Rideau-Vanier ward is in the bustling heart of downtown Ottawa.
It’s a mixed community with residents of all backgrounds, from retired folks and families to government workers and students from the University of Ottawa.
Living in the urban core of the nation’s capital can come with inconveniences, such as noisy neighbourhoods and heavy truck traffic.
But according to its fall economic statement, the federal government is committed to “an additional multimodal bridge over the Ottawa River to further improve transportation connectivity in the National Capital Region.”
It’s a pledge that many Rideau-Vanier residents are celebrating but others living closer to the proposed route of the sixth interprovincial bridge in the city — a crossing between Ottawa and Gatineau at Kettle Island — strongly oppose.
King Edward and Rideau streets are part of a major route for heavy trucks traveling between the Ontario and Quebec sides of the Ottawa River.
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stéphanie Plante has been advocating for the new bridge and applauds the government’s newly announced commitment. She lives near King Edward Avenue and said it’s imperative to have the sixth crossing to alleviate downtown truck traffic.
Plante recently told the CBC: “We know that it is unacceptable to have truck traffic going down one of the most low-income and racialized communities of Ottawa’s downtown core.”
But she added that she has low hopes of the federal government’s latest proposal becoming a reality.
The new bridge would redirect traffic close to Manor Park, in Rideau-Rockcliffe ward, and parts of the adjacent Beacon Hill-Cyrville ward represented by Coun. Tim Tierney.
He said that the east end is also overwhelmed with traffic and that this bridge would create a larger issue.
Approximately 3,500 trucks cross the Ottawa River in the National Capital Region on a typical weekday, according to the NCC. An NCC traffic study has stated that “the King Edward-Rideau-Waller-Nicholas corridor accommodates two to four times more trucks than other major arterial truck routes in the region.”
The truck traffic along King Edward and Rideau is having serious implications for the Lowertown community. In August, a pedestrian was struck by the driver of a transport truck and was left with life-threatening injuries.
In February 2023, a group of physicians filed a public health complaint about pollution from heavy trucks traveling through downtown Ottawa.
With a federal election on the horizon, the proposed bridge remains a key issue for Ottawa residents, though the project currently has no funding or timeline attached to it. A new government is expected to re-evaluate the corridor.
Tierney said of the Liberal government’s recent pledge to build the bridge: “This is simply politicians trying to save their skin in an upcoming federal election where they know there’s going to be some changes.”
