Image description: Road Transportation Network
The map of Canada shows the location of the National Highway System (NHS). The NHS includes over 38,000 kilometers of Canada’s most important highways from coast to coast. Core routes (which represent 72.8 per cent of the NHS) are illustrated by orange lines, Feeder routes (which represent 11.7% of the NHS) by Yellow lines and Northern and Remote routes (which represent 15.5 per cent of the NHS) by purple lines.
Competitiveness and efficiency
COVID-19 continued to impact the road sector from both the passenger and freight perspectives. Passenger volumes continued to recover along with the return of traffic congestion in many major cities. Although there was high demand for freight and trucking services throughout the year, ongoing public health measures and rules, unexpected weather across Canada and damage to roads had a negative impact on the efficiency of national supply chains and trucking services. Regardless, the trucking industry kept Canada’s supply chains flowing.
Trucking companies and truck drivers were deemed essential and were exempt from measures intended to limit non-essential travel. Transport Canada regularly spoke with stakeholders and our provincial and territorial counterparts to make sure that the trucking industry continued to operate safely and efficiently.
Transport Canada worked with federal partners like the Canada Border Services Agency to accelerate reopening of Free and Secure Trade (FAST) enrollment centres at the Canada-U.S. border and increase the supply of FAST-approved Canadian truck drivers for transborder freight.
In response to public health measures for much of the year, the land border between Canada and the United States stayed closed for all non-essential travel. Canada re-opened its land border to Americans on August 9, 2021, and the U.S. opened its land border for Canadians on November 8, 2021, allowing Americans/Canadians to travel between the two countries for non-essential purposes.
Safety and security
There has been a significant downward trend in motor vehicle casualties for decades in Canada. Since their peak in the mid-1970s, fatalities have decreased by over two-thirds while serious injuries have declined over 60% even though the number of vehicles and kilometers driven by Canadians have increased significantly. TC’s commitment to safer vehicles, roads and road user behaviour have all contributed to this greater level of safety.
Over the years, TC has introduced or updated a significant number of vehicle safety standards, regulations, technical standards and test methods concerning vehicle safety features such as electronic stability control, door lock and door retention, truck anti-lock brakes, steering control systems, head restraints, child restraints, seat anchorage strength, occupant protection in frontal collisions, tires, headlights, rear view mirror visibility, helmet and seatbelt use.
In 2021, TC continued to support the safety and security of the road network with the following initiatives:
- Supported the inclusion of emerging vehicle safety technologies and driver assistance features in new Canadian vehicles through domestic and international engagement on standards and regulations for automatic emergency braking and naming conventions for advanced driver assistance technologies.
- Supported the development of automated and connected vehicle technologies through updated guidance for Testing Highly Automated Vehicles in Canada and the publication of TC’s Vehicle Cyber Security Strategy and Canada’s Vehicle Cyber Assessment Tool .
- Continued school bus seatbelt pilot projects and development of regulations based on recommendations from the Strengthening School Bus Safety in Canada report from the Task Force on School Bus Safety which are anticipated for publication in Canada Gazette 1 in mid-2022.
- The Enhanced Road Safety Transfer Payment Program (ERSTPP) funded 29 projects from twenty-four organizations to support nationally consistent road safety objectives (e.g., measures to address impaired and distracted driving).
- The coming into force of federal regulations requiring the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs) by commercial carriers. These devices replace paper-based daily logbooks to help mitigate the risk of commercial vehicle driver fatigue.
Green transportation
The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change committed the federal government to work with provinces, territories, and industry to explore options for retrofitting heavy-duty vehicles with fuel-saving technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2018, a federal-provincial-territorial task force was created to explore the role of heavy-duty vehicle retrofits in Canada. In 2021, the task force completed its Phase I report and delivered a detailed account of Canada’s heavy-duty vehicle sector. Phase II will examine and assess retrofit programs and policies that support the use of retrofits.
The Government of Canada released its Strengthened Climate Plan in December 2020, which included several commitments that target emissions from on-road vehicles:
- investing another $150 million over three years in charging and refueling stations across Canada
- working with partners on supply-side policy options to achieve additional reductions from Canada’s light-duty vehicle fleet and expand the consumer availability of zero-emission vehicles in Canada as demand grows
- developing a national active transportation strategy and working to deliver more active transportation options, like walking trails and cycling paths
- helping buy 5,000 zero-emission public buses and school buses
- consulting stakeholders on measures to increase the supply of, and demand for, medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles in Canada, to make sure businesses have access to the types of zero-emission vehicles that meet their needs