6th Interprovincial Bridge

Overview

A 6th interprovincial crossing of the Ottawa River has  been the intention of area governments since the 1990s.  The purpose of a 6th crossing would be to add further peak period capacity across the river for cars, to provide another route for interprovincial trucks besides the current route through residential areas of downtown Ottawa, and to introduce more interprovincial route options into the transportation network.

The construction of the 6-lane Macdonald-Cartier bridge in 1965 resulted in central Ottawa becoming the focal point of the majority of interprovincial traffic.  Almost half of all daily interprovincial trips by car dump onto Ottawa downtown streets from this bridge (approximately 75,000) as well as 2600 heavy trucks.  During the peak periods of the day truck traffic exceeds 200 trucks per hour which is 1 truck every 18 seconds.

A repository of all major studies and documents related to Interprovincial Road Issues is available at the link below:

Interprovincial Document Repository

Latest Status

Jan 2025: Environmental Assessment Process Launched for Kettle Island Bridge

The federal government at a press conference in Jan 2025 announced that funding had been committed to hire a consultant to conduct a Federal Environmental Impact Assessment for a new bridge located at Kettle Island (also referred to as Corridor 7).  

Further details:  Next Steps Eastern Bridge

June 2020:  Long Term Integrated Interprovincial Crossings Plan

The NCC was once again tasked to conduct a Study on the National Capital Region's interprovincial transportation challenges.   This was given a broader scope than the last 2007-2013 study.  Rather than being focused narrowly on 'where to build a new bridge' this LTIIC Study looks at the big picture to suggest potentially a portfolio of solutions that may include transit, cycling, peak demand management, as well as potential new road infrastructure.  The Study had multiple stages of public consultation and wrapped up by mid-2021.

The LTIIC Study was preceeded by a Study released in Spring 2020 which 'refreshed' the technical analyses of the 2007-2013 Bridge Study.  "Refresh' means to look at what might have changed since then in terms of the natural environment, the transportation network, new buildings, etc that require updates to the 2007-2013 Study.  These changes have been documented and in general the changes were fairly minor.  Link to the Refresh Study.

One thing the 'Refresh Study' did not attempt was to perform any analysis of current interprovincial crossing traffic and congestion levels in order to understand how those might have changed in the past 10 years.  This would seem to be pretty important information needed for any future analysis. 

The first stage of public consultations  focused on the Study's guiding principles and on what evaluation criteria are to be used to evaluate the pros and cons of multiple possible future scenarios.  Further details on this NCC 2020 Interprovincial Crossings Study are available at the NCC website.

Link to 2022 Final NCC LTIICS Report:

Collapse of 2007-2013 Initiative towards a new Interprovincial Bridge / 6th Crossing (June 2013)

The month of June 2013 was a tumultuous one in terms of activity on the interprovincial bridge project in Ottawa.  After announcing their technically preferred corridor selection (Kettle Island) in May 2013 (see below):

- the Province of Ontario announced they would not support a bridge at this location

- the Province of Quebec indicated they would not continue without the involvement of the Province of Ontario

 - and  the NCC threw in the towel on the whole project after having completed approx 80% of the Phase 2B study.

The relevant authorities on the Ontario side (Madeleine Meilleur, Mauril Belanger, Jim Watson, the Ministry of Transport) stated that the focus must be on solving the truck problem downtown without spreading trucks into other communities, and that other alternatives such as a downtown tunnel to connect the 417 freeway to the Macdonald-Cartier bridge need to be more seriously considered.

May 2013:  On May 14th 2013, the NCC announced the decision of their "Evaluation Committee" regarding the "technically preferred corridor" for a new interprovincial bridge in the east end of the NCR.   The choice was Kettle Island (via Aviation Parkway-Montee Paiement).   Kettle Island was preferred over 2 other corridors under consideration, both of which were located further east.  This was basically a re-confirmation of the Phase 1 study which also recommended Kettle Island in 2008.  Previous studies in the 1990's had also arrived at similar conclusions. 

Reaction was swift with local politicians at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels for the affected area all declaring that they would not support a bridge at Kettle Island.   Reasons given included that these areas were too built up as residential areas to be appropriate for such a corridor and that the proposed bridge was not providing an adequate solution to the volumes of inter-provincial trucks in the downtown.

Trucks in the downtown continues to be a problematic issue.  This study had indicated that a bridge at Kettle Island would attract about 1/3 of the trucks from downtown.  (Based on projected 2031 interprovincial truck volumes and assuming the new bridge was in place, the expected volume of trucks on Rideau/King Edward Ave to about 2500 trucks per day vs 2600 per day in 2013).  Attempts to achieve greater reductions than this by banning  interprovincial trucks from Rideau/KingEdward which did not already have a stop along the way in the downtown could result in a decrease to 900 trucks per day meaning a reduction of 1600 additional trucks/day from Rideau/King Edward.  However, the study then predicted that these 1600 trucks would redistribute themselves by splitting 66/33 with only 33% preferring to go to the new bridge and the other 66% preferring to shift to the Chaudieres bridge.  This would more than double the volume of trucks on that downtown corridor compared to the volumes of trucks experienced there today.   To avoid this scenario,  attempts by members in the community  to convince the NCC and it's study partners to evaluate the economic impact on trucking operations of also banning trucks from the Chaudieres corridor so that all non-local interprovincial trucks would be shifted to a proposed new east end bridge proved to be fruitless.

If east end Ottawa politicians are not in support of a new bridge at Kettle Island even though several very rigorous and detailed studies over 2 decades have repeatedly confirmed this is the preferred route, then what do they propose to do about the problem of inter-provincial trucks cutting through downtown streets?  The study predicted that the year 2013 problem of 3500 trucks per day (2600 on Rideau/King Edward and 900 on Chaudieres) would grow to a problem of 5800 trucks per day by 2031.   

The detailed evaluation report which explains the decision making process used to demonstrate why the Kettle I. corridor is the best route is presented in this Final Evaluation Report.  The evaluation scored all of the corridors with a weighted evaluation of factors such as transportation, social, cultural, environmental, land-use, cost and economic spin-off effect.  The study claimed that even if the weighting factors were varied significantly more towards measuring social and environmental effect that Kettle Island would still score consistently better than the other corridors.

The proposed project costs were updated in 2020 as 1.8B$.  This cost would be composed of approximately 50% bridge costs, 25% new road work on the approaches to the bridge and 25% for engineering and contingency.   The proposed bridge consists of 2 traffic and 1 dedicated transit lane in each direction.  The roadway approaches on both the Ottawa and Gatineau side need to be modified and widened, significant interchange modifications required at the 417 and 50 interchanges, and overpasses would be built when the corridor crosses over Ogilvy Road and Blvd Maloney on the Quebec side.

 All project documentation is available at www.ncrcrossings.ca

April 2011:  In April 2011 a decision was made at the NCC board meeting on the consultant to be used for Phase 2B of the Inter-provincial Crossings Project.  The meeting was not without controversy as only 2 of the 4 qualified engineering firms had submitted a bid. The lowest cost bid was by the firm Roche-NCE which had been the same firm which conducted Phase 1 of the study.  This bid was approximately 50% of the cost of the competing bid.  As there had been considerable public discontent with Roche-NCE in Phase 1 and partially as a result of this, the board decided to reject the staff's recommendation to select this firm despite it's lower cost bid.

However, considerable confusion ensued after this decision as it was unclear to the board what subsequent steps should then be taken.  After a recess for lunch, the board reconvened and according to a point of procedure unanimously voted to reconsider the morning decision.  After re-consideration a vote was re-taken and this time the staff recommendation to proceed using Roche-NCE was accepted.

The first meeting of the public consultation group for the Phase 2B of the study occurred June 2011.  Phase 2B continued until late 2013 by which time a decision was made as to which of the 3 proposed corridors would be the preferred location for a new Ottawa River bridge.

Project Timeline

Phase 1 of this study concluded in Jan 2009  and recommended that the best location for a new crossing would be Kettle Island, connecting on the Ottawa side via the Aviation Parkway to the 174-417 split intersection.  Preliminary estimates of the cost of this bridge and the road works on its approaches was 500m$ (updated in May 2013 to 1.1B$, updated again in 2019 to 1.8B$).   Negative reaction to this process was swift and another phase of the study was then initiated which re-introduced two of the previously screened-out crossings (about 6km further east down Highway 174).  This Phase 2 process extended from 2009 into 2013.  

Phase 2 of the study was broken into 2 sub-phases. Phase 2A’s  purpose was to consult with communities on what should be the process to be used in phase 2B  which would narrow down from the 3 potential bridge crossing locations to a single preferred location.  The reason for Phase 2A was that communities in the east end felt that they had not been given sufficient opportunity to comment on what evaluation criteria were used to make the original Phase 1 evaluation and  recommendation.   

Phase 2A  completed in June 2010 and Phase 2B in 2013.  Phase 2B lead to the choice of a single preferred location. Subsequently a federal ‘screening’ environmental assessment would need to be performed for a bridge designed at this crossing.

Purpose and Terms of Reference (2007-2013 Study)

The stated main purposes for a new crossing are:

·   to accommodate forecast increases in auto based travel demand over the next 20-50 year time horizon

·   to provide a new route for heavy trucks across the Ottawa River

·   to provide a major arterial interconnection between highway 417 in Ottawa and highway 5/50 in Quebec

Truck Issues

From the perspective of Ottawa residents, particularly those in downtown communities the major inter-provincial problem to be solved is the use of Nicholas-Rideau-Waller-King Edward streets as a truck route carrying 2600 heavy trucks per day.  It has been generally thought that a new east end bridge would lead to a solution to this inter-provincial truck problem.  However as the study progressed it became unclear to what extent an east end bridge would lead to a solution to the downtown truck problem.   In fact the recommendation of Phase 1 of the study was that King Edward should remain open to trucks after a new bridge was built and that given the choice of King Edward and a new east end bridge at Kettle Island that 60% of the inter-provincial truck movements would prefer to remain on the downtown routes to the Macdonald-Cartier and Chaudieres bridges.

By such a measure the primary accomplishment of a new east end bridge would be the addition of a significant amount of incremental capacity for peak period auto travel.  It is doubtful that the removal of only 30-40% of the trucks on King Edward / Rideau / Waller will make any appreciable difference in the character of these neighborhoods.  Meanwhile, by introducing over 1000 new trucks per day into east end neighborhoods along the approaches to a new bridge whole new areas of town will experience degradation.    

A detailed overview of the projected movements of truck traffic in 2031 with and without a new bridge at Kettle Island is summarized in the following truck movements memo.

Political Reactions 

After the public announcement of Kettle Island as the 'technically preferred corridor' on May 14, 2013 the following statements were made by local politicians:

Watson wants to explore truck-only toll tunnel rather than Kettle Island bridge... from MetroNews Canada

Watson’s comments came in response to the National Capital Commission’s preference for a new interprovincial bridge along the Kettle Island corridor. The bridge is partially an effort to reduce truck congestion in the downtown core — Watson’s against the idea.

“I think what we have to do is look more creatively. Instead of looking at a bridge, we should be looking at the possibility of a truck-only tunnel going off the bridge, under King Edward and coming up at Nicholas at the 417,” Watson said.

“That solves the truck problem in the downtown without hurting another series of neighbourhoods in the east end.”

There’s no estimate on how much that would cost, but Watson said he suspects there could be economies of scale, since drilling equipment will already be in the city over the coming years for the construction of the Confederation Line. The Kettle Island bridge is estimated to cost $1.16 billion.

Coun. Keith Egli, the chair of the city’s transportation committee, said the NCC’s report is due to committee in June. At that point, Egli said, councillors may direct staff to explore the tunnel idea.

Madeleine Meilleur: A bridge at Kettle Island is not an option!

May 14th, 2013

Here is what the Honourable Madeleine Meilleur says:

I am very disappointed in the National Capital Commission’s recent recommendation for the east-end bridge. Among other things, it does not address the issue of eliminating truck traffic in the city core.

The building of a bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau has been my priority for many years, but I’ve always maintained that a new bridge should not disrupt established residential neighbourhoods. Any interprovincial bridge needs to get the trucks out of downtown, and any proposal that does not respect the local communities and does not get the trucks out of residential areas is not a solution.

I will continue to fight to protect all residential neighbourhoods and to encourage better public transit to and from the city core, and I will recommend that the Ontario government NOT FUND a bridge at Kettle Island.

Here is what the Honourable Mauril Bélanger adds:

In 1995, I stated publicly that I was against a bridge at Kettle Island, via the Aviation Parkway. I have not changed my mind and I am always against this option because it only spreads a problem: that of heavy trucks in the core of our nation’s capital – but does not solve it.

In the absence of a sound planning of our transportation corridors from the NCC, I add my voice to those who advocate the abandonment of this project and urge the Ontario government not to finance a bridge at Kettle Island.

Other Alternatives

A key  issue at stake in any evaluation of a potential new 6th Ottawa River crossing is  the relative weighting of the requirements on a new crossing for finding a solution for getting trucks out of downtown vs simply adding new peak hour  inter-provincial car based  commuting capacity.  Because of a bias towards providing new capacity for more autos, other potential solutions such as a downtown bypass tunnel from the existing Macdonald-Cartier bridge to the 417 were excluded from a full assessment as an alternative during the 2007-2013 study.  A tunnel of this nature could completely solve the downtown interprovincial truck problem without displacing trucks to other east end communities in Ottawa and Gatineau or adding significant travel costs to goods movement  detoured via east end bridges.  Such a tunnel could also simultaneously eliminate up to 20,000 cars per day which currently cross the Ottawa River threading through downtown to/from the 417 and eliminate up to 10-12 traffic lights which slow this journey for drivers.  It would also provide some increases in peak period auto capacity across the Macdonald-Cartier bridge because currently that bridge is underutilized being constrained by the road approaches to the bridge.

Further Information

All reports and information of this study can be found at the study website: www.ncrcrossings.ca

A group of community associations represented by a coalition called Sustainable Solutions - Solutions durables has formed to unite public participation and influence the outcome of this study.  The Sustainable Solutions website has a wealth of detailed information on the shortcomings of the current process and analyzes in some depth the issues related to solving the downtown truck problem.