All the rock that’s going to come out from beneath downtown when the rapid transit tunnel gets built will be used to build a dam on the Ottawa River if Andy Haydon gets his way.
“This past summer, the Ottawa River almost dried up. It was very, very low,” said Haydon.
“To my mind, a relatively low-level dam … just south of the Britannia area, would have a number of advantages.”
The dam would stabilize the water level in Lac Deschenes, he said.
It would act as a freshwater reservoir and could be turned into a small hydroelectricity generator and potentially be turned into a causeway for private vehicles and bicycles.
Buses and trucks, suggested Haydon, could run across the now-unused Prince of Wales Bridge.
In its current state, the bridge is strictly for trains, but the piers, which can support extra lanes, could be added to either side for vehicles.
Commercial vehicles could connect to the bridge from Highway 50 in Gatineau and to Highway 417 via the O-Train corridor in Ottawa.
