Recent newspapers have been reporting the growing controversy over the location of a proposed Interprovincial Bridge linking Ottawa and Gatineau. The purpose of this bridge is to reduce the truck traffic in the downtown core and improve the flow of commuter traffic between the two cities. Recent environmental studies considered 12 options and recommended Kettle Island (Option 5) as the most appropriate location for the bridge. Due to pressure from communities surrounding that Aviation Parkway corridor that leads to the bridge, the province of Ontario and the province of Quebec requested that the NCC include Lower Duck Island (Option 6: Greens Creek and Option 7: Convent Glen) in the next phase (phase II) of the environmental assessment.
Locating a bridge in either of these two locations will significantly affect our region for generations to come. Three main factors should be considered in this ongoing debate:
1) Traffic Nightmare:
Extra traffic resulting from locating a bridge at Option 6 or 7 would worsen the already horrible traffic congestion on highway 174 for all commuters from Trim Rd to the split and beyond. Innes Rd is not spared either, since the commuter traffic will be jammed at the entrance to the 417 near Ogilvie Rd. Orleans population statistics over the past 37 years and estimates over the next 23 years indicate an 1865% increase between 1971 and 2031 . The recent traffic nightmare during the transit workers strike should remind us how bad it could get with a bridge and the increased traffic it would bring to this area.
2) Added Cost Burden:
It would require millions of dollars in additional funding and use significant government resources, at taxpayer expense, for further studying the extra options added to Phase II, which is even less acceptable in our current recessionary climate. Furthermore, studies already performed have determined that a bridge other than at Kettle Island will cost $20-$150 millions more (preliminary cost estimates) compared to the Kettle Island option. Furthermore, the study does not include the added costs of building (but not fixing) extra roads at the Hwy 174/Hwy 417 split. That traffic intersection does not have the infrastructure to support increased traffic.
3) Environmental and Community Impact:
There would be significant disruption of one of the finest riverfront stretches the NCC Greenbelt, whose Greens Creek watershed valley contains one of the more biologically diverse, aesthetic and historic landscapes in the National Capital Region. The Greenbelt is a national trust conservation area. According to the NCC website, Stony Swamp, Mer Bleue, Greens Creek and Shirley's Bay are recognized as Provincially Significant Wetlands or Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest. In an age where protecting the environment is a top priority, it is illogical to build a new bridge that would bring more automobile and heavy truck traffic, noise and air pollution in an area that is considered a conservation area by the NCC. In fact, according to a 2007 study submitted to the NCC (The NCC's Valued Natural Ecosystems and Habitats), the ecological condition of Greens Creek is already threatened because of three main stress factors: infrastructures, human use and urban sprawl. This should be reason enough to consider other options for rerouting traffic. From an environmental perspective, locating a bridge that would cut across the Greenbelt hardly makes sense.
On Wednesday morning February 11, 2009 the Ottawa City Council will be voting on an important motion to support the two Lower Duck Island options 6 and 7 in the next phase of the studies. Send an e-mail or call Mayor Larry O'Brien as well as all City Councillors and voice your opposition to these two options. For maximum impact, e-mail messages should be personally addressed to each councillor). The city should strongly endorse the Kettle Island corridor as the best location for the bridge.
Make your voices heard. Yes we can make a difference.
For more information, contact:
Louis Caron
lpcaron@rogers.com
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