City asks Procurement Canada to be part of Alexandra Bridge replacement planning

Ottawa is one step closer to updating the deteriorating Alexandra Bridge that connects nine per cent of the average daily vehicle traffic between Canada’s capital to Gatineau.

Although the bridge is under the Public Services and Procurement Canada portfolio, the City of Ottawa has made a request to be included as stakeholders in the next planned stages of consultation, the Built Heritage sub-committee will hear on Tuesday.

“Over time, the bridge has become a landmark for both Ottawa and Gatineau, representing the interconnectedness of the National Capital Region, in addition to providing the physical link between both cities,” the report outlines. “In 2019, in consideration of the bridge’s deteriorating condition, increasing maintenance costs and propensity to disrupt traffic, as well as current and future transportation needs, the Government of Canada directed that the bridge be replaced within 10 years.”

In 1995, the bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Site by the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers.

And in May 2017, Ottawa’s city council approved the inclusion of the Alexandra Bridge on the city’s heritage register for its cultural heritage value or interest.

It wasn’t until the fall of 2020 that the NCC in partnership with PSPC launched the first of five phases of public consultation on the bridge replacement project.

According to the NCC’s website, over 2,300 people took part in the consultation.

And in April 2021, a coalition of interprovincial, multi-disciplinary stakeholders was formed to advocate for the retention of the bridge.

While the bridge is not designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, Heritage Planning staff believe that the bridge clearly meets all the criteria for establishing cultural heritage value or interest, and would be a strong candidate for individual designation.

The staff also believe that the bridge has national significance for its design, historic and contractual values.

So, heritage staff met virtually with the director for National Capital Region Bridges in the Department of PSPC on May 25.

In order to help the city better understand the requirement for replacement, staff have requested to review a number of documents that were commissioned and led to the decision undertaken in 2017 as well as any other condition assessments.

According to the PSPC, the next step in the project is to undertake an Impact Assessment process and that a Heritage Impact Assessment has been prioritized as part of the larger evaluation.

Staff believe the results of the assessment should inform the conversation for any replacement structure.

The bridge was constructed between 1898-1901 and designed by the Lachine, Quebec-based Dominion Bridge Co. Ltd.

It was designed as a multi-modal bridge with rail tracks and two pedestrian footpaths, as well as cantilevered decks for road and streetcar traffic.

At the time, the bridge was the fourth longest cantilever span in the world.

“When the bridge first opened, it represented an outstanding achievement in engineering; the use of concrete foundations and exclusive use of steel for its superstructure was considered to be pioneering at the time,” the report says. “It was also the largest structure entirely constructed of steel in North America.”