Stop The Kettle Island Bridge

Phase 2B scope must be expanded to include other options

The three alignments currently under consideration are inadequate to effectively solve the problems.

The Kettle Island corridor is a bad choice for all of the reasons detailed on this website; the Lower Duck Island corridor has severe limitations on the Gatineau side; and the Gatineau Airport corridor would have negative impacts on Convent Glen and could have detrimental environmental impacts.

Mauril Bélanger, MP Ottawa-Vanier, continues his arguments that the Canotek-Gatineau Airport corridor (Option 6A), a variation of Option 6 (Lower Duck Island) is the best option. It proposes using Maloney Blvd / Highway 148 on the Gatineau side as opposed to Lorrain Blvd. However, this has not been recognized by the NCC or the consultants as a viable option.

Consider these striking visuals.

Here’s a street-level view of Maloney Blvd, a four-lane commercial route, near Lorraine Blvd. The NCC and the consultants have deemed this to be INAPPROPRIATE as a commercial trucking route, and not worthy of further consideration. Within Option 6A, trucks would be directed along this route.

View Canotek – Gatineau Airport in a larger map

By contrast, here’s a street level view of Lorraine Blvd. The project team and the NCC believe that this IS A VIABLE OPTION option for a trucking route. This will be considered within the next phase of the project as part of the Lower Duck Island corridor (Option 6).

View Canotek – Gatineau Airport in a larger map

This simply makes no sense.

In addition, Sustainable Solutions continues to advocate for a downtown street bypass tunnel to be considered in the next phase of the study. This tunnel would run from the MacDonald Cartier bridge to south of Laurier on Nicholas, providing a non-stop route to the Queensway for bridge traffic – including trucks. Further analysis is required, but this may be a viable option to remove 100% of truck traffic from King Edward.

Limiting the solution options to the three corridors currently being considered is irresponsible. This approach will not solve the problems, and would have devastating impacts on the residents and communities within the selected corridor.

If the NCC is true to its mandate to do what’s best for the National Capital Region, the scope of Phase 2B must be expanded to included other options.

Share on Facebook