Background

Downtown Moves is an urban design and transportation study that will identify ways to create vibrant, safe and accessible streets for pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders by pursuing a balance among street users and by improving the streetscape environment.

This study was formerly referred to as the Downtown Ottawa Mobility Overlay when the Statement of Work was approved by Transportation Committee on April 6 2011.

Downtown Moves will inform the City on how to best capitalize on the transformative opportunities presented by the implementation of the Ottawa Light Rail Transit (OLRT) project, and other major infrastructure projects in the downtown. The City’s overall aim is to make walking, cycling and transit more comfortable and convenient by enhancing the environmental quality of the public realm with streetscape amenities and facilities. Downtown Moves will also examine ways to seamlessly integrate the future LRT stations at street level and provide a framework to guide a wide range of planning and engineering projects proposed for the downtown.

The City’s overall aim is to make walking, cycling and transit be more comfortable and convenient by enhancing the environmental quality of the public realm with streetscape amenities and facilities, as well as allocating the appropriate balance of surface space with the network of street right-of-ways downtown. Downtown Moves will also examine ways to seamlessly integrate the future LRT stations at street level and provide a framework to guide a wide range of planning and engineering projects proposed for the downtown.

The study will build upon the guidance provided in the City of Ottawa Official Plan, the recommendations in the 2004 Downtown Ottawa Urban Design Strategy, the 2008 Transportation Master Plan, the City’s Pedestrian Plan and Cycling Plan, and the opportunities that arise from the OLRT project and other major downtown projects. The undertaking also is in response to several Committee and Council resolutions.