Thursday, October 7, 2010

End of King Edward Traffic & Kettle Island Debate

In case you missed it:

Prince Of Wales Bridge is my third vision
My third vision is dealing with the bus AND TRUCK congestion from Quebec and the accident-inducing situation on King Edward.

A structural engineer has examined the Prince of Wales Bridge

1-     Only the piers need to be upgraded to meet earthquake standards

2-      The bridge can be cantilevered so that, in addition to the existing rail, additional traffic lanes can be built on either side of the tracks.

3-     This will provide a bus connection between the STO and Ottawa’s Bus Rapid Transit Network.

4-     A large transfer station will be constructed on LeBreton Flats to facilitate STO transfers.

The net result would be, STO buses presently using
Wellington Street
, in front of the parliament Buildings will be eliminated.

Gatineau and STO are building their Bus Rapid Transit network as I speak, and it will shortly be joining
Alexandre-Taché Blvd.
  From there it is but a short distance to the Prince of Wales Bridge.

My Global vision for this plan is:
1-    In the off peak hours the bridge can be used for the trucks that now use King Edward by joining highway 50 to the bridge.  Imagine no trucks on King Edward Ave.

2-     These trucks can initially be distributed onto
Scott Street
, eventually onto Somerset and then to the Queensway.
Perhaps, we don’t need a downstream bridge to Quebec, -- and the money saved by not doing the Kettle Island Bridge can be applied to the Prince of Wales Bridge update.

3 comments:

  1. Hundreds of world class cities are building rail because rail is cheaper and cleaner than buses and roads, and uses far less land, less infrastructure such as drains, less fuel, and requires less maintenance. One bus engine powers one O Train, moves three times as many people, and requires three times fewer drivers. We have a rail crossing between Quebec and Ontario, so let's use it and create a cleaner, more efficient, and more sustainable city. Ottawa's dirty air kills about 500 people prematurely every year and some 20% of children aged between 8 and 19 suffer from asthma largely from breathing dirty air. It is estimated that there will be 95,000 trucks crossing the bridge between the US and Windsor by 2050 - and that HALF the population of Windsor will be suffering from asthma by then as a result of emissions from combustion engines. We need CLEANER transportation - and buses are far from clean. Buses are also far noisier than trains, and noise pollution is a major health problem in cities. Try standing on Rideau, Mackenzie, Slater, Albert, etc., to experience how noisy and fumy Ottawa's buses are! Then go and stand anywhere on the O Train line to feel the difference. Rail wins hands down.

    It's not the downtown LRT that is costing taxpayers, but the stupidly costly hole in the ground. We need surface rail!

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  2. @ Previous commenter:

    Source?

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  3. How would it help to move heavy trucks from one densely populated residential neighbourhood to another densely populated residential neighbourhood?

    Also, Somerset doesn't intersect with the Queensway, and isn't suitable for heavy trucks anyway. You can barely fit a car down Somerset. You know that's where Chinatown is, right? Not sure what you're getting at here. At any rate, the glory days of city-busting road projects like this ended in the seventies.

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