Ottawa-Gatineau bridge study suspended indefinitely
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | 12:35 PM ET
CBC News

The 60,000 commuters who cross the Ottawa River between Ottawa and Gatineau each day will not be getting a new bridge anytime soon, an Ottawa official says.

However, smart cards that bridge the region's two transit systems could be available by 2009.

The City of Ottawa's study on how to improve transportation between opposite shores of the National Capital Region — including whether to build a dedicated transit bridge — was put on hold after the city's light-rail plan was cancelled in December, and the city does not know when it will resume, said Dennis Jacobs, the city's director of planning, environment and infrastructure planning.

'It's not a light-rail issue and it is an area that urgently requires study'— Transit advocate David Jeanes

He said work to integrate Ottawa's transit system with Gatineau's cannot go forward "until we understand how we're dealing with our own local transit needs."

City of Ottawa statistics show that trips across the river have increased up to 25 per cent in the past decade. Now 43,000 people head to Ottawa from Gatineau each morning, while 17,000 travel in the opposite direction.

No reason to stop study: transit advocate

Transit advocate David Jeanes said there is no reason why the city's interprovincial transportation study should have been put on hold.

"It's not a light-rail issue and it is an area that urgently requires study," said Jeanes, president of the Transport 2000 transit lobby group.

He added that the Alexandra and Macdonald-Cartier bridges are slated for reconstruction in the near future.

"While that reconstruction is going on, we really need more transit in the immediate term to try and relieve some of the car pressure."

Jeanes favours dedicating for interprovincial transit an old railway bridge whose south end approaches Ottawa's Bayview O-Train station and whose north end reaches toward the Terrasses de la Chaudière, a federal complex that houses thousands of government employees. [ see our Extensions -ed]

As he walked along the shore of the Ottawa River on Friday, he pointed out the modern track laid on the bridge less than a decade ago to serve the Domtar mill.

"You can see the towers at Terrasses de la Chaudière," he said. "And the railway line goes right there … it would be good track for a train to go to the centre of Hull."

Smart cards coming [How this will alleviate congestion is unknown - ed]

OC Transpo spokeswoman Helen Gault said even without the study, initiatives are under way to make interprovincial transit in the region easier.

She said an internet tool that helps transit users plan trips between Gatineau's STO system and Ottawa's OC Transpo system will be online by next year, and electronic smart cards that can be used in place of tickets throughout both systems could be in place by 2009.

Correct fares would automatically be deducted from the cards as transit users walked past a sensor on the bus or train.

Right now, passes and transfers are interchangeable between the two systems, but tickets are not.

STO has had smart cards for the past two years.

OC Transpo has included the implementation of a smart-card system in its 2007 capital budget.

Gault added that she recognizes the frustrations of residents who have to travel between Ottawa and Gatineau.

"The more we can do to make it a seamless system, the happier people will be," she said.

Commuters such as Peter Schmolka, who lives in Ottawa's Alta Vista area and works as a federal government translator in Hull, said taking transit across the river remains a daily ordeal.

"I'm going to retire in three years and I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I won't have to face the commuting hassle every day."