Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Ottawa is preparing to spend $22 million to transform a disused rail bridge over the Ottawa River into a cycling and pedestrian path to western Quebec.
The project will be tendered soon.
The former Prince of Wales Bridge was to be renamed by City Council at its meeting on Wednesday as the Chief William Commanda Bridge after a late Algonquin elder.
The bridge has been the subject of controversy, as a private consortium had sought under Canadian rail legislation to make it the lynchpin of a private commuter rail system between eastern Ontario and Western Quebec communities. However, despite winning Canadian Transport Authority (CTA) regulatory rulings in its favour, the MOOSE Consortium’s plan died last year when the federal cabinet issued an order in council indicating the city could effectively decommission the bridge as a transit route.
It may still eventually be used for that purpose, many years from now, though Gatineau has decided to link its planned tram system to Ottawa through the more centrally-located Portage bridge.
The city then decided to move forward with the pathway conversion for the bridge, hoping to acquire COVID-19 infrastructure relief funds to cover a significant part of the cots.
The Ottawa Citizen has reported that city staff told council on July 6 that the federal government would provide about $8.6 million for the work, but this would only be a portion of the cost to rehabilitate the bridge and cover the multi-use path designed to preserve the rails on the deck.
While the city originally expected the work would cost about $10.5 million, the total scope of construction will now be about $22.6 million because of necessary structural work on the bridge’s piers and abutments.
While the city had set aside an additional $5 million in repairs for the pier through the regular budgeting process, it needed council’s approval to direct another $9 million for the project. Mayor Jim Watson has proposed taking about $6.4 million from development charge revenue and another $2.5 million from transit reserves to pay the difference
William Commanda was chief of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation from 1951 to 1970. Watson first proposed renaming the bridge after Commanda during his state of the city address in January.