Mayor, City Staff, Community Advocates All Helped With Truck Problems
By David Brown, Rideau-Jock Councillor
By now, many in the community will have heard the good news: through working with the Mayor, City staff, and through the advocacy of the community, we have succeeded in removing Manotick Main from the City’s truck route network between Bridge Street and Century Road for the majority of the year. We have also secured funding for a truck route review – a necessary step toward removing Bridge Street from the truck route network.
I wanted to share why these changes are so important and what the next steps are. First though, it’s important to reflect on how we got here.
When I was elected less than two years ago, City staff argued that no changes could be made to the truck route network without a formal truck route review, and that such a review was impossible without a bridge being constructed with Quebec. This stubbornness, plus the lack of interest around the Council table for considering a different approach, had meant that for roughly twenty years, no significant progress had been made.
Breaking this logjam has been challenging, but we’ve made incremental progress.
This was achieved through a mix of quiet, behind the scenes work with City staff, the steadfast support and dedicated efforts of the Mayor and his office, and the consistent advocacy of the community. From a deal negotiated with Minto to route its trucks around the village, to expansions of relief routes around the village core, and to focusing staff resources on the need for solutions, we have seen more progress (albeit slow and incremental progress) in the last two years than we had seen in the previous twenty years.
The most recent announcement of Manotick Main being removed from the truck route network for most of the year and the securing of a truck route review are the most significant successes to date.
Manotick Main is a narrow road with businesses, houses, and sidewalks merely a few feet removed from heavy trucks. Getting Main out of the truck route network will help make the village core safer and more enjoyable for all residents. Moreover, many of the trucks that take Main cross Bridge Street at some point in their journey. The removal of Main provides some relief on Bridge while we work toward a full removal of Bridge from the truck route network.
The truck route review we’ve initiated will be the first of its kind since amalgamation. It will help identify new routes for and infrastructure for trucks so that we can remove Bridge Street from the truck route network. This comprehensive review will take time to complete over the next two years, and the community will be engaged throughout the process, with opportunities to provide feedback and advocate for Bridge Street’s removal.
Most importantly, these moves represent a breakthrough with the City. When I started out, staff would neither consider changes to the truck route network nor a process through which to make changes. Now, not only have changes been made, but a process has been initiated through which we can secure further wins for the village.
Put simply, we have created the conditions necessary to bring this matter to a full resolution.
I have made it a top priority to reduce truck traffic in Manotick, as promised during my election campaign. These achievements bring us closer to a vision of a safer community free from heavy truck traffic. Though there is much to do to solve the issue fully, Manotick has my commitment that I will keep fighting to remove heavy truck through traffic once and for all.
Once again, I am grateful to the community leaders and advocates who have dedicated so much time and energy to this and to the Mayor for his steadfast commitment to finding solutions for the community. I look forward to building on this progress in the months to come.
