NCC board discusses new hospital parking garage, sixth Ottawa River crossing

The National Capital Commission's first public board meeting of the year will include discussions of two contentious topics about the future of Ottawa.

The meeting will discuss the schematic design for the new Ottawa Civic Hospital's parking structure and its rooftop park, slated to be built on part of Queen Juliana Park — next to the O-Train's Trillium Line, between Carling Avenue and Dow's Lake.

Plans for the hospital and its parking garage have irritated some residents to the point of holding demonstrations against its construction.

The construction plans would see the parking structure built first, providing a place to park for the many construction workers who will build the hospital.

The second major item on the NCC board's agenda is a report on interprovincial crossings, which discusses a potential sixth crossing between Ottawa and Gatineau.

A draft report, published last October, concluded that reducing truck traffic congestion in the downtown area would require more than a sixth crossing.

“Analysis shows that new crossings could divert up to 15% of heavy truck travel from the core area; however, the remaining demand would still have impacts on the core area that would need to be mitigated,” the report stated.

The city councillor whose ward sees a large amount of that heavy truck traffic says the report doesn't go far enough to address the problem in his ward, nor the negative effects of the truck traffic on his residents.

“(T)he truck traffic that impedes the safety and quality of life for Lowertown and Sandy Hill communities needs to be resolved once and for all,” wrote Councillor Mathieu Fleury, in a submission to the NCC's board.

“Currently, the objective is to evaluate potential solutions — it is time for a finite solution and not endless study,” he added.

Fleury also says that the study is relying on out-of-date traffic data, from 2007 and 2011, and doesn't take into account the pandemic-induced shift to working from home.

The NCC's first public board meeting of 2022 will be followed by a closed-door, in camera session in the afternoon.