Pedestrians will soon have another point of access to the uOttawa campus.
In its 2005 budget adopted earlier this month, Ottawa City Council approved—by a majority of a single vote—a $5-million expense to build a footbridge over the Rideau Canal at the Campus Transitway station. The project is expected to be completed by 2006.
While the decision marks the success of a 25-year quest to turn the idea into a reality, it came only after a feisty debate around the council table. Some councillors questioned the bridge’s usefulness and expressed concern that it would disrupt the tranquility of the Golden Triangle neighbourhood on the other site of the Canal from the University. But Ottawa mayor Bob Chiarelli supported the idea, noting that it would be good for the city. “The University of Ottawa wants it and the University of Ottawa deserves it,” Chiarelli said to the Ottawa Citizen. “I’m voting for the University of Ottawa.”
Incidentally, the decision did have a slight impact on the Gazette, which published a quickpoll question in its last print edition asking whether the city should build such a bridge. The rapid turn of events forced the Gazette to make a last-minute change, which explains why a different quickpoll question was posted on the Gazette Web site.
