Going back to what @OCCheetos asked, I do have an alternative plan for how to deal with interprovincial transit (versus sending an LRT across the POW bridge). But to get there, lets first look at what the LRT network in Ottawa will look like after phase 2, what I think would be a wise investment for a third phase, and then the interprovincial question.
So lets start with Ottawa post phase 2...
There is no legend on the map but I am sure you can figure out that the magenta lines are the Transitway lines, red is the C-Line, and Green is the T-Line. The LRT lines are also weighted differently based on whether they are double or single track operations. The Rapidbus corridor has also been included since there will be a regional focus once I talk about interprovincial connections.
Next up is what I think should be done for phase 3.
Lets start with the C-Line. There should be two extensions, one to Terry Fox, and one to Fallowfield. There are lots of reasons I think this makes sense, a key one being that bringing LRT even to the edge of these satellite suburbs will make transit more attractive because it will reduce the time people spend on the bus before getting to the station. Also, it has operational efficiencies since you can keep buses concentrated in the suburbs, as opposed to having them do a run through the greenbelt, every trip that they do. We know that Moodie to Terry Fox is estimated at $710 million, and if the city can take advantage of savings when grade separation is done for the rail lines, and keeps station designs simple for all but Fallowfield, it could probably do that line for around $1 billion.
Next up is the T-Line, which as you can see is much shorter now. The reason being is that the SE Transitway would be converted to LRT, and everything currently on the T-Line from Walkley south now joins into the new connector. This section could be built without electrification and instead use battery EMU's for operation. There could be sizable cost savings from not having to electrify the SET and former southern T-Line, and it could be used to test and perfect the tech so that extensions of the C-Line, where frequencies are going to be lower than existing sections, could adopt this tech and thus be built at a lower cost. And because they are not DMUs, they can use the tunnel. Because this modified line feeds into the eastern end of the downtown section, it utilizes capacity of the tunnel in a very efficient way. Total cost of the SET conversion, where the only engineering work required is creating an interline connection at Hurdman (the rest is very straight forward), and fixing the rest of the southern T-Line so that automated systems can be used, around $600 million.
As for the remaining T-Line, I wouldn't do anything to it (unless there was some extra money in which case you could continue to double track a few more sections).
There would also be a sizable investment into a Baseline/Heron/Walkley BRT. For this a budget of $200 million could be set, and the goal would be to find the best way to spend that to increase speed and reliability of service along that corridor. I know some will say there are too many stops on that line. I wasn't too concerned about the finer points of stop location, I just picked points at major intersections and added in some so that distances between stops were not too large. Express and local services could be operated so not all buses need to make all stops.
There is one wildcard for the region, and that is the Gatineau SLR proposal. A few things about it. One, if it is built, I am suspecting that the first section to be built will be the Gatineau portion. The crossings will be a complicated negotiation between Gatineau, Ottawa and the NCC. Using Alexandria Bridge is the correct choice from a planning point of view, but could be a very large project. And since the city owns the Prince of Wales bridge, their plan to use that is just a bit of fanciful line drawing at the moment.
So lets add the Gatineau only portion of their SLR to the map.
Some might be able to see where I am going this, but lets walk through it. For transit on the Gatineau side it needs to do two things, it has to get as many people to the central Gatineau employment locations as possible, and needs to bring people into the CBD and Rideau/Byward market areas, so that it serves the two key employment areas in Ottawa (just as the STO buses do today).
For Ottawa, there needs to be an effective way for commuters from the east, and the west, to get across the river to the central Gatineau employment area (others might work outside that area but those people are going to marginal). For the west, part of the appeal of the POW bridge is that it is served by Bayview, where two lines meet, and it can be used in the plan below as well. From the east, Rideau can become the primary interchange point, though, as you will see, commuters could also get off at Lyon or Parliament and transfer after a 2 block walk.
The solution below assumes that the NCC is willing to be a bit more progressive than its current thinking. So that is something to keep in mind as I recognize that there would need to be some perspective changes for a plan like this to be implemented.
By running the SLR across Portage and Alexandria, you allow it to serve all of the major, downtown employment areas on both sides of the river. And it can operate in both directions to create different types of service for its riders (as is the case now). And yes, this line does run down Wellington. I know many might think this could never happen, but I will get back to that point shortly. Below is a map which is rather basic, as it doesn't have every stop on it, but gives an idea of how services could be structured on both the C-Line and the combined LRT/SLR network.
Now, it also gives an opportunity for Ottawa to finally do something useful with the T-Line (which I shortened in the previous stage 3 projects). A connector can be built from Bayview to the Portage/Wellington intersection, in the Parkway/Wellington right of way. The roads are large enough that an LRT could easily be put into the median without any major disruption to traffic. The right of ways could even be grass covered instead of concrete to add extra run off protection, and to simply make it look a lot nicer.
This has two advantages for the Ottawa. One, it could allow the T-Line to run directly downtown, and also across the river to Gatineau. And two, because the LRT/SLR lines can host a multiplicity of routes, a shuttle services could be run from Bayview to Gatineau during busy times to ensure extra capacity for commuters, if it was needed. The same could be done from Rideau as well, but the key point is that this network would provide the flexibility to create exactly the right kind of service both sides need.
The one obvious change in all that is that the T-Line would have to abandon its DMUs. This isn't a bad thing. There would be some cost to changing stations to accommodate low floor LRVs, but this is also why investments should be kept to a bare minimum at the moment, so that there is ultimately less to conversion cost involved. At some point in time it could be double tracked, or it could continue to be upgraded incrementally. If the line could at least get 7.5 minute frequencies, this would be a good start to an expanded line. As far as the southern terminus of the line goes, it could in theory end at a Mooney's Bay stop that meets up with the C-Line, but since the LRVs may well still use a facility in the Walkley yard, there is no harm in having Walkley be the southern end.
A few other things:
- This doesn't include a Carling or Montreal Rd LRT. But it does lay the groundwork for those options.
- The shared LRT loop track would serve the War Museum, Parliament Hill, The National Art Gallery, The Museum of Civilization, and other smaller attractions. This could be a great opportunity for a service to be created that would make it easy for tourists to get to these locations, or even just creating electronic signage at downtown locations making it easy for visitors to take the LRT to get to the destination of their choice.
- The Alexandria Bridge would not be a simple crossing to adapt to LRT. And it will be expensive. But it is necessary to create a proper network, so like the downtown tunnel, that will be one of those costs that just needs to be undertaken.
- The exact route of the surface LRT from Rideau Station to the entrance of the Alexandria bridge could be debated. In this case I have it running up Dalhousie, then across St Patrick/Murray. It could also run down Sussex, which in a way makes more sense, but also adds the complication of security concerns from the US Embassy. It could also run along the old right of way that runs at the edge of Majors Hill Park. That would require a tunnel to get it from that right of way to Wellington though, which would add to the cost of the project.
- This overall plan does make extensive use of Battery EMUs. This is to help reduce the cost versus electrification, to speed construction timelines, and because eliminating overhead wires could make it easier to sell adding LRTs to important streets, like Wellington. Given the rapid evolution of battery tech, this is now becoming a viable option, especially if you think about projects that are starting out 5, 10 or 15 years from now.
- The T-Line needs to be tied into urban development. If it isn't going to help fuel this kind of development along its corridor, then the value of the line is really diminished.
- You can also see the convergence of lines at Mooney's Bay. The potential for this area to be redeveloped, serve as a transit hub, and perhaps have a VIA station added, should be explored. It would be a massive redevelopment project, which would make Lebreton look small in comparison, so it would take a lot of time and effort to get it right.
I know lots of people will disagree with this plan, in part because everyone likes their own plans best. But if you presume that dealing with interprovincial transit needs is the next major task, after extending the C-Line to a natural first generation extent, then this does make a lot of sense.
Prev
Linear Mode
