By Kyle Rooks
The Rideau Canal Pedestrian Crossing has been delayed once again, falling victim to a budget full of fee increases and service cuts.
But two city councillors aren’t giving up hope.
Elisabeth Arnold, councillor for Somerset Ward, and Madeleine Meilleur, councillor for Rideau-Vanier Ward, say they will work together in an effort to find the necessary funding to pay for the detailed design of the bridge. They were hoping to see it in the draft budget revealed last week at City Hall.
Arnold says the city should be able to afford the $900,000 price tag, and points toward a capital program budget of nearly $500 million as proof.
“I think one of our priorities should be this pedestrian bridge that has been waiting for over 20 years,” says Arnold. “That’s long enough to wait.”
Once the detailed design work is done, another $3 million would be required the following year to cover the cost of construction.
The bridge project, designed to link Centretown residents with Sandy Hill and the Transitway station at the University of Ottawa, has been waiting for funding and approval since the early 1980s.
In June, the project took a major step forward when Parks Canada, the National Capital Commission and the public were able to reach a consensus on the final design of the bridge.
While the city has allotted money for the bridge in its 2004 budget, Arnold is concerned that another one-year delay could spoil any momentum gained from the agreement.
Sue Lott, president of the Centretown Community Citizens Association, applauds Arnold and Meilleur for their efforts but says she isn’t getting her hopes up.
“It is a disappointment,” says Lott. “But I think it’s such an ongoing issue that people were prepared to be disappointed.”
Lott says the pedestrian bridge is essential to a city that is trying to convince residents to get out of their cars and either walk, cycle or use public transit.
Right now, cyclists and pedestrians have to travel an extra kilometre to either the Pretoria or Laurier bridges.
“I don’t see any downside to the pedestrian bridge,” says Lott. “All the great cities are ones you like walking in.”
In a news release, Catherine Boucher, the executive coordinator of the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, says, “The addition of the Somerset Street pedestrian bridge will greatly enhance the quality of life for people living downtown as well as people working in or visiting the core.”
But with a budget geared towards avoiding a tax increase by calling for cuts to snow removal and an increase in transit fares, Meilleur is realistic about the slim possibility of finding the money to get the project underway in 2003.
“It’s a tight budget,” says Meilleur. “It’s not probable that we’ll be able to [find the money], but we’ll give it our best shot.”
If the detailed design of the bridge is to go ahead this coming year, the two councillors will have to find the money and convince council before it votes on the final budget in January 2003.
Before the bridge can go ahead, it faces another archeological assessment .