Even when a new interprovincial bridge is built, a study for the National Capital Commission predicts that truck traffic crossing the Macdonald-Cartier Bridge could still congest King Edward Avenue and other downtown streets.
The study, part of phase two of the NCC's interprovincial crossing study, suggests that the bridge would likely maintain it's 60- 40-per- cent split between private vehicles and transport trucks.â¨
City council voted Wednesday, 18 to three, to study the feasibility and implications of banning intercity travel for heavy trucks along the bridge's corridor.â¨
Concerns have emerged that a tuck ban on the corridor could affect downtown businesses and create conflict with the city of Gatineau which supports continued truck use on the Macdonald-Cartier bridge.â¨
There are also concerns that banning truck traffic on the King Edward corridor could lead to more than 2,500 extra trucks a day using the Chaudiere Bridge which connects to Booth Street and Bronson Avenue.â¨
The motion council passed seeks to address the issue by determining which of the three corridors in the study would best divert truck traffic from the downtown core.â¨
Innes Ward Coun. Rainer Bloess, who proposed the motion, said that getting the trucks out of the downtown is a key issue for all Ottawa residents.â¨
"It's not a matter of one neighbourhood favouring one location to get traffic out of their neighbourhood. We've got all the community groups behind this, and after everything is said and done and there are still trucks in the downtown what was the point?” said Bloess