LRT construction puts a squeeze on parking

There is a parking squeeze coming for downtown Ottawa due to the soon-to-begin construction on the LRT.

An underground shaft is set to be built under the parking lot at Kent and Queen streets where nearly 400 cars and about 25 oversized, commercial trucks use that lot every day.

It will close at the end of August.

Another smaller parking lot a block away at Albert and Lyon streetsis also set to close.

The above-ground parking space for taller vehicles is disappearing and when construction begins in a month, competition for the few spaces left for those vehicles, is expected to be intense.

Trevor Wistaff drives a Bell repair van and said the big companies will not be affected, but the smaller companies will be.

"The little guys, the moms and pops, the average Joe, they're the guys who are going to be hurt the most by this," said Wistaff.