A new poll suggests two-thirds of Ottawa residents think traffic congestion has gotten worse in the city over the past year.
The Liaison Strategies survey — commissioned by the Ottawa Compass and iPolitics — also found that 38 per cent of respondents viewed traffic as a “very serious problem,” with blame mostly laid on there being too many cars on the road (37 per cent), though a sizeable chunk credited it to “poor coordination of roads, signals, and construction.”
However, 35 per cent of respondents found both were contributing to the problem.
Around 1,000 Ottawa residents were randomly surveyed for the poll between May 8 to 10 using random digit dialling across landline and cellphone networks. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.09 percentage points.
Sixty-seven per cent of respondents said traffic had become worse over the past year, a number that varied little across different sections of the city, by age group or language spoken at home.
Twenty-seven per cent said it had stayed mostly the same, and only two per cent said it had gotten better.
There was little variation across the city on any of the survey questions, though voters in downtown and the surrounding neighbourhoods were more likely to view traffic as a very serious problem.
But still, most respondents (52 per cent) viewed traffic as only a somewhat serious problem.
The biggest warning sign in the poll for Mayor Mark Sutcliffe — whose first term in office elapses this fall — is that 77 per cent disapprove of the city’s handling of congestion, with that number rising to 81 per cent in the central neighbourhoods.
Voters are split on solutions, with better timing traffic lights (22 per cent) and improved transit (21) leading the pack, compared to faster road construction (18) and more road capacity (16). Enforcement of traffic rules came in behind at 14 per cent, with something else drawing 7 per cent of responses.
Meanwhile, 67 per cent thought the city was doing a poor job in coordinating road work to reduce traffic disruption.
On a separate question, voters seemed to support ‘safe and balanced’ streets (48 per cent) as a bigger priority than moving more car traffic quickly (31), however.
Voters will elect a new city council in October. Sutcliffe hasn’t formally announced his plans to seek a second term, but the Compass/Liaison poll had him narrowly leading the race.
