What if trains once again went over the Chief William Commanda Bridge?
That is a question city council is asking through long-term planning in the updated Transportation Master Plan, which outlines a roadmap for the most significant transit-oriented projects over the next 20 years.
But if it ever did happen, re-pacing the wooden pathway with tracks would be beyond the 2046 horizon, given the expected investment in the STO Gatineau Transitway, a city report outlined. The bridge could then be used as a “potential future interprovincial rail link” between the transit networks in both Ottawa and Gatineau.
A previous 2013 Transportation Master Plan identified using the bridge as part of a light rail network. However, in 2019, former Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said it would never be used again for trains, saying it would cause too much congestion at Bayview Station.
Former Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin agreed. He said studies had been confused over a few months, which showed the former Prince of Wales rail bridge could not be used, and said the Portage Bridge was seen as a better contender to connect the two communities.
Since then, the rail bridge has been renamed after Chief William Commanda, an Indigenous leader who connected communities and taught Canadians about the traditions, languages, and importance of the First Peoples of Canada. His granddaughter, Elder Claudette Commanda, shared stories of her late grandfather with Kitchissippi Times in July 2021.
A $22 million investment was made in the bridge to make it a multi-use pathway. After its first week in operation in August 2023, almost 30,000 people crossed by foot or bike.
Other priorities in the Transportation Master Plan
Ottawa is rapidly growing and is expected to reach 1.4 million people by 2046. That will bring an estimated increase of 1.2 million daily trips, 620,000 of which will be by vehicle.
Roads and transit infrastructure must be upgraded to meet the demand. The updated Transportation Master Plan outlines $3.9 billion in capital projects across the city.
New bus lanes on Carling Avenue would benefit Kitchissippi and Bay Wards. When first elected, Coun. Theresa Kavanagh thought progress would have been made by now, but it’s been stalled by the Baseline bus rapid transit project, which has been given a bigger priority. Under three phases, it would take buses 13.8 kilometres down Baseline Road from Bayshore to Heron.
“There are lots of costs involved, which is why Carling is not going first,” said Kavanagh. “What I thought was imminent has now been pushed off. And I’ve been very frustrated with that. I’ve also been asking for cycle infrastructure over and over again, stating how important it is. And the city is just not making those investments.”
Carling has also been voted as the worst road in Ottawa this year.
Other transit-oriented projects across the city include: new transitways in Kanata and Cumberland, new bus lanes on Blair Road and St. Laurent Boulevard, the Airport Parkway widening, and the Greenbank Road realignment in Barrhaven.
The city has also committed to building Stage 3 light rail to Kanata, Stittsville, and Barrhaven, though previous numbers released by OC Transpo paint a difficult financial situation for the project, given lower-than-anticipated ridership. During the recent provincial election, Ontario Premier Doug Ford committed to offloading the LRT system to the province and funding the suburban expansions.