Complaints to the City of Ottawa about road surfaces have dropped over the last three years. But that could be a sign that things are improving or getting worse.
“The complaints are down, but the roads are nothing to write home about,” says Barry Wellar, a former professor of urban planning at the University of Ottawa. Wellar says that the most likely reason the complaints about road surfaces are down, is because nothing is being done about them. “If the public thought there was a hope in hell of getting something done they would be complaining,” he says.
According to Ottawa 311 call data from 2013 to 2015, overall complaints about road surfaces have dropped by 18 per cent. Only two wards, Beacon Hill-Cyrville and Barhaven have seen an increase in the number of complaints. Some wards such Alta Vista have seen complaints drop by as much as 33 per cent between 2013 and 2015.
“It is a very bad sign for the city of Ottawa,” Wellar says.

Road Surface Complaints to the City of Ottawa, 2013-2015
  Lighter areas mean a higher decrease in complaints. Click on a Ward for Numbers. Source: Ottawa 311 Data

City Councillor Bob Monette, who is also part of the city’s transportation committee, disagrees with Wellar’s assessment.
“It’s always easier to be negative about our progress but our city has undertaken many road projects to welcome the world to Ottawa for the 2017 celebrations,” he said in an email. As some of these projects reach completion he says that is “probably why we have relieved less complaints.”
Nat Birkenshaw lives in the Alta-Vista ward. He says that most of the smaller roads in his area are taken care of, “the neighbourhood roads are nice, definitely,” he says.
However he thinks major routes such as St Laurent Blvd. and Walkely Road need work, “the only area I can say I’m impressed with is the useless part of St. Laurent,” referring to the stretch that branches eastward, south of Walkley. The rest he says is covered in potholes and sewer covers that cause a bumpy ride.

Wellar does admit that in some areas a drop in complaints is likely due to improvements made to some roads. Stittsville has not only seen the lowest number of complaints but also has the lowest rate of complaints for every 100 people. Wellar says much of the road work in that area is new, and would result in fewer complaints.

Source: Ottawa 311 Data

But Wellar does not think that improvements for 2017 are largely related to a drop in complaints. He says a majority of the road work is focused on downtown, which is only a small portion of Ottawa’s road network, “They have roads all over the place. They have roads almost out to Merrickville.”
However perhaps the drop in complaints are a result of both road work and some apathetic constituents. Birkenshaw suggests that small issues relating to road surfaces are not much to fuss about. While the potholes and sewers are a nuisance, these issues have never motivated Birkensahw to complain to the city, “I feel like they’re pretty on top of fixing major road issues,” he says. As for the smaller issues “I feel like they will just get dealt with eventually anyway.”