A Bad Choice
No to Kettle Island, Yes to Healthy Communities
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MPCA kicks off fund-raising campaign to fight the bridge
Click here for details.
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The Kettle Island corridor is a bad choice for a new inter-provincial trucking route joining Ottawa and Gatineau. A Kettle Island bridge and trucking route would:
- Threaten the health and safety of the largest number of people of any crossing alternative;
- Seriously impact the Montfort Hospital and Montfort Long Term Care Facility;
- Fail to remove trucks from the downtown core;
- Degrade National Capital assets; and
- Not address transportation needs of the 21st century—public transit and future growth outside the core.
Take a look at the Battle of Kettle Island video for an overview of the issue.
For information in French, please visit www.pourunmeilleurpont.org.
Blog Postings:
You can view blog postings and associated discussions on this website by Recent Posts, Recent Comments, Category, or you can view archives of all postings by month. Use the navigation tools along the right side of this window. There is more reference material available within the top navigation bar, including Press Clips, a compilation of media coverage of the proposed Kettle Island bridge.
Background:
The Interprovincial Crossings project is currently underway, led by the National Capital Commission with funding from the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec and the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, to recommend the location for a new Ottawa-Gatineau bridge (Phase 1) and to complete an associated environmental assessment for the selected location (Phase 2).
Upon completion of Phase 1 of the project, Kettle Island was selected by the consultants as their technically preferred option, with a recommendation to take forward only this option to Phase 2. This recommendation was heavily based on technical factors (primarily traffic projections and cost) and gave little consideration to, among other things, the negative impacts on communities in the vicinity of the corridor.
Click here for a detailed map that highlights the impacted communities and institutions along the Kettle Island Corridor.
How did Ottawa residents feel about Kettle Island being identified by the consultants as the technically preferred alternative? The response at the final public consultation on September 24th,2008 says it all:
The project stakeholders recognized the shortcomings of the consultants’ analysis and did not accept their recommendation. The stakeholders have decided that further analysis is warranted on the top 3 options in Phase 2, taking into greater account public transit, economic development, and the negative impact on communities in the area of the new corridor.
The 3 options that will be considered in Phase 2 are displayed below: Kettle Island (red), Lower Duck Island (blue) and Gatineau Airport (green).
View Larger Map
There is also increasing interest in another crossing option, known as the Canotek-Gatineau Airport corridor (Option 6A). This option is strongly supported by Mauril Bélanger, MP Ottawa-Vanier. Option 6A may best minimize impacts to communities and environmentally sensitive areas, while still providing an efficient alignment for a high volume trucking route. However, to date, the NCC has not formally recognized this as an option to be considered within the scope of the project.
View Canotek – Gatineau Airport in a larger map
Phase 2A, with a mandate to define the process for the final selection of one corridor and the associated Environment Impact Assessment, was initiated on Oct 14th, 2009, with the selection of AECOM-Delcan as the consultant. The final Phase 2A report was completed in May 2010 and presented in June 2010.
In Phase 2B, the final corridor will be selected based on the process defined in Phase 2A. The project will then focus on preparing an Environmental Assessment for that corridor alone. Phase 2B is scheduled for completion by December 2012, with all required approvals obtained by December 2013. Construction could conceivably begin by mid 2014.
What can you do about this? Express your concerns and spread the word to encourage others to do the same. Respond to media coverage and write letters to the editors of local and national newspapers. Participate in the discussions on this website. Contact your local federal, provincial and city representatives who have been elected to act in your best interest. Together, we can make a difference.
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