The ultimate Ottawa traffic guide

“Out like a lion.” Photo by Jamie McCaffrey via the OttawaStart Flickr Pool.

Like most cities, Ottawa experiences quite a bit of congestion on the road – especially during the winter. Here’s a handy guide to navigate your way through it and get where you’re going.

Safe driving!

Local driving conditions and webcams

• #otttraffic on Twitter (a live feed of traffic conditions from a variety of sources.)
• City and Queensway traffic cams
• City of Ottawa traffic map
• Major road work and street closures (a list of major road closures and detours happening in Ottawa this week. You can find lots of information, including smaller disruptions and an interactive traffic map too.)
• Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (the OSTA looks after school bus transportation for the major school baords in Ottawa. This is the place to look for the latest on school bus cancellations due to bad weather.)
• City of Ottawa SNOWLINE: 580-2460 (for updates about snow clearing and when you can and can’t park your car on city streets).
• More about the city’s winter maintenance activities here.
• Gas Prices in Ottawa

See also: Useful links to help you survive an Ottawa winter storm.

Highway driving conditions

• Provincial highway interactive map (shows traffic problems and roadwork along Highway 417 aka The Queensway.)

• Call 511 for provincial highway reports over the phone.

• Ontario highway updates via Twitter, listing unscheduled road closures and events for Ontario provincial highways:

  • @511Ontario (province-wide, not just eastern Ontario)
  • @511ONEastern

• U.S. Border waiting times – into the U.S. (Closest crossings to Ottawa are Ogdensburg (via Prescott), Alexandria Bay (via Thousand Islands) and Massena (via Cornwall).)

• U.S. Border waiting times – into Canada.