Councillor wants to replace ferry

Preliminary traffic analysis data publicized by study operators last week shows the most used location for a new crossing over the Ottawa River would be Kettle Island, if constructed today. During morning rush hour, it’s estimated the site would be used by almost 3,000 vehicles per hour, 500 more an hour than the next closest site, Lower Duck Island.

And while those numbers are in line with the opinions of most east-end politicians, who formed a coalition last summer to voice their support for the Kettle Island site, Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Michel Bellemare has endorsed replacing the current Masson-Angers – Cumberland ferry with a bridge.

In a letter to the CEO of the NCC last week, Bellemare named the need to find alternative routes for long-haul heavy trucking outside of downtown “paramount”, calling on study operators to alleviate the problem without shifting it to suburban neighbourhoods and suggesting the creation of a ring road around the entire National Capital Region.

An interprovincial bridge at Masson-Angers – Cumberland would be an important step in that direction, since recent development on Trim Road no longer makes it an option to support a ring road, Bellemare said.

The four-year, $4.5-million environmental assessment study into a new interprovincial crossing – being conducted by the NCC and provincial and municipal governments – is looking at potential locations on both sides of the river, along with which method could be used. It is also examining the possible social, economic and planning impacts on each proposed site.

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Ten sites in both the city’s eastern and western sectors have already been shortlisted as prospective crossing locations, including six proposed east-end corridors at Kettle Island, Lower Duck Island, Tenth Line Road – Montée Mineault, Petrie Island, Masson-Angers – Cumberland and Lower Duck Island – Boulevard de l’Aéroport.

The option of building a ferry for the new interprovincial link has been struck down by study operators, citing their inability to handle the expected flow of traffic across the new crossing.

The recent announcement of federal and provincial funding to widen Highway 174 from Orleans to Rockland makes the proposed Masson-Angers – Cumberland bridge even more viable, Bellemare added.

Meanwhile, members of the east-end coalition – which includes politicians from all three levels of government – continue to oppose any interprovincial crossing at east-end sites other than Kettle Island, with a city council of 17-4 in June also supporting that selection.

Ottawa-Orleans MPP Phil McNeely calls the proposal of a Masson-Angers – Cumberland bridge “ridiculous. “The poor truckers who would have to take that route – it would be like Homer’s Odyssey,” he explained. “The numbers confirm the JACPAT study of 1994 (that Kettle Island is the best choice).”

Cumberland Coun. Rob Jellett is also “absolutely opposed” to replacing the ferry in his ward with a bridge, citing concerns about “the hundreds of millions of dollars” needed for additional infrastructure, houses that would be expropriated to make way for the project and overall impacts on Cumberland Village.

Public consultations on the study will recommence next week, coming to the east end Thursday, Feb. 21 at the Pineview Golf Course from 5 to 9 p.m. www.ncrcrossings.ca.