Canotek – Gatineau Airport corridor: A viable option
There is increasing interest and discussion around a bridge crossing alternative that may best minimize impacts to communities and environmentally sensitive areas, while still providing an efficient alignment for a high volume trucking route.
This option, known as the Canotek – Gatineau Airport corridor (Option 6a), is a variation on the Lower Duck alternative (Option 6).
View Canotek – Gatineau Airport in a larger map
Community impacts are minimized: Option 6a runs immediately adjacent to the Canotek Industrial Park on the Ontario side, and it directs trucks along Highway 148, an existing commercial route, on the Quebec side. It connects to the Gatineau Airport industrial park on an existing 4-lane industrial road. Trucks and industrial parks make sense; trucks and communities don’t.
Environmental impacts are minimized: Option 6a avoids the Greenbelt on the Ontario side, and runs adjacent to a cement quarry on the Quebec side. If the quarry closes, which is expected within the next few years, the corridor could be routed through the abandoned quarry.
The 3 “Official” Corridors Cross 10 Communities
View Interprovincial Bridge Options in a larger map
The Kettle Island corridor (Option 5, red) would cross 10 densely populated neighbourhoods. It is only a few meters from some residences as well as health and education institutions in Cyrville, Overbrook-Forbes, Carson Grove, Manor Park Hill – Manor Park East and Viscount Alexander Park and Fairhaven, on the Ontario side. On the Quebec side, the corridor would be equally devastating to local communities, and would terribly impact Montée Paiement.
The Lower Duck corridor (Option 6, blue) is unnecessarily close to residential communities on the Ontario side (Convent Glen), and runs directly through Templeton, a long-established densely populated community on the Quebec side. It runs through the Greenbelt and crosses the environmentally sensitive Green’s Creek.
The Gatineau Airport corridor (Option 7, green) would be about 1km away from Convent Glen at the Queensway but only about 100m from the nearest residential lots (in Convent Glen – Orleans West) at the point where it reaches the river. On the Quebec side, the bridge crosses the tip of McLaurin Bay, an environmentally sensitive area, then heads north passing over route 148 and through fields east of the Airport Boulevard to connect to the 50 near the Gatineau Airport.
Any new bridge will have negative impacts
But the Canotek – Gatineau Airport option is gaining an increasing number of proponents across many different stakeholders. It may well represent the best possible option, and warrants formal consideration in the next phase of the project.
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