Renewed push for 6th bridge over Ottawa River met with skepticism

The federal government's renewed commitment to a new bridge crossing the Ottawa River over Kettle Island is meeting with little enthusiasm and a lot of skepticism.

Monday's fall economic statement said the government is again committed to "an additional multimodal bridge over the Ottawa River to further improve transportation connectivity in the National Capital Region."

It said the bridge would follow the controversial Kettle Island route and the commitment will allow the next phase of planning to begin, including an impact assessment, design and a procurement strategy. It provided no cost estimate or timeline, though earlier versions of the plan were priced at well over $1 billion.

Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe seemed unimpressed Tuesday. He said he has bigger priorities that would benefit from federal funding, including money for the city's beleaguered transit system or to support new arrivals who are overwhelming the shelter system.

"A new bridge, which potentially could cost multiple billions of dollars, is not high on my priority list for the city," Sutcliffe said. 

He said he's open to discussions and wants to learn more details, calling "anything that takes trucks out of downtown Ottawa" a positive move. Yet Sutcliffe also recognized concerns from residents along the proposed route, which would pass from Kettle Island along the Aviation Parkway to Highway 417. 

Those concerns helped sink a proposal along the same route in 2013, when residents feared the bridge would dump trucks, noise, traffic and pollution into Manor Park. The Montfort Hospital warned it would clog up ambulance routes and potentially cost lives.

Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bisonnette said the west Gatineau Tramway project, which received funding in the fall economic statement, is higher on her priority list. She said she will closely follow progress on the bridge proposal, but worried more road infrastructure could simply attract more vehicles through a phenomenon known as "induced demand."

"I'm not sure that a new bridge is really the solution to mobility in our region," she said.

Chances of relief for Lowertown 'slim to none'

A sixth crossing has been proposed for decades as a potential solution to the crushing truck traffic that snakes through King Edward Avenue, Rideau Street and Waller Streets.

About 3,500 trucks cross the Ottawa River on a typical weekday, according to the National Capital Commission's interprovincial truck survey released this year. About 72 per cent use the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge, which dumps traffic into Lowertown.

No one panic — this is all nothing more than magic beans.- Coun. Tim Tierney

Rideau Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante lives near King Edward Avenue and said there is "absolutely no doubt that we need a sixth crossing."

"We know that it is unacceptable to have truck traffic going down one of the most low-income and racialized communities of Ottawa's downtown core," she said.

But Plante rated the chances of the federal government's latest proposal becoming reality "slim to none."

"We have seen this commitment before, both by Dalton McGuinty when he was premier and by Stephen Harper when he was prime minister," she said. "It hasn't seen the light of day with any of those governments."

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney, whose ward includes part of the proposed route through Manor Park, said there would certainly be a "big concern" there if the project goes through. But he agrees with Plante that, in all likelihood, it won't.

"No one panic — this is all nothing more than magic beans," he said. "There was no money attached to it. There were no timelines attached to it. This is simply politicians trying to save their skin in an upcoming federal election where they know there's going to be some changes."

He said "a new government" will have to re-evaluate the entire corridor and look at an option in the west end.

"The east end is overwhelmed with traffic at this point, and it would just create a greater issue," he said.

Manor Park Community Association president Natalie Belovic said the billions of dollars the government would likely spend on the bridge would be better spent on rapid transit or a tunnel to reroute traffic from downtown.

"It's not really solving the truck smell and pollution and danger problem," she said. "It's just shifting it into other communities."

While she was relieved there was no funding for the proposal in the economic statement, Belovic was upset that the government decided to name Kettle Island as the corridor "based on studies we have not had a chance to see, with zero consultation."

Kettle Island route dates back years

An NCC study recommended the Kettle Island route in 2008, but Ottawa city councillors asked the NCC to look at other sites including Lower Duck Island farther downriver.

The NCC again recommended Kettle Island in 2013, but the Ontario government pulled its support months later amid local outcry and the process was soon abandoned.

The federal government relaunched it in 2019, and the NCC again studied three options in the east end. While the full details weren't initially released, it later emerged that Kettle Island was the preferred choice and had a price tag of $1.8 billion.

Most recently, the federal government completed geotechnical studies on the three sites. Public Services and Procurement Canada told CBC in October that it found all three were "feasible from a geotechnical standpoint to support a potential bridge."

But the department declined to release the full results, saying the report will be available next year.

In Gatineau, Coun. Daniel Champagne came out in support of the proposed bridge. Representing the district of Versant, he called it a golden opportunity that could promote economic development in eastern Gatineau.

"It is an important step that has been taken now. We haven't confirmed there will be a bridge, but that there will be studies, consultations — that there will be a process," he said in French.

"I hope that a government, no matter who it is, will recognize that importance and continue it."