Quote:
Originally Posted by OTSkyline
I agree though, now more than ever they really need to do a tunnel or crossing for these residents (and workers of the towers across the street) to get to the VIA LRT stop. What's the point of having that station if it doesn't serve the area?
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Its pretty egregious how the entire eastern stretch of the LRT is built to completely avoid the east-end (Beechwood/Vanier/Overbrook) instead of serve it. This is partially an infrastructural legacy of Vanier's roads never being properly integrated with Ottawa's, but the lack of vision to fix this situation makes current decision-makers complicit as well.
The east-end LRT stations have purposes completely separated from servicing residents who live near them. Offhand:
Hurdman: Southeast transitway terminus, built to get Billings/Alta Vista residents onto the LRT.
Tremblay: Destination stop for the train station.
St Laurent: Considering how the mall is basically a fortress built against pedestrians, it makes sense that this is being turned into a transit hub to get suburban connections onto local routes into Beacon Hill/Waterridge/Montfort Hospital for work.
Cyrville: This one still confuses me every time I pass it. I think they're building a little condo hub around this station, but there's so little residential surrounding it that in its current state I think its intended as a kiss-and-ride fro the 417 and Aviation Parkway.
Blair: The little station that couldn't. The original idea was that limiting CSIS parking and giving them a Transitway station would encourage transit use to a major employment center. Instead, the parking lot's full and local residents are leasing their driveways at $200/mo.
The entire layout of east-end Ottawa from an infrastructural perspective makes a lot more sense if you realize it's been built to serve suburban commuters getting downtown, instead of local residents.