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An Ottawa River crossing study is to start in May and consult the public and all levels of government about possible locations for bridges, a tunnel or even new ferry services.
The study, conducted for the National Capital Commission and the Ontario and Quebec ministries of Transport, will be the third since 1994.
It will begin with consultations with the public and municipalities that are expected to take up to 18 months.
A second round of public consultations is to start in September and a third is scheduled for 2008.
This is part of a four-year environmental assessment that will evaluate the need for new crossings between Quyon in the west and Masson-Angers in the east, examine possible locations and their impact on water, air, social fabric, land use and the region’s economy, archeology and heritage.
The times and locations of the public consultations are to be advertised shortly.
River crossing studies published in 1994 and 1999 have proposed an eastern crossing at Petrie, Kettle or Duck islands, a western crossing between Aylmer and Kanata and a public transit crossing using the Prince of Wales railway bridge at Lemieux Island.
Cliff Gordon, the assistant project manager with the consulting group Roche-NCE, said the study will determine the best places to protect for future interprovincial crossings.
“Previous studies identified the need for future crossings, but an environmental assessment is needed to implement those crossings,” Mr. Gordon said.
“A ferry, a bridge or a tunnel are all possibilities that are on the table. We will study the mitigation measures that would be required to make those crossings acceptable in the surrounding environment.”
Ottawa Councillor Alex Cullen said the city favours a new bridge in the east end to reduce heavy truck traffic on King Edward Avenue. He said this environmental study will consider crossings, including Lemieux Island, Deschênes Rapids and Kanata.
“A bridge at the Deschênes Rapids, between Aylmer and Britannia, would take out houses in Queensway Terrace North, Queensway Terrace South and Whitehaven. We have fought this battle three times and are preparing to fight it again. If there is to be a west- end bridge, it will have to be west of Kanata.”
Mr. Cullen said it will be difficult to reach any agreement on a new bridge location because the federal government and the governments of Ontario and Quebec would have to agree.
He said a new bridge would cost more than $200 million.
Maria McRae, who chairs Ottawa’s transportation committee, said it is time to build another bridge instead of planning a long public consultation.
“We have to make a decision in the whole national capital region, whether we want this piece of infrastructure and if so, we should just go and build it,” Ms. McRae said.
“There is going to be a lot of nimby-ism (not in my back yard) and both sides of the river have to be prepared to deal with that.
“We have had three studies in 10 years and in that amount of time, we could have built two new bridges.”
Information about the river crossings environmental assessment is available at www.ncrcrossings.ca.