Tim TierneyBeacon Hill-Cyrville municipal councilor, says that Ottawa needs a ring road south of the city to decongest the 417 motorway instead of the new controversial bridge over Kettle Island.
He launched the idea during the meeting of the Public Works Committee and the Infrastructure on Thursday. The advisers then debated updates to the Master Plan of Transport, an orientation document establishing infrastructure priorities for the decades to come.
M. Tierney It has noted that Highway 417 is currently the only large east-west axis for interprotrovincial and regional traffic, including trucks, and that it should be diverted south of the urban center.
He presented a motion, which was adopted by 9 votes against 2, asking all levels of government to carry out a Complete and fair assessment
of a southern device.
The motion will now be subject to the municipal council for a final vote.
According to Mr. Tierneythe message is clear.
We say it’s really important to us
he said. If the province is trying to know where it wishes to pay money to the city, we have just indicated that it is here – it is not an interprotrovincial bridge.
The federal government has promised a sixth bridge
The federal government undertook in January to build a sixth bridge spanning the Outaouais river above Kettle Island. This project would make it possible to direct the circulation of trucks to the aviation promenade, a small part of which crosses the district of M. Tierney.
The said bridge would connect the boulevard mounted payment, in Gatineau, at the aviation promenade, in Ottawa. The route is also known as the Kettle Island corridor. (Archives photo)
Photo: Gapicity Public Services and COLD Fore
Three billion dollars for an interprotrovincial bridge, this does not interest us
said Mr. Tierney. We have a more important problem: all traffic goes through the city center and we see motorway closings that really affect people’s lives at the moment.
A message echoing that launched by the federal deputy for Ottawa-Vanier-Gloucester, Mona Fortier.
He said the time had come to put pressure on the device, that the provincial government has committed to studying within the framework of the 2022 transport plan for eastern Ontario.
We have to start considering this option
said Mr. Tierney. I spoke to the provincial minister, as well as our mayor, and I think that we have the opportunity here to register this project on the vision table of what we want to do in the future.
Laura Dudas, advisor to the Innes district, at a meeting of the Ottawa Transport Committee (Archives Photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada
Laura Dudas, Orleans-Ouest advisorInnessupported Mr. Tierney. According to her, another bridge would not solve the circulation problems of Ottawa, since it would always pour the trucks on the 417 or the 174.
I totally agree with the idea of ​​examining this question. It would probably cost very expensive, but I don’t think it is a burden that our municipal taxpayers must bear. It should be a provincial or federal charge
she said. But I think it’s a viable option to consider
.
Ariel Troster, municipal councilor of Somerset (archive photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada / Maxim Saavedra-Ducharme
Ariel Comfortmunicipal councilor of Somersethowever, presented the idea in question. It fears that one or the other option – a bridge or a device – only grabs money in promoting the use of the automobile instead of public transport.
I think the goal should be to get people out of their car.
The municipal councilor and president of the public transport committee, Glen Gower and the director general of OC Transpo, Renée Amilcar (Archives photo)
Photo : Radio-Canada / Frédéric Pepin
Glen GowerCity Councilor of Stittsville and president of the public transport committee, warned that the motion of Mr. Tierney could send a confused message to the higher levels of the government and divert attention from other requests for funding from the city, in particular for public transport.
I have the impression that this device came out of nowhere today
he said.
Billions for necessary projects
Despite the vote, the motion will not add the device to the city’s transport plan, which the committee approved on Thursday.
This plan provides $ 4.5 billion for public transport infrastructure and $ 2.8 billion for the roads that the city needs to cope with population and employment growth until 2046.
But the city staff admits that this figure is not affordable. This is why the plan includes a list of priority projects that are more likely to be carried out.
This list includes $ 2.3 billion for public transportation projects and $ 1.6 billion for roads, including enlargement and new links to growing communities.
The extension of the light train network on rail to Barrhaven et Kanata Also is in the plan, with an estimated cost of $ 8.3 billion, although the city has higher government levels to finance it.
The most priority projects on the list include transit routes on the way Baseline and through the south of Orleans. Significant work to expand roads in Orleans and Stittsville are also on the list of priorities, as well as the realignment of the path Greenbank has Barrhaven.
With the information ofArthur White-Crumney of CBC News
