O-Train Line 1/3 [Stage 2 | West Extension | Tunney's to Baseline/Moodie] | U/C

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by Williamoforange

Whoops sorry rocketpish

Anyways, I see that the goalpost of what these buildings block has moved, now, there bad because they block barns and a turf soccer field.....

There standard looking industrial buildings next to a highway where such buildings exist in every other city. Phase 2 needed them for the LRT and that was the chosen location, so how about when you're driving down the highway you focus on the driving part.... Not the views that aren't actually blocked.

P.S the buildings would have been built there even if the lrt was run out to eagleson in phase 2....

I happy you that you think this is an improvement for the look of our city.

[GeoNerd]

Originally Posted by Williamoforange

Whoops sorry rocketpish

Anyways, I see that the goalpost of what these buildings block has moved, now, there bad because they block barns and a turf soccer field.....

There standard looking industrial buildings next to a highway where such buildings exist in every other city. Phase 2 needed them for the LRT and that was the chosen location, so how about when you're driving down the highway you focus on the driving part.... Not the views that aren't actually blocked.

P.S the buildings would have been built there even if the lrt was run out to eagleson in phase 2....

That is not even remotely accurate. The original location was tucked behind the existing OC infrastructure at Corkstown on some under-utilized city land. But the locals put up a fuss about their property values and our former crooked mayor 1.0 pandered to suburban voters as always, had the city revisit the location and ultimately moved locations.

Those big ugly "standard looking industrial buildings" would not be such an eyesore, and could in fact blend in beside a highway like in "every other city" if they were built in an suitable urban area. Carved into green space directly beside the greenbelt at a prominent gateway to the city is an idiotic location.

P.S. Who are you to tell people how to drive? Perhaps they are a passenger travelling down the highway. You're making a lot of wild and inaccurate assumptions on here. Your staunch defence of something so preposterously ugly tells me you either do not care whatsoever about the aesthetics of this fine city, or you have zero sense of good urban design/city building. I cannot tell which one it is.

[Williamoforange]

Originally Posted by GeoNerd

That is not even remotely accurate. The original location was tucked behind the existing OC infrastructure at Corkstown on some under-utilized city land. But the locals put up a fuss about their property values and our former crooked mayor 1.0 pandered to suburban voters as always, had the city revisit the location and ultimately moved locations.

Those big ugly "standard looking industrial buildings" would not be such an eyesore, and could in fact blend in beside a highway like in "every other city" if they were built in an suitable urban area. Carved into green space directly beside the greenbelt at a prominent gateway to the city is an idiotic location.

P.S. Who are you to tell people how to drive? Perhaps they are a passenger travelling down the highway. You're making a lot of wild and inaccurate assumptions on here. Your staunch defence of something so preposterously ugly tells me you either do not care whatsoever about the aesthetics of this fine city, or you have zero sense of good urban design/city building. I cannot tell which one it is.

The original location was woodroffe and the rail line, Locals in Nepean (inside the greenbelt) put up a fight. So the city revisited just like they revisited the path of phase 3 after people put up a fight. The revisit proposed options were a woodlot off of moodie roughly where the crystal bay education centre is and crystal bay put up a fight. So it got moved to the west for 15 million

I remember the poll, while Crystal bay statements were ridiculous I'll take it being next to a highway any day over it removing ACTUAL greenspace.....Cause the LMSF was required to go somewhere....

So lets try to ramp down your hysteria about "greenspace" & "views" over an industrial building squished between a 8-lane highway & a road, when the other choice was a woodlot or greenspace off woodroffe....

P.S I drive past it everyday, you can still view both Wesley clover, the gatinueu hill and etc just fine from the top of the hill, and the so called view your saying is blocked didn't exist before at the bottom of the hill either....

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3356543,...FTw!2e0!5s20151001T000000!7i13312!8i6656

[lrt's friend]

Before

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3330888,...daw!2e0!5s20160501T000000!7i13312!8i6656

After

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3330888,...daw!2e0!5s20160501T000000!7i13312!8i6656

Welcome to Ottawa. We added an ugly rail yard front and centre to improve the view of our city. I can't wait for graffiti tags that always seem to appear on rail buildings. A perfect place to show off their art work. Then we can put up big barriers to hide the buildings and further obscure the views.

[Hybrid247]

I don't get the outrage over this. Yes, the buildings aren't very pleasant to look at, but they don't block the view and really only become noticeable and somewhat imposing when you get close to Moodie. I say that as someone who drove down this stretch of highway for my daily commute up until recently.

Personally, I don't feel the impact is as detrimental as some of you are making it out to be. Either way, it is what it is. Site options were limited, as mentioned, and so was the budget. There wasn't much choice in the matter.

If it's any comfort, there's always the option to plant trees to help serve as a visual screen.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by roger1818

No doubt it is ugly, but to be fair, it is much worse westbound (when you are leaving the city) than it is eastbound, so the "uglification of the western entrance of our city" is a bit overblown (more like the uglification of the western exit from our city).

Having said that, I hope infrastructure art funding can go towards painting murals on the maintenance facility. The large, white walls will make a wonderful canvas. Without official art, it will likely be a prime target for graffiti.

Agree with you there Roger. Murals, trees, vines. There are a lot of ways to improve the view for a relatively cheap price (just don't let OC handle it, because they might lease lattice for $3 million a year).

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Thank you for your reasonable response.

Oddly enough, we got into a discussion as we drove out to Carleton Place.

First, is there any public transit between Ottawa and Carleton Place? I don't think so.

Are we paying attention to what is happening in these fringe towns at all? Again, I don't think so. There is a lot of development happening out there and it is not all McMansions on acre lots. There are a lot of townhouses being built.

Despite the 'freeway which I find ugly' comment from the original response, what alternative is there? And if a highway is necessary, is it a good thing to destroy the view as we are entering the city, when thousands of visitors to our city enter this way?

The comment was made as we drove on how the scenic view of the Equestrian Park has now been blocked by these ugly new maintenance buildings and a hydro substation (which really stood out to me). This all seems to be part of the 'cheap' implementation of light rail. How scenic views as you come over the hill towards the city have been blighted and how light rail should have run to Eagleson, one station beyond where a maintenance facility could have been placed in a much less scenic location, while providing a much better connection to Kanata.

Why is it that our light rail plans seem to either go one station too short (Moodie instead of Eagleson, Limebank instead of River Road) or one station too far (Trim instead of Place d'Orleans)? It seems that politics has been interfering too much in wise planning this critical infrastructure.

I also commented as we drove, how some sort of train service to Carleton Place with its seemingly explosive growth would be a wise investment. No, not very expensive LRT but a cheap O-Train Phase 1 service, that we seemed to have forgotten how this was built on the cheap and how effective it could be.

What would have been the alternative? In a very rare instance, I have to say I agree with Williamoforrange. Both the first proposed site near Algonquin and a few of the other alternatives at Moodie would have replaced actual greenspace. This seems to have been the cheapest and most efficient (bringing rail slightly closer to Kanata) alternative. Basic sheds aren't ideal, but had we had more funds, I would have preferred improvements to stations that resulted in better user experience over the view of drivers on the Queensway. This was the cheapest and most efficient (bringing rail slightly closer to Kanata) alternative.

I 100% agree with you that Eagleson should have been prioritized over Trim. Such a strange move from the Political class.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

Before

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3330888,...daw!2e0!5s20160501T000000!7i13312!8i6656

After

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3330888,...daw!2e0!5s20160501T000000!7i13312!8i6656

Bluntly: they both look awful. Calling this an "iconic" view is maybe overselling it a bit.

But more importantly.. those massive lightposts and overhead signs do more to obstruct the view of the skyline than those sheds do.

Welcome to Ottawa. We added an ugly rail yard front and centre to improve the view of our city. I can't wait for graffiti tags that always seem to appear on rail buildings. A perfect place to show off their art work. Then we can put up big barriers to hide the buildings and further obscure the views.

It seems like the perfect place for a mural.

If I may make an argument as contrived as the ones you've been making, why are we catering to the suburban or exurban "elite" on their drives into the city? The reality is (as J.OT13 pointed out) that dollars spent making this shed look nice means fewer dollars to spend on the rest of the system, and that would be all to "protect" a view that isn't even obstructed by the shed, is already obstructed by the highway itself, and all for people who aren't going to use the transit system.

[postingaboutottawa]

It's very clearly not obstructing the view of the city but even if its addition to the foreground ruins the vista people are just going to have to get over it

Leaving Eagleson for stage 3 is bad planning but my sense is that it that there is intrest in leaving it as it locks in the city to moving on the Kanata extension when with an eagleson park and ride and bus loop built there might be less pressure to move at all on a full extension

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by postingaboutottawa

It's very clearly not obstructing the view of the city but even if its addition to the foreground ruins the vista people are just going to have to get over it

Leaving Eagleson for stage 3 is bad planning but my sense is that it that there is intrest in leaving it as it locks in the city to moving on the Kanata extension when with an eagleson park and ride and bus loop built there might be less pressure to move at all on a full extension

Unfortunately, it would be plain stupid to build stage 3 until it is 100% clear where the Senators are going to end up and it is also 100% clear what will happen with the CTC. I would think the route past Kanata Station could completely change depending on what happens with CTC and surroundings. Is there still room to change?

[stolenottawa]

I know my complaints about Montreal circle around the views on the 40 while I'm driving at 100km/h. /s

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Hybrid247

I don't get the outrage over this.

I don't even begin to get it.

[J.OT13]

• Video Link

[J.OT13]

• Video Link

[JHikka]

Don't say anything about the lack of platform covering, don't say anything about the lack of platform covering...

[Uhuniau]

I will never recognize the name C*rs* It*l*a.

[rocketphish]

Excavator hits power line at LRT construction site causing dramatic sparks

Ted Raymond, CTV News Ottawa Digital Multi-Skilled Journalist
Updated April 1, 2023 4:48 p.m. EDT | Published April 1, 2023 2:49 p.m. EDT



A fire at a Stage 2 LRT construction site in the west end caused some power to flicker Saturday morning.

Video shared to a local neighbourhood Facebook group shows a small, bright fire in the pit where construction on the western expansion of the Confederation Line is taking place near Byron and Woodroffe avenues.

Barbara Fogarty Ferguson described seeing multiple bright flashes of light from the scene.

"First, I saw a huge flash that lit up the entire apartment. I jumped up to look out the window and saw the fire," she told CTV News Ottawa. "I could hear the sizzle from having the patio door opened. The fire seemed to die down at times and then it would get very, very bright again, sometimes so bright that I wasn't able to look directly at it."

Jamie Robinson, the director of communications and stakeholder engagement for the contractor working on site, Kiewit-Eurovia-Vinci, said a worker hit a power line with an excavator at around 7:30 a.m., causing some dramatic sparking, but crews quickly got the situation under control. Power was briefly interrupted to one Hydro Ottawa customer on Robertson Road, he said.

Some residents in the area reported their lights flickering briefly Saturday morning, but there was no larger outage reported.

The Ottawa Fire Service said firefighters were called to the scene but did not have to put out a fire. Ottawa paramedics confirmed no one was injured.

The site is where the future New Orchard Station will be built on the western leg of the LRT, set to open in late 2026.

A similar incident took place last November, when a crane at the same construction site hit a power line, briefly knocking out power to nearby residents.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/fire-at-lrt-co...st-end-causes-power-to-flicker-1.6338847

[rocketphish]

I'm assuming that this wasn't an April Fools joke

[zzptichka]

The trench as of yesterday.
Wonder what they are doing with the walls? Repair the rock? Leave the ugly netting?Enforce it with concrete on top of the netting?

[Dengler Avenue]

Rock fall protection seems likely. Wet and highly blocky tend to be a bad combination.
Ps: I have a feeling that the vegetation within the ROW at the top of the rock cut has to go as well.

Ps2: I’m no engineer, but it seems that concrete wall’s used wherever the rocks have been unstable beyond remedy (by rock mesh or by rock bolts): https://maps.app.goo.gl/dDDHmTAoQ2FJKZ4g8?g_st=ic

[PHrenetic]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

Rock fall protection seems likely. Wet and highly blocky tend to be a bad combination.
Ps: I have a feeling that the vegetation within the ROW at the top of the rock cut has to go as well.

Ps2: I’m no engineer, but it seems that concrete wall’s used wherever the rocks have been unstable beyond remedy (by rock mesh or by rock bolts): https://maps.app.goo.gl/dDDHmTAoQ2FJKZ4g8?g_st=ic

Good Day.

PS2 is correct.

IIRC, they used extreme mesh holdbacks on most all of the rock walls from the Bayview drop over to Tunney's in Phase 1. Several spots have full concrete wall.

It is a royal pity as the rock walls were a feature that I always examined with joy on all my bus rides through the bus T-way trench. and the five or six inexpensive sculptures they had in there.

The mesh just kills seeing the rock.

<sigh>