Real Solutions to Traffic Congestion (for OTC Magazine)

Traffic congestion is a hot topic right now, and I had the opportunity to write an article about it for the spring/summer 2025 edition of the Ontario Traffic Magazine.

As part of the article, I interviewed senior transportation staff with the Cities of Kingston, Ottawa, and London about how we define, measure, and manage traffic congestion.

Some highlights for me from these conversations include:

• People’s individual perceptions of traffic congestion often differ from the system-wide level of service targets municipalities have for their roads. While someone may perceive there to be congestion when it takes them longer than anticipated to get from point A to point B, they may actually be travelling on a well-functioning roadway overall.

• Construction seems to be having a bigger impact on congestion than it used to because the overall system has less slack to absorb detours and road / lane closures.

• Typical approach to addressing traffic congestion tend to ignore all of the other factors that are important to a municipality beyond traffic flow (like the environment, road safety, etc.).

• Municipalities are increasingly focused on reducing the number of motor vehicle trips and encouraging travel by other modes as a means of reducing traffic congestion.

I encourage you to read the full article online in the Ontario Traffic Council’s free digital magazine. This edition also includes articles on equity in transportation, tackling noise pollution, and a recap of the 2025 OTC Summit.