Abstract Manager

Chaudière Crossing in the Ottawa-Gatineau area was an arterial road through an industrial area. It starts at the intersection of Booth St and Wellington St in Ottawa, crosses a series of federal bridges and end at the intersection of Eddy St and Laurier St in Gatineau. While it did have sidewalks, the focus was on accommodating commuting traffic and trucks. The pedestrian environment left a lot to be desired, and there were no cycling facilities. The major Zibi development kickstarted a reimagination of the corridor. Due to their unique location with much of the development area on an island, there was a strong push to ensure a varied mode split with reduced emphasis on private cars.

This led to a series of road and bridge projects to transform the corridor to a complete street including accessible sidewalks, cycle tracks, and enhanced bus stops while retaining connectivity for cars and trucks. The interprovincial nature of the corridor also led to jurisdictional challenges, with proponents and approval authorities including the Zibi development, the City of Ottawa, the National Capital Commission (NCC), Public Service and Procurement Canada (PSPC), and the Ville de Gatineau. In total, there were five segments with projects consisting of road modifications, road reconstruction, bridge widening and major rehabilitation of a century-old bridge.

I led the street design of all segments, providing continuity and a consistent vision for a high-quality complete street despite the varying proponents and stakeholders. The final segment will be completed in summer 2024, wrapping up a five-year construction process that spanned a major flooding event and the COVID pandemic.

Throughout the process, I learned many lessons that I would like to share on finding allies, stakeholder coordination, overcoming spatial challenges and implementation challenges.