Seven Ottawa bike lane projects face major delays under new Ontario law

Seven active road transformation projects in Ottawa are facing major impacts from Ontario's new Bill 60, which prohibits municipalities from reducing the number of vehicle lanes to install bicycle infrastructure during road reconstructions.

The affected projects are part of the city's Transportation Master Plan, the guiding blueprint for transit and road infrastructure through 2046. The seven corridors most significantly impacted are Kent Street, Rochester Street, Albert and Slater streets, O'Connor Street (Laurier Avenue to Wellington Street), Walkley Road west of Airport Parkway, Merivale Road, and Prince of Wales Drive/Hog's Back Road. Six of these projects are in detailed design phase; O'Connor Street's designs are already complete after more than a decade of planning.

Of 27 active projects identified as having implications under Bill 60, which received royal assent in November 2025, the city says 20 will proceed with only minor design modifications. The law, formally titled the Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, also amended the Construction Act, Municipal Act, Water Resources Act, and Development Changes Act, with the stated purpose of accelerating construction and streamlining municipal processes.

Kalle Hakala, the city's Active Transportation Planning program manager, said staff are continuing to assess the seven most significantly affected projects, as well as Transportation Master Plan projects not yet in design phase. Bike Ottawa board member Guillaume Gaillard warned that the law will hinder the city's plans to expand bike infrastructure. "The second worry is that the compliance will get a shadow of what the bike lanes could have been," Gaillard said. He also argued that provincial messaging about cycling fuels a broader "cultural war" between vehicle occupants and cyclists, with some people responding with aggression toward people on bikes.