By Michel Rossignol
Amid growing concerns about traffic congestion in Lowertown, the 2019 federal budget pointed out the elephant in the room: the Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge is almost 120 years old. It needs major repairs, and may have to be replaced within the next five to ten years. The federal government is responsible for the maintenance of all the bridges over the Ottawa River in the Ottawa-Gatineau region. The Alexandra’s share of all the vehicular traffic crossing the river is about 13%, but from a Lowertown perspective the bridge plays a major role in the flow of traffic into and out of our community.
Photo: Topley Studio/Library and Archives Canada/PA-013866.
In the short term, repairs will cause some traffic disruptions. For example, there will be intermittent lane closures until August 2020 during the replacement of structural steel in some parts of the bridge. Repairs scheduled for the period between June 2021 and December 2022 will close one lane while the direction of traffic in the other lane will alternate. As stated on page 26 of the 2019-2020 Departmental Report of Public Services and Procurement Canada, the federal department responsible for the maintenance of the bridges between Gatineau and Ottawa, these and other repairs “will help increase the lifespan of the Alexandra Bridge and the Chaudière Crossing to ensure the bridges remain safe.”
In the long term, it will be necessary to undertake a major overhaul of the bridge or to build a new one, possibly after deconstructing the old bridge to recycle its materials. One way or the other, commuters may have to use alternate routes across the river and through Lowertown for many weeks if not months.
Unlike the Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence River linking Lévis and Québec City, the Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge is not a national historic site, but the design of the overhauled or new bridge will have to fit perfectly into one of the most famous panoramas in Canada. Other design features will also be of concern to Lowertown residents.
For example, the overhauled or new bridge will need as much, if not more, capacity for vehicular traffic given the continuing growth of the region’s population. What will be the impact on traffic flows in the community? The bridge may also need as much, if not more, capacity for pedestrian and cyclist traffic since the Alexandra now carries some 40% of this kind of traffic across the Ottawa River. Should there be greater focus on the needs of cyclists and pedestrians? As for regional transit, the overhauled or new bridge could play an important role.
However, while laying tracks on the bridge for streetcars or light rail is easy, connecting these rails effectively to present and future transit routes on both sides of the river is another matter. The federal government may have to decide the bridge’s future before all the levels of government in the region have fully coordinated their transit plans. As a result, opportunities for fitting the bridge into these plans might be missed. In short, a major overhaul or the construction of a new bridge may occur only years from now, but people planning traffic mitigation measures in Lowertown, future transit networks, or just the daily commute will have to keep in mind the future of the Alexandra Bridge.