Alexandra Bridge - Current Use

Current Use

The bridge now provides an important commuter link between Ottawa and Gatineau. The roadways for vehicles are located on the centre and east decks.

The west deck provides a panorama of the Ottawa-Gatineau skyline, the Ottawa River and Parliament Buildings. That deck is used by rollerbladers, cyclists, and pedestrians, and is on the official route of the Trans Canada Trail. The bike lane of the bridge links to two major cross-town bike paths. In Gatineau, there is the Voyageur Pathway that links the Aylmer and Gatineau sectors, while in Ottawa there is the Ottawa River Pathway's western section that links downtown to near Nepean Centre and Kanata. A third pathway, De l'Île, travels through the Old Hull section beside Boulevard des Allumettières (formerly called Boulevard Saint-Laurent), the road that continues after the bridge on the Gatineau side making a single stretch of road from Eardley Road to the former CFB Rockcliffe.

At both ends of the bridge are two major museums. In the Gatineau side of the river is the Canadian Museum of Civilization while on the Ottawa side is the National Art Gallery while Canadian Mint Museum and the former Canadian War Museum was located beside the Gallery. Also, on each end of the bridge are two major parks : Major's Hill Park (Ottawa) and Jacques Cartier Park (Gatineau) two major venues of the Canadian Tulip Festival and the Canada Day festivities.

Each day the bridge carries roughly 15,000 vehicles, 2000 pedestrians and 1300 cyclists, as of 2009. A two-year rehabilitation project which began in 2009 is currently in progress, and includes various structural improvements and replacements of the centre concrete deck, the wood boardwalk and guardrails.

Nepean Point overlooks the bridge from the Ottawa side. The Rideau Canal meets the Ottawa River immediately upriver of the bridge's Ottawa abutment.

On Saturday, July 16, 2011, the bridge was closed to public traffic so that an episode of the television series Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays could be filmed.