Abstract Manager

The City of Ottawa is continuously updating its design guidance in pursuit of safer and more accessible streets. The City’s 2019 Strategic Road Safety Action Plan (RSAP) established that all new and reconstructed local residential streets must be designed for a 30 km/h operating speed. There was a subsequent need for design guidance that would inform the successful implementation of this initiative, supporting the RSAP goal of a 20% reduction in fatal and major injury (FMIs) collisions by 2024, and ultimately zero FMIs. The Local Residential Streets 30 km/h Design Toolbox (2021) is the first of its kind in Canada to provide practitioners with intelligible guidance on achieving 30 km/h operating speeds on local streets. The Design Toolbox responds to research findings that the likelihood of pedestrian fatality increases dramatically in a collision when vehicle speeds exceed 30 km/h¹.  More broadly, it recognizes local residential streets as highly accessible public spaces that must be designed in accordance with the City’s Complete Streets approach, providing safety, comfort, and mobility for all users.

The Design Toolbox consists of a catalogue of speed management measures, an Applicability Matrix, and a tiered implementation system. The catalogue chronicles physical speed management measures as well as communication and enforcement measures. Innovation is encouraged through guidance on emerging measures such as living streets and continuous footways/bikeways. The Applicability Matrix transcends traditional design guidance by instructing the effective implementation of the catalogued measures based on project type, context, and cross-section type. Further, each measure is classified into tiers based on its level of effectiveness to inform how measures may be bundled for maximum efficacy.

The Design Toolbox was informed by a best practice review of other North American jurisdictions. It benefitted from input from a diverse group of internal stakeholders and the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association. It was developed with the imperative to design roadways with accessibility in mind, ensuring that all streets meet or exceed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Internal accessibility staff were key stakeholders, and the document was reviewed by internal and external accessibility experts. The resulting Toolbox may be transferred to other jurisdictions that are also shifting away from auto-oriented streets towards safer and more accessible streets with lower operating speeds.

[1] Rosen, E. & Sander, U. (2009). Literature review of pedestrian fatality risk as a function of car impact speed. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 41(3), 536-542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2010.04.003