said the city has been allocated $4.043 million in funding to support road safety initiatives at the former sites for the cameras.

The funding must be used for the following:

• Temporary targeted enforcement resources until more permanent measures such as traffic calming or other safety initiatives are in place.
• Implementation of traffic calming measures (i.e. speed humps, raised crosswalks, roundabouts, etc.), where feasible, excluding measures that remove a lane of traffic.
• Signage improvements, such as the installation of new warning signage and speed display boards.

“Staff are working on a high-level traffic calming plan for each of the speed camera sites to identify measures that could be implemented to help reduce speeds at these locations within provincial parameters,” Gonthier said.

“City of Ottawa staff remain committed to working with the Ministry of Transportation to ensure that all information requested is provided in a timely manner.”

Gonthier says the Ministry of Transportation will provide further details about applying for funding from the Road Safety Initiatives Fund early next year.

“As part of the application process, municipalities will be required to report how much ASE revenue has been generated and how it has been allocated, with the expectation that it has been used to support road safety-related costs, consistent with Ottawa’s past practice when ASE was permitted,” Gonthier said.

The City of Ottawa had 60 photo radar cameras in school zones and high-speed areas, with work underway to install 24 new cameras this fall.

A total of 244,484 speeding tickets were issued through the automated speed enforcement program between January and September. More than one million tickets were issued through photo radar cameras on Ottawa roads since July 2020.

Revenue generated from Ottawa’s photo radar cameras supported road safety and traffic calming initiatives across the city.

Cameras to be removed soon

The Ontario government’s legislation required municipalities to turn off the photo radar cameras on Nov. 14 and remove the cameras.

Gonthier says the “Municipal Speed Camera in Use” and “Municipal Speed Camera Coming Soon” signs at all photo radar camera locations have been removed.

“Removal of the cameras, which are owned and operated through a service contract with a third-party vendor, will proceed in the near term as part of the transition process,” Gonthier said.

Ottawa must install oversized school zone signage at each photo radar location to encourage drivers to slow down.

“Once the new signs have been received from the province, staff will coordinate installation at former ASE sites in school zones as soon as operationally feasible.” Gonthier said.

Coun. Tim Tierney, the chair of the public works and infrastructure committee, told Newstalk 580 CFRA on Tuesday the 12-foot-tall signs are too big.