When the new Champlain Bridge project was unveiled last week, the focus was on the modern design and the jobs being created.

But more than a dozen Verdun families are being forced from their homes in order to make way for the access to the new bridge.

The homes on May Ave. date back to the 1890s, and Tony Campanelli's home has everything his young family could ever want.

“Our kids each have a bedroom and it's close to the metro and we're five minutes away from work. Yeah, we like this house,” he said.

But his home is right beside Highway 15. Last week Ottawa announced the highway will be widened to three lanes near Campanelli’s home.

That's so access to the new Champlain Bridge will be easier -- easier for drivers, but tougher for the homeowners here, whose homes will be torn down.

Campanelli understands the need for the expropriation.

“I mean, they have to build a highway and they're going to build it whether we want to move or not so yeah, we're getting thrown out,” he said.

The issue now becomes compensation. Ottawa has begun contacting property owners to negotiate sales. They say they will give owners “fair market value”, but there’s no indication yet as to how much that may be.

“I'm looking at a fair price so that I can get something similar so that we keep the kids in the same district so they keep going to the same school, so they can each have their bedroom like they have it here, and to not be annoyed with the moving and the notary fees and the ‘taxe de bienvenu.’ And you know, fair market value doesn't seem to cover all that,” Campanelli said.

The Campanellis paid $329,000 for their home and the city's assessment is for close to what they paid. But the question is how appreciation will factor in.

Campanelli thinks that with Verdun’s increasing popularity and ongoing development, he should be able to fetch between $450,000 and $500,000.

Since they bought the home, the family has spent another $70,000 in renovations. They've redone the floors, kitchens, the four bedrooms upstairs and the heating system.

And Campanelli said he wishes he'd known about the expropriation earlier. He would have saved himself thousands more in recent renovations.

The homeowners will meet with someone from the federal government on Wednesday to negotiate what they hope will be a fair settlement.