Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitchissippi
Except the money being used for the Confederation Line is the same money that was slotted for the NSLRT with a bit more added on. There's a bit of "alternative facting" going on around here. The truth is, where we are at with the Confederation Line now would have never happened without the cancellation of the NSLRT plan. There was zero talk of an LRT tunnel before O'Brien came along.
Let's pretend the old plan had gone ahead and opened in 2009. The city would have muddled along for at least 5 years (2014) before taking on any major transit projects. I doubt someone like Jim Watson would have the vision to come up with anything remotely close to the Confederation Line, especially since he was ambivalent about the project when he was elected.
|
There was in fact a lot of money added on. The original funding was $400M, which was increased to $1.2B. The city has spent $36M to settle legal action, and how much for the Vimy Bridge and South Keys Bridge, which were to be part of the project? And how much more for upgrades to the Trillium Line and the additional trains? How much more will be spent for further upgrades and extensions to the single track Trillium Line in the next few years? How much for new EAs? How much to reconfigure the route in Barrhaven from LRT to BRT? How much was spent on all the Park n Ride lots that opened on the N-S route without rail being in place?
If we tally all of this up, both lines could have been built in the same time frame. Sorry, it may have been Larry O'Brien's vision to build the tunnel but it was also his foolishness to cancel a signed contract. He could have proceeded with the signed project and started working on the tunnel immediately.