Community groups are speaking out against a $55.5 million proposal to construct a new two lane link road from Riverside Drive to the north side of the Ottawa Hospital.
In the 2011 draft budget, city planners say the 1.2 kilometre road, known as the Alta Vista Corridor, will provide direct transit service to the hospital and will relieve congestion on Alta Vista and Smyth roads.
The roadway would run between Riverside Drive and the Transitway to the Ottawa Hospital campus ring road.
Councillor Peter Hume said the road is necessary to allow for better access to the hospital.
"That's the only reason we're doing any of this—to support CHEO, the Ottawa General, the Eye Institute, the Cancer Centre…"
The Alta Vista Corridor has been debated since the late 1960's but community opposition has repeatedly nixed its construction. The biggest issue for the project's critics is its cost.
"We've written a protest song called Ghost Road because its been haunting our neighbourhood for a long time," said Sherry McPhail of the Riverview Park Community Association.
On the community association's website, the group says the $55.5 million pricetag to build the corridor is double the cost, per kilometer, of widening the multi-lane Highway 401 through Toronto.
There is also a Twitter account, called, "StopTheAVTC," campaigning against the road and an online petition has also been started.
If approved, the budget calls for the corridor to be complete by 2015.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
