Liberals pledge to revive Prince of Wales bridge as LRT link

A re-elected Liberal government will help refurbish the Prince of Wales bridge and create a light rail link between Ottawa and Gatineau, five local candidates pledged Wednesday.

"By working closely with our government partners, we hope to one day turn it into an extension of Ottawa's LRT," said Yasir Naqvi, the Liberal candidate for Ottawa-Centre.

Those government partners include the City of Ottawa, the City of Gatineau, the province of Quebecand the federal government. Any such project could involve Public Services and Procurement Canada, Transport Canadaand the National Capital Commission.

"You can imagine the opportunities, and you can imagine the complexities in getting the project done," said Naqvi, as he stood with the other candidates in front of the disused rail bridge. "We're standing here as a team saying, 'We want to make it happen and we are going to be a willing partner.'"

Better integration

Also on hand Wednesday morning were BobChiarelli(OttawaWestNepean), Nathalie DesRosiers(OttawaVanier), John Fraser (Ottawa South) andStephanieMaghnam(KanataCarleton).

"I know there are a tremendous number of transit advocates on the Quebec side who want to see better integration," said Chiarelli. "We've got to get people moving."

The bridge presents an interesting option for carrying passengers across the Ottawa River byrail becauseit connects to BayviewStation, the future junction of Ottawa's north-south Trillium Lineand east-west Confederation Line, which is set toopen in November.

While the city of Ottawa purchased the rail bridge from CP Rail in 2005, it has yet to formalize a plan to refurbish it. A proposal was in place to create a pedestrian and cycling link on the bridge, butmoney for the project was redirected in 2015 to accelerate the construction of a pedestrian link over the Rideau Canal at Fifth Avenue.

In 2016, the city installed fences to keep trespassers off the bridge, but without much success. The city is currently appealing a ruling by the Canadian Transportation Agency to replace a section of rail line leading to the bridge whichwas buriedduring nearby LRTconstruction.

No dollar amount

The Liberal candidatesstopped short of providing any financial figures for the project, including what share the province might bear.

"Part of that conversation is firstto determine exactly what's going to be the cost and what needs to be done to stabilize the bridge and make it part of the LRT network," Naqvi said when asked how much it would cost to transform the bridge.

Naqvi added that if the City of Ottawa and the City of Gatineaudecidedthey only wanted to refurbish the bridge as a pedestrian and cycling link, his party, if re-elected, would still get behind the plan.