Rob Fox, chair of the Ottawa Valley Branch of the American Public Works Association, presented the award today at a meeting of the City’s Transportation and Transit Committee. "This project is the envy of many other cities in North America, Japan, Australia and the Middle East," said Mr. Fox. "It is an excellent model that can be used in any urban area."

Accepting the award on behalf of the city, was Ottawa Councillor and Chair of the City’s Transportation and Transit Committee Madeleine Meilleur. "Just as the Transitway is critical to sustaining the quality of life that is an Ottawa hallmark-and a key factor in our economic growth-so too, is the partnership between staff and political leadership critical to the successful development of the Transitway," said Meilleur. "That partnership has been fundamental to our approach to planning and development since the outset."

Rosemarie Leclair, General Manager of the City’s Transportation, Utilities and Public Works Department, said the Transitway was the result of a practical, common sense approach to planning. "We weren’t out to impress with a lot of glitz and flash," said Leclair. "Instead, we knew that, in order to be successful, we would have to find a transportation solution that was appropriate to our circumstances. So, we opted to use technologies that we were familiar with-buses and roadways. But, the way we used these technologies was, indeed, revolutionary."

As Leclair explained, the Transitway is North America’s first bus-based rapid transit system, has the highest ridership and the lowest per capita capital costs of any rapid transit system on the continent. As well, it has proven that even low density urban centres like Ottawa can offer effective and affordable rapid transit.

Other CPWA Projects of the Century include the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Peel Regional Landfill Site, the Winnipeg Floodway, the Winnipeg Aqueduct and Water Supply System, the Halifax Regional Integrated Solid Waste Facility and PEI’s Fixed Link.

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