Group protests highway expansion
Posted Feb 18, 2012 12:16:38 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A group of nearly 80 people formed a chain at Gatineau Park Saturday to protest a plan to build a highway through a portion of the park.
Highway A5 would link Gatineau to Wakefield, and protestor Anne Winship told 1310News, construction could affect the Wakefield Spring.
“I don’t think Ottawans who come up here all the time to get their water on the way to their cottages or whatever, know how much in danger this spring is,” she said.
Construction crews would also have to cut down a group of 300-year-old trees in order to build the highway.
“It’s very sad,” said Winship. “The trees… are really a symbol for this whole ecosystem. It’s like Wakefield, this picturesque little village with this four-lane highway coming through and they’re planning to blast the top of Brown Lake Mountain and do this huge interchange… It looks like it comes from Montreal.”
The group, which calls itself A5X, plans to ask the provincial representative to try and put a stop to the project.
