The City of Ottawa is making “minor design revisions” to 20 ongoing projects to comply with Ontario’s new rules on bike lanes. Bill 60, the “Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act,” includes amendments to the Highway Traffic Act to prohibit municipalities from reducing or removing traffic lanes for a bike lane. “Overall, Bill 60 is expected to have a relatively modest impact on the cycling projects within the Transportation Master Plan,” Marcia Wallace, general manager of Planning, Development and Building Services, said in a memo to council. There are currently 124 cycling projects in the City of Ottawa’s Transportation Master Plan. Twenty-seven projects will be impacted by Bill 60, according to Wallace. City staff met with senior representatives from the Ministry of Transportation to understand the impacts of Ontario’s legislation on Ottawa’s projects. Wallace said MTO staff “emphasized the intent of the bill was to maintain traffic flow by preventing lane removal for the purpose of cycling.” “They stressed that the legislative amendments under the Highway Traffic Act apply when a ‘marked lane available for travel by motor vehicles’ is reduced for the purpose of a ‘bicycle lane.’” Wallace says transportation staff will apply the following interpretation of Bill 60 to the planning and design of transportation projects: Wallace says 27 projects are impacted by Bill 60, including 13 cycling retrofit projects and five integrated renewal projects that include cycling facilities as part of work. “Of these 27 active projects, 20 are proceeding with minor design revisions to comply with Bill 60,” Wallace said. “These projects are at various stages of development and will be advanced in accordance with program priorities.” Wallace’s memo doesn’t say which projects need minor design revisions and what will happen to the other seven projects that are impacted by Bill 60. A report will be presented to the new council early in 2027.
