Barrhaven residents want faster solution to dangerous bridge over Jock River

Residents in Ottawa’s south end say a bridge they use to access their community is dangerous and a solution to fix it is still years away.

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For Sandra Hamilton, navigating the narrow bridge that spans the Jock River in Barrhaven’s Half Moon Bay community is a nightmare.

"It is congestion, it is dangerous, we’ve seen numerous accidents ourselves personally on this bridge as we were driving," said the Half Moon Bay resident.

The bridge has tight corners on either side and is the main road residents use to access the community, which is one of the fastest growing in the province.

"We moved here about 13 years ago we were told that this was going to be a pedestrian bridge and that the Green Bank Road was going to be realigned so it was a very quiet community," said Hamilton.

"That has drastically changed."

Area city councillor David Hill says it’s the number one complaint he hears from residents in the community.

He says the plan to realign Greenbank Road and build a new bridge over the river has been in the works for more than a decade but was placed on the backburner because of other priorities.

"I think a real frustrating factor a lot of people that live here have is that they were under the impression when they bought their homes in 2007, 2008, that this was going to happen within five or six years," said Hill.

Barrhaven residents say a bridge over the Jock River has tight corners on either side that makes it dangerous for commuters. (Katelyn Wilson/CTV News Ottawa)

Hill says $20 million in funding has now been set aside to design the project, which will happen in stages and include a new commercial development.

"It’s a retail desert so there’s no commercial down here," said Hill.

"One of my goals in getting commercial down here sooner than later, is we can leverage those commercial taxes year-over-year to start adding to the pot."

But how long the project could take is unclear.

According to the city’s website, the earliest construction is set to start is 2030 and residents say they’re not sure they can wait that long.

"Some of our neighbours have already moved because they were just so frustrated with everything," said Hamilton.

"We’re definitely thinking about it because it is very frustrating and we do understand that the timeline is not what we would like to see."

The area was also identified as a problem spot in a recent city survey as part of the public consultation process to update Ottawa’s Transportation Master Plan.

That plan is expected to be finalized next year.