Trucks banned on Manotick Main Street by City of Ottawa

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After years of local advocacy, Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says the city will ban transport trucks on a section of Manotick Main Street.

In a social media video posted on Monday, Sutcliffe says the City of Ottawa is taking a “couple of important steps” to reduce heavy truck traffic in the south Ottawa village, and that includes banning transport trucks on a section of Manotick Main Street immediately.

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“First, we are going to reduce heavy truck traffic on Main Street and Rideau Valley Drive,” Sutcliffe said.

“Except for a short period every spring, non-local heavy vehicles will not be allowed on these roads and they’re going to have to use other routes.”

Then comes a “comprehensive truck route study” for the village early next year, with the city looking at options to remove Bridge Street from the truck route network entirely.

“It’s going to be the first thorough examination of truck traffic in this area for nearly 20 years,” Sutcliffe said.

No trucks are allowed now on a small stretch through Manotick Main Street, from Bridge Street to Century Road (left of this sign).
No trucks are allowed now on a small stretch through Manotick Main Street, from Bridge Street to Century Road (left of this sign). Photo by Julie Oliver /Postmedia

An Aug. 2023 study on heavy truck traffic by the Manotick Village & Community Association showed on average, 967 heavy trucks crossed the intersection at Bridge Street and Main Street every weekday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Those heavy trucks often had to jump a curb onto a sidewalk to make the turn, and “volunteers witnessed many occasions of sidewalk encroachments that forced pedestrians and cyclists to move for their safety.”

The community association said Bridge Street and Manotick Main should be open to local truck traffic only, in order to “dramatically reduce” instances of trucks climbing up onto sidewalks.

“It is the position of the MVCA that any truck doing local delivery or pick-up in Manotick is welcome. We are concerned however about the extraordinary volume of heavy trucks going through narrow streets of the community when they don’t have a local reason to do so. This is a matter of public safety.”

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  1. Manotick residents Bruce Miller (right) and Jim Sproule are shown at the corner of Bridge and Main streets in Manotick, which is truck central for the village. Both are actively trying to convince the city to solve the years-long traffic safety issue.

    Miller: Diverting truck traffic from Manotick’s main streets is possible — so why aren’t we doing it?

  2. Upwards of 100 local seniors and residents took to two intersections in downtown Manotick Wednesday to protest the volume of heavy trucks that roar through the small village on a daily basis.

    Manotick seniors protest truck traffic on Bridge Street

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