Public input helping choose new bridge design in Ottawa-Gatineau

With over 120 years of proud service, the Alexandra Bridge, linking Ottawa and Gatineau over the Ottawa River, has reached the end of its serviceable life and must be replaced. Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the National Capital Commission (NCC) are working together to gather information and engage the community and stakeholders to help with the design of the future signature bridge.

The bridge is part of a landscape of movement

Before you know where you’re going, you need to know where you came from. This is the approach Victoria Angel, consultant with ERA Architects, who is working with Arup Canada Inc. (the technical advisor on this project), takes when studying what’s unique about the design of the bridge, its location and how it contributes to the cultural landscape. “We’re working to understand how people use and value the historic Alexandra Bridge. We need to find out what the implications of dismantling it are and, in turn, how those impacts can help us define objectives for the future signature bridge,” she says.

The existing bridge contributes in multiple ways to the experience of both Ottawa and Gatineau and is more than just a way to get across the river. Angel says, “It’s an incredible landscape of movement. In addition to vehicles, we have pedestrians, joggers and cyclists crossing the bridge for different reasons, and we have tourists taking in the views and experiencing the Ottawa River.” According to Angel, the new bridge design will commemorate and honour the roles of the old bridge while integrating forward-thinking principles around universal accessibility and sustainability.

She adds, “Bridges are engineering achievements, an expression of the art of engineering of their era. The new bridge should be more than just a commemorative monument, it should be an expression of the engineering and technology of its time.” Angel’s work, along with PSPC’s engineers and the environmental team, is a key part of the bridge replacement project. A summary of the heritage analysis will be shared with the public once available.

The integrated project team

Karine Delorme-Pigeon is a Senior Project Manager at PSPC. She says, “My job is about trying to connect the dots and the people to make sure that we’re not forgetting anything. We look at the entire project holistically.”

PSPC hired Arup Canada Inc., a group of specialized firms, as the technical advisor to collect relevant information needed for the bridge replacement. This includes information about the heritage analysis and the environmental, economic and social elements involved. The technical advisor is using this information to guide the development of various signature bridge design concepts. Together, PSPC, the NCC and the technical advisor are known as the integrated project team (IPT).

Getting as much engagement as possible

Public consultations and stakeholder engagement are a key part of the project. The information gathered and the conceptual bridge designs will be shared during public consultations and stakeholder engagement activities. Delorme-Pigeon says, “We’re working with the NCC to ensure we include every relevant player to the project, from those who have an interest in the bridge and the river, in the Ottawa and Gatineau approaches to the bridge and the surrounding landscapes, to those who might be otherwise impacted by the project.” 

As for Indigenous engagement, the IPT is working in partnership with 19 Indigenous communities to ensure inclusion of Indigenous knowledge in the bridge replacement in regard to ecology, archeology and design. So far, there have been 2 rounds of public consultation, one in 2020 and one in 2021. Consultations will continue throughout the process with the next round currently expected in fall 2024. 

Émilie Girard-Ruel, Director of Public and Corporate Affairs with the NCC, leads the public consultation and stakeholder engagement processes for the project. She says, “It’s a large infrastructure project so it impacts lots of different stakeholders in diverse ways. As a result, we have to reach out to individual stakeholders as well as groups.” Because there are so many groups to meet with, the NCC created a public advisory group (PAG). “The PAG takes information from the IPT back to their own groups and they advise the IPT to consider aspects and issues from community interest groups,” says Girard-Ruel.

A collective process

The IPT is working in consultation with independent experts and advisors, including the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the NCC’s Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Realty and the Advisory Committee on Universal Accessibility (ACUA). The ACUA, which advises the NCC on its projects that have a significant universal accessibility component, provides feedback at key design milestones to ensure that the new bridge design meets the highest possible bridge standards and the design criteria. The IPT will also ensure ideas from the public, stakeholders and Indigenous communities are taken into account in the design concept so the new bridge reflects people’s views and needs.

Delorme-Pigeon explains: “We’ve asked the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada to assemble an independent review panel for the project. The main role of this panel is to provide feedback on various concept designs. Then, the recommended concept will be presented to the NCC Board of Directors for approval.”

The NCC Board of Directors is made up of members from across Canada who come from different professional backgrounds. They’re responsible for the oversight and direction of proposed developments on federal lands within the National Capital Region. The NCC Board of Directors is responsible for approving the preferred bridge concept.

The work doesn’t end there

The Alexandra Bridge replacement project is a complex project, and we want to get it right. Once a final concept has been determined, the design and construction planning work begin in earnest. Learn more about the Alexandra Bridge: Replacement project and the consultation and engagement process. For more stories about our work at PSPC, visit Our stories.