By Mandy Clark
Downtown residents and merchants say they are pleased with the Ontario Municipal Board’s decision to reconsider the Kettle Island bridge as a trucking route, thereby potentially removing the heavy truck traffic from the downtown core.
Ron Saikaly, owner of Friends & Company on Rideau Street, says freeing up Rideau Street from the truck traffic will be a relief. Saikaly says the vibrations from the heavy trucks have caused windows to crack in his restaurant.
In one day, over 18,000 trucks pass by Saikaly’s restaurant, according to the findings from the King Edward Task Force, the community group who brought the truck traffic issue to the Ontario Municipal Board.
The pollution caused by trucks has also been a problem, says Saikaly. “In the summer my servers have to clean off the soot from the patio 10 to 15 times an hour.”
He says it pushes away customers since they get soot blown in their face while trying to dine.
Abed Younes, owner of Pictures Plus on Rideau Street, agrees the trucks have affected his business.
“People don’t come because of the traffic,” says Younes. The trucks, he says, block the road entirely.
Roy Singh, owner of Nagina Indian Cuisine on Rideau Street, says the possibility of removing the truck traffic will “only be a positive improvement.”
Because of the noise and traffic created, Singh says, “the trucks really do affect our customers.” He says the trucks “belong on a highway, not on a business road.”
Angie Todesco, president of the King Edward Task Force, couldn’t agree more. Todesco has been heading the battle against the large amount of heavy trucks that bear down on her residential street.
“We can’t cross the street because it is essentially a highway,” says Todesco about King Edward Street, which she says in places is eight lanes wide. “I’m subjected to an incredible amount of noise and pollution,” she says.
The board recognized the problem and has ordered the King Edward redevelopment plan to be put in place. The plan will reduce the width of the street, add more pedestrian crossing as well as plant trees along the road.
However, the truck traffic will only be removed from the downtown core when the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton agrees on either choosing the Kettle Island bridge or Cumberland bridge as the new trucking route.
“Right now,” says Todesco, “we’ll have to wait until they decide what to do.”