1. RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS RE
HIGHWAY 174 RESPONSABILITÉS
ET OBLIGATIONS RELATIVES À LA ROUTE 174 |
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
WHEREAS Route 174, formerly the Provincial Highway 17, was
downloaded on the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in 1998,
AND WHEREAS, the transfer of funding to the Regional Municipality of
Ottawa-Carleton is considerably less than what it costs to maintain this
Highway,
AND WHEREAS, this Highway serves more than just the local
population,
AND WHEREAS, local MPPs have indicated a desire to repatriate this
Highway,
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the City of Ottawa
upload full responsibilities and obligations of Highway 174 to the Province of
Ontario.
Recommandation DU COMITÉ
ATTENDU QUE la responsabilité de la
route 174 (ancienne route régionale 17) a été transférée à la Municipalité
régionale d’Ottawa-Carleton en 1998.
ATTENDU QUE les crédits qui ont été
transférés à la Municipalité régionale d’Ottawa-Carleton sont largement
inférieurs aux coûts d’entretien de cette route.
ATTENDU
QUE cette route ne sert pas qu’à la population locale.
ATTENDU QUE des députés provinciaux ont exprimé le désir de reprendre la responsabilité de cette route.
IL EST RÉSOLU QUE la Ville d’Ottawa
transfère la totalité des responsabilités et obligations relatives à la route
174 au gouvernement de l’Ontario.
Documentation
1.
Councillor
Rainer Bloess’ report dated 7 September 2004 (ACS2004-CCS-TRC-0009).
2.
Deputy City
Manager, Public Works and Services Memo dated 14 September 2004 Re Ottawa Road 174 (formerly Highway
17) - Responsibilities and Obligations.
3.
Extract of Draft
Minutes, 15 September 2004.
Report to / Rapport au :
Transportation Committee /
Comité des transports
and Council / et au Conseil
7 September 2004 / le 7 septembre 2004
Submitted by / Soumis par : Councillor /
Conseiller Rainer Bloess,
Contact /
Personne-ressource : Anne-Marie Leung, Committee Coordinator /
Coordonnatrice du comité,
Transportation Committee /
Comité des transports
580-2424, Ext./poste : 21385, Anne-Marie.Leung@ottawa.ca
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Ref N°: ACS2004-CCS-TRC-0009 |
SUBJECT: RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS RE HIGHWAY 174
OBJET : RESPONSABILITÉS
ET OBLIGATIONS RELATIVES À LA ROUTE 174
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
WHEREAS Route 174, formerly the Provincial
Highway 17, was downloaded on the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in
1998,
AND WHEREAS, the transfer of funding to the
Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton is considerably less than what it
costs to maintain this Highway,
AND WHEREAS, this Highway serves more than just
the local population,
AND WHEREAS, local MPPs have indicated a desire
to repatriate this Highway,
BE IT THEREFORE
RESOLVED that the City of Ottawa upload full responsibilities and obligations
of Highway 174 to the Province of Ontario.
RECOMMANDATION DU RAPPORT
ATTENDU QUE la
responsabilité de la route 174 (ancienne route régionale 17) a été transférée à
la Municipalité régionale d’Ottawa-Carleton en 1998.
ATTENDU QUE les
crédits qui ont été transférés à la Municipalité régionale d’Ottawa-Carleton
sont largement inférieurs aux coûts d’entretien de cette route.
ATTENDU
QUE cette route ne sert pas qu’à la population locale.
ATTENDU QUE des députés provinciaux ont exprimé le désir de reprendre la responsabilité de cette route.
IL EST RÉSOLU QUE la Ville d’Ottawa
transfère la totalité des responsabilités et obligations relatives à la route
174 au gouvernement de l’O;nntario.
BACKGROUND
At its meeting held on 1 September
2004, the Transportation Committee received the following resolution as a
Notice of Motion brought forward by Councillor Rainer Bloess, a member of the
Transportation Committee.
WHEREAS Route 174, formerly the Provincial Highway 17, was
downloaded on the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton in 1998,
AND WHEREAS, the transfer of funding to the Regional Municipality of
Ottawa-Carleton is considerably less than what it costs to maintain this
Highway,
AND WHEREAS, this Highway serves more than just the local
population,
AND WHEREAS, local MPPs have indicated a desire to repatriate this
Highway,
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the City of Ottawa
upload full responsibilities and obligations of Highway 174 to the Province of
Ontario.
CONSULTATION
See attached 14 September 2004 Memorandum from the
Deputy City Manager, Public Works and Service.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
See attached 14 September 2004 Memorandum from the
Deputy City Manager, Public Works and Services.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1 – Memorandum dated 14
September 2004 from the Deputy City Manager, Public Works and Services.
DISPOSITION
City Clerk is to forward City Council’s
decision to the Honourable Harinder S. Takhar, Minister of Transportation, Queen’s Park, Minister's Office, 77 Wellesley St W, 3rd Flr, Ferguson Block,
Toronto ON M7A 1Z8 <Fax: 416-327-9200>.
Document 1
M E M O / N O T E D E S E R V I C E |
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To / Destinataire |
Chair and Members,
Transportation
Committee
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File/N° de
fichier: T07-08
RR174 |
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From /
Expéditeur |
Deputy City Manager
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Subject /
Objet |
Ottawa Road 174 (formerly Highway 17) - Responsibilities
and Obligations
|
Date: 14 September 2004 |
Background:
Effective 1 April 1997, and 1 January 1998, Ottawa Road 174 (formerly Highway 17), between Highway 417 and the eastern City boundary, was transferred from the Province of Ontario to the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton via two Orders in Council (refer to Annex 1).
The transfers were part of a package of several Provincial roadways that were downloaded to the Municipality. That package included compensation to address one year of maintenance costs and five years of capital costs.
The one-time allocation for all highways downloaded in 1997 was in the order of $4.0 million. Provincial compensation specific to Ottawa Road 174 was a component of that receipt. Minutes of the former Regional Council meeting of 8 October 1997, Transportation Committee Report No. 62, Item 1, Provincial Highway Transfers, are referred to in Annex 2.
It was foreseen that the transfers would create
shortfalls in both the Operating and Capital Budgets of the Municipality. A petition was filed with the Minister of
Transportation and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario seeking funding
for capital works and long-term maintenance.
Please refer to the Minutes of the former Regional Council meeting of 11
December 1996, Transportation Committee Report No. 41 Item 1, Provincial
Highway Transfers, for details. No
further funding was received.
Ottawa Road 174 still performs a Provincial function, as quoted by the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton at the time of downloading:
“This highway is part of the designated TransCanada
Highway System. It simply cannot be
regarded as servicing local municipal functions. Commuters as far as Hawkesbury use it daily.
This freeway connects our major communities in the east (Orléans and Rockland) with the rest of the Region and eastern Ontario. The Provincial service this highway provides is very similar to that of Highway 401 between Scarborough and Oshawa or that of Highway 404 between North York and Richmond Hill/Newmarket. Highway 17 also provides the only year round heavy truck route to these communities along the eastern section of the Ottawa River. Highway 17 clearly serves a role as part of the Provincial Highway Network and the removal of this section of Highway 17 would be inconsistent with the system continuity provided in the Provincial Network.
Regional staff do not support the transfer of Highway 17 and its
removal would result in an obvious deficiency in the Provincial network in our
Region.”
Existing Conditions:
Ottawa Road 174 measures 27 km in length between
Highway 417 and the eastern City boundary at approximately Canaan Road. It is comprised of 112 lane-km of roadway,
16 bridges, and 34 culverts. It
operates as a four-lane divided freeway for the 14.2 km length between Highway
417 and Trim Road. Auxiliary “bus-only”
lanes exist over much of that length.
Over the 12.8 km length between Trim Road and the eastern City boundary,
Ottawa Road 174 is a two-lane rural highway.
Average Annual
Operating Costs
·Maintenance $200,000
·Rehabilitation
850,000
·Street
lighting 100,000
·Traffic
control signals 9,000
·Claims 1,000
·Signs
& Pavement Markings 35,000
·Police
Services XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Total
XXXXXXXX
Future Needs:
In the Transportation Master Plan, system improvements are identified based on need as determined through monitoring of the transportation system performance, land development, and the ability to pay for the improvements. The forecast for Ottawa Road 174 identifies improvements to the freeway portion by widening the eastbound roadway from two lanes to three lanes from Blair Road to Montreal Road thereby providing additional capacity to the east. Costs estimates for this widening in the 2004 development charge study total $6.5 million. The expectation is that this improvement will be required as the population of Ottawa approaches 1.2 million, in approximately year 2021.
In the interim, the need for operational improvements
has been identified on Ottawa Road 174 eastbound between Highway 417 and Blair
Road. Design and construction of
modifications to address this situation are pending on the availability of
funds in the order of $5.7 million.
It is anticipated that within the next five years there will be a need to carry out rehabilitation projects for the westbound traffic lanes on Ottawa Road 174 from Trim Road to Tenth Line Road ($325,000), and various freeway ramps ($275,000).
Consultation:
There is
no legislative or legal requirement for any public notice or consultation for
this matter.
Financial Implications:
Jim Raycroft????????????
As indicated above and in Annex 2, 1997 reports and 1998 correspondence from the former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton stated that the Provincial download of highways, including former Highway 17, was not revenue neutral.
In Annex 2, the September 1997 Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton Transportation
Committee
report denoted
anticipated
operating
costs of $4.567 million and capital costs of $38.268 million. Provincial compensation received in
1997, and additionally in 1998, totaled $4.0 million for a funding shortfall of over $38.8 million.
The estimated 2004 annual operating costs (excluding police services) are $1,335,000. In addition, over $2,400,000 has been invested in Ottawa Road 174 Capital improvements since 2001 (3-year period). Significant additional future Capital requirements estimated at over $12,800,000 are noted previously in the body of this report.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 Order in Council – March 5 1997 (Map 1 and 2 to Accompany Criteria for Highway 17)
Order in Council – December 10 1997 (Schedule A)
Attachment 2 Former Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, Council Minutes, 8 October 1997
ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:
R.T. Leclair
JBT/GS/pb/lf
Attach
(2)
cc:
Director, Traffic and Parking
Operations
Manager, Safety and Traffic Services
Program Manager, Traffic Management
Coordinator, Transportation Committee
Traffic Inquiry Management System
Attachment 1
Attachment 2
Regional
Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton, Council Minutes, 8 October 1997
THE
REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY
OF
OTTAWA-CARLETON
COUNCIL
MINUTES
The Council of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton met at Haydon Hall, Regional Headquarters, 111 Lisgar Street, Ottawa on Wednesday, 8 October 1997 at
1:30 p.m.
The meeting was called to order at 1:37 p.m. and opened in prayer.
The Acting Regional Chair, Betty Hill, presided.
ALL MEMBERS WERE PRESENT EXCEPT CHAIR CLARK
AND COUNCILLOR B. MCGARRY.
CONFIRMATION
OF MINUTES
The minutes of the Regular Council meeting of 24 September 1997 were confirmed.
TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE REPORT NO. 62
1. PROVINCIAL HIGHWAY TRANSFERS
committee recommendation
That Council receive this
report for information.
“RECEIVED”
REGIONAL
MUNICIPALITY OF OTTAWA-CARLETON REPORT
MUNICIPALITÉ RÉGIONALE D’OTTAWA-CARLETON RAPPORT
Our File/N/Réf. 25 21-97-1150
Your File/V/Réf.
DATE 12 September 1997
TO/DEST. Co-ordinator
Transportation Committee
FROM/EXP. Environment and Transportation Commissioner
SUBJECT/OBJET PROVINCIAL
HIGHWAY TRANSFERS
DEPARTMENTAL
RECOMMENDATION
That
Transportation Committee and Council receive this report for information.
INTRODUCTION
On 11 December 1996, Regional Council received information on the transfer of Provincial Highways from the Province of Ontario to the Regional Municipality. It was requested that the Province of Ontario be petitioned for funding for capital works and long-term maintenance. Included in this petition was a request to provide alternative revenue be made available to Municipalities, by means of the dedication of part of the existing fuel tax or by part of existing licensing fees. This petition was filed with the Minister of Transportation and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. All Regional Corporations, Counties and major urban centres that were affected also received a copy of the petition. This petition in the form of a Council resolution is attached as Annex A.
BACKGROUND
Transportation Committee Report No. 41, Item No. 2 informed the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee and Regional Council of the transfer of parts of Highways 16, 17, 31, 44, and 7203 (Highway 15 to Highway 17) from the Province of Ontario to the Regional Municipality. These highways were transferred on 1 April 1997 with the exception of Highway 16, which was to be transferred on the official opening of Highway 416. A ceremonial official opening was held on 5 August 1997. We have not been informed when the contracts will be fully concluded; they may include lien clauses etc. that will effect the legal turnover date. The Highway lengths and limits transferred are shown in Annex B, Table No. 1. It was expected that a further downloading of Highways from the Province to the Municipalities would occur later in 1997.
On 23 June 1997, the Regional Chair received a letter from the Minister of Transportation, transferring a further 37.65 kilometres of Provincial Highways to the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton effective 1 January 1998. A copy of this letter is included as Annex C. The Highway limits and lengths are shown in Annex B Table No. 2.
Why the province has chosen these highways in particular is unclear. The only criteria we are aware of states that these are highways “that primarily serve local needs”. The Ministry has refused to provide any detailed criteria on how the decisions on what highways are being transferred throughout the Province have been made. Our analysis clearly shows that the urban taxpayers of the province are carrying an unfair burden in terms of the number of kilometres of Highways transferred.
The Minister states that his Ministry “will continue to be responsible for the provincial system including highways that carry large volumes, longer distance traffic and connect Ontario to interprovincial and international gateways”. Without details on the criteria used to define these categories we are left to wonder how the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 17) fails to qualify as having large volumes and longer distance traffic or how Highway 31 which connects to the 401 is not considered an important trade route.
DISCUSSION
These transferred Highways, (excluding Old Highway 16, which the Province is replacing with Highway 416) represent approximately 40% of the Provincial Highways inside the Regional Boundaries that existed prior to the Provincial downloading. The combined total of lengths of road transfers including Highway No. 16 will be approximately 92 kilometres of highway, which equates to approximately 254 lane kilometres. This represents an increase of approximately 10% in the Regional lane kilometres. The structures inventory will increase by 9% and 18% for bridges and culverts respectively. The Province is also downloading responsibility for 17 more traffic control signal devices and literally thousands of road signs. On 12 December 1990 the Ministry of Transportation made a proposal to the Region dealing with the take over of Highway 16. On 28 February 1991 the Region responded with the conditions under which the transfer would take place. Negotiations culminated with a correspondence of 23 July 1993, to the Ministry wherein we agreed that we would take the appropriate documents forward for signature. The Ministry offer included the rebuilding of Highway 16 to four lanes from Fallowfield Rd. to the City of Ottawa boundary as well as future construction costs for the widening to Woodroffe Ave., a new railway bridge near Colonnade Rd. and full maintenance costs. The Minister now maintains that despite the exchange of correspondence on this issue that we do not have an agreement and refuses any support for the transfer of Highway 16. We have asked the Ministry to submit this issue to a third party for a resolution but to date we have had no response.
Road maintenance activities, principally winter maintenance, will require an approximate 12% increase in our maintenance budget. Maintenance activity along the freeway section of former Highway 17 on its own will demand the application of a higher level of service than we apply to other Regional Roads. The effective maintenance of these sections of highway will require a further two maintenance facilities. It is anticipated that the buildings and material storage facilities currently owned by the Ministry of Transportation at Highway 17 and Trim Road and at Highway 31 at Greely will be transferred to the Regional Municipality. The costs associated with these transfers or the costs of operating these facilities are not included in the estimates. Our staff will proactively pursue transfer of these facilities at a nominal cost.
The Provincial Auditor in his 1995 Report states that: “over the past decade the physical condition of the (Province’s) infrastructure has significantly deteriorated, due primarily to a less than adequate program of rehabilitation and maintenance.” Some of the highways being downloaded to the Region clearly reflect the Auditor’s findings and are in deplorable condition. We have scheduled $1.6 million in urgent repairs for portions of Highways 31 and 17. It has been the practice of past provincial governments to turn over roads to lower tier governments in an acceptable physical condition. In the past the Region and the Province have successfully negotiated the transfer of 80 km of Provincial highway with this as the guiding principle. This is no longer the case. The highways that are being transferred to the Regional Municipality include many gross deficiencies and as a consequence require substantial immediate and long-term capital investment. These needs will have an important impact on both the capital and operating budgets of the Environment and Transportation Department and on the provision of security and policing services. Local taxpayers are forced to assume the burden without a new revenue source such as a portion of the gas tax, as recommended by the Crombie Who Does What Panel.
The additional highways will necessitate an increased requirement for traffic management, safety devices and protective services. This is especially true for those parts of Highway 17, where the operating conditions of a freeway require methods of operation not previously provided by the Region. The Department is currently assessing the safety devices on this section of highway and further information will be forthcoming late in 1997.
Staff of the Department have been corresponding and meeting with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario officials to negotiate a reasonable resource transfer for the assumption of these highways. Every effort to date has resulted in no compromise by the Ministry. We have received no consideration in either the highway transfer delivery method nor in the allowances made on transfer. The Ministry provided funds in the amount of $1,401,850 for one-year maintenance and five year capital for the 1 April 1997 group of highway transfers. This is demonstrably grossly inadequate. At a meeting held at Regional Headquarters on 2 June 1997, with senior officials of the Ministry of Transportation, Regional staff noted a discrepancy in Ministry calculations where Highway 17 was counted as only a 2 lane roadway for purposes of establishing the amount of the subsidy to be awarded upon transfer of the roadway. The Ministry subsequently agreed that there was a discrepancy and suggested that this would be corrected in the next phase.
For the next phase, effective 1 January 1998 the Province informed us that the amount of $1,901,000 includes the sum of $106,500 to make up for the previous discrepancy. The sum provided for these transfers is also grossly insufficient as our operating and capital needs outweigh this amount (see Annex D). As an example, Highway 31 is visibly failing and work should have been carried out on this a number of years ago.
The Department has also not heard of the possibility of any alternative revenue methods, which may be legislated. Therefore the total compensation that the RMOC has been awarded to date is $3,302,850. As a consequence at this time it would appear that the only solution to fund needs is through the general municipal levy.
We continue to
solicit additional resource transfer and we will look into every possible means
of revenue generation and all methods of optimizing the management of these
highways.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The transfer of these highways from the Province of Ontario to the Regional Municipality will put an enormous burden on the local tax base.
The Department has been working on anticipated
costs and preliminary estimates indicate that $38,268,000 in capital needs and
$4,567,000 in annual operating needs will be required to ensure the
economically sound management of these highways. A comparison of needs to
compensation is outlined in the table below.
Needs OPERATING CAPITAL TOTAL
Roads/Structures (Annex D) $2,902,000
$36,718,000 $39,620,000
Traffic Signalization and Signs 165,000 1,300,000 1,465,000
Ottawa Police Services 1,500,000 250,000 1,750,000
Total $4,567,000 $38,268,000 $42,835,000
Compensation 850,375 2,452,475 3,302,850
Shortfall ($3,716,625) ($35,815,525) * ($39,532,150)
*Operating is an annual amount whereas the Capital shortfall would be spread over several years.
After 1 January 1997 the Province will be responsible for only 5% of all lane kilometres of roads in Ottawa-Carleton and 23% of all vehicle kilometres driven on the road system but will keep 100% of gas tax and licence fee revenue. However, most of the public believe that their gas taxes are being used for road services (see Annex E). It has been suggested that this is the same as the Province giving housing to the Municipality, which pays for all operating and upkeep while the Province keeps all the rent money.
The Department’s 1998 budget submissions will reflect the minimum requirements to incrementally address these capital requirements as well as the minimum requirements for maintaining and operating the facilities.
CONCLUSION
The Province of Ontario has downloaded to the Ottawa-Carleton community these critical transportation facilities. The vitality of this Region depends to a great extent on the quality of its transportation facilities. The addition of so many kilometres of Provincial Highway without the appropriate level of funding or at least some mechanism to generate funds through some other means is without precedent.
The provincial treatment of Ottawa-Carleton is directly opposite to the statement of the Premier that one years maintenance cost and five years capital need would be provided to municipalities receiving provincial highway transfers.
M.T.O. officials have declined to provide their capital needs assessment and have also declined to carry out the maintenance for the amount of funds provided (because it is impossible).
The Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton has the knowledge and ability to take on the challenge but without the resources necessary to do the job, the safety and integrity of our transportation system could suffer.
Approved by
M.J.E.Sheflin,
P.Eng.
DCM/
