Ottawa City Council will ask the federal government to extend the current consultation period on the proposed Eastern Bridge Project until after the municipal election. The proposed sixth interprovincial bridge project would build a two-kilometre bridge over the Ottawa River to connect the Aviation Parkway in Ottawa and Montée-Paiement in Gatineau. Public Services and Procurement Canada says the project would also involve modifications to nine kilometres of existing roads and intersections along the Aviation Parkway- Montée-Paiement corridor. Last week, Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada released the initial project description and invited residents to comment on the proposed bridge. While the public can submit comments online until Oct. 9, Coun. Rawlson King raised concerns that the consultation period during the municipal election campaign would limit the ability of councillors to communicate and engage fully through municipal channels. Council voted 23 to 2 on Wednesday in favour of King’s motion to extend the current consultation period and “pause consequential decisions or approvals” concerning the bridge until the newly elected council takes office after the Oct. 26 municipal election. The motion also calls on city staff to engage with Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, the National Capital Commission and other partners to support a “coordinated discussion about the movement of people and goods” and ensure the proposed bridge is “considered within the region’s broader and long-term transportation needs.” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said the proposed interprovincial bridge is a “big project. It’s going to have a big impact on residents in that area.” “I don’t think it’s too much to ask of the federal government that, for this particular step in the process, that we extend the period of consultation by five or six weeks,” Sutcliffe said. Coun. Stephanie Plante was one of the two councillors that voted against the motion to delay public consultations. “We have been studying the Eastern Interprovincial Crossing for decades,” Plante said. “This motion acknowledges that both the decades of discussion and consultation fatigue surrounding the project-they actually use the word consultation fatigue-and then somehow the proposed solution to consultation fatigue is more consultation and a request to pause the process. We have not built a new interprovincial crossing in the national capital region, which was the Portage Bridge, since 1973.” Plante noted Ottawa’s Transportation Master Plan calls on the city to “pursue solutions” to improve interprovincial travel and better connect Highway 417 and highways 5 and 50 in Quebec. The motion says the request for extending the consultation period should not be interpreted as council’s final support for or opposition to the new interprovincial bridge. According to Public Services and Procurement Canada, the final design will be finalized, and construction will take place between 2029 and 2034.
