The success of the Corktown Bridge at Somerset Street West has sparked interest in two new pedestrian bridges.
The success of the once-controversial Corktown Bridge has sparked the City of Ottawa to consider construction of two new pedestrian bridges connecting missing links within the city.
For more than two decades, city councillors and residents argued over the proposed pedestrian bridge over the Rideau Canal between Somerset Street and the University of Ottawa.
Despite strong opposition, Corktown Bridge was finally completed in 2006.
This long delay was the result of disagreements over the project among city council members and citizens.
“The project was perceived to be very expensive as a pedestrian facility while we have the bridge over the canal at Laurier in close proximity,” says Mona Abouhenidy, program manager of transportation strategic planning for the City of Ottawa.
Pedestrians and cyclists have used the bridge a lot since it opened, Abouhenidy says.
“The vast majority of Centretowners really enjoy it and think it’s a positive thing,” says Shawn Menard, president of the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association.
Corktown Bridge connects to the University of Ottawa where over 30,000 students attend and many of these students live in Centretown, Menard says.
At first, residents of Centretown were worried about the number of students that would be travelling across the bridge into downtown, Menard says.
They worried about students partying and drinking in their neighbourhoods.
This quickly changed after the bridge was finally completed last year.
Now that the bridge has been built, Menard says it was absolutely worth it, especially in a community dedicated to walking and cycling.
Third-year University of Ottawa student Iain Brannigan says that although he doesn’t use Corktown Bridge very much, any new pedestrian bridge would be welcomed.
This shift in public opinion towards the Corktown Bridge has greatly influenced Ottawa council members and staff.
As part of the city’s 2009 pedestrian plan two new footbridges are now being studied for possible funding and construction.
The City of Ottawa wants to make walking and cycling a more attractive mode of transportation through accessibility and promotion, Abouhenidy says.
The first proposed pedestrian bridge would cross the Rideau River from Strathcona Park to the south Vanier community.
The second bridge would cross the Rideau Canal from Fifth Avenue to Clegg Street, providing citizens with a way of crossing the canal between Bank Street and Pretoria Bridge.
Last year, the Ottawa East Community Association was pushing for this pedestrian bridge to help link the two sides of the canal.
“We know those are two missing links,” Abouhenidy says.
“Between Pretoria and Bank Street there is no way for people east or west of the canal to cross.”
While both bridge projects would greatly affect the surrounding communities, it is the success of the Corktown Bridge that has sparked this new desire for increased pedestrian infrastructure, Abouhenidy says.
Menard says he is extremely happy that Corktown’s success has swayed the current city councillors toward more pedestrian-friendly planning.
Once the studies are complete and the bridges have received funding, the city will conduct environmental impact reports on each site and then begin designing the structures.
Now that the two bridges have been proposed, Abouhenidy says that in the best-case scenario these bridges could be built in as little as four years.