Chief William Commanda Bridge (former Prince of Wales Bridge)

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OtrainUser

Extending the transitway is not a waste since it saves on travel time. I have used it many times and have no problem with the city making the right decision for BRT first, LRT later.

So you'll enjoy the time savings for 2 years and then go through 2 years of worse service than what you had before the extension opened.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

OC Transpo has not figured that out after years of operating the Trillium Line at 12 minute frequency. It is OK perhaps at peak periods when bus frequency is better, but 30 minute frequency does not consistently match up with 12 minute frequency even with things working perfectly. I have been on the Trillium Line and those slow downs and waits at various spots get frustrating as I wonder if I am getting to Greenboro in time for my local bus and then end up with a 29 minute wait. bah! I guess my luck has not been good over many trips but my experiences have been more bad than good.

I find the opposite pretty annoying. Since there isn't a station at Walkley (yet), I have to take a bus south from Walkley to Greenboro. 95% of the time those buses are late and I end up missing the O-Train at Greenboro by a matter of seconds.

[lrt's friend]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

I find the opposite pretty annoying. Since there isn't a station at Walkley (yet), I have to take a bus south from Walkley to Greenboro. 95% of the time those buses are late and I end up missing the O-Train at Greenboro by a matter of seconds.

The lack of a Walkley station has been a major annoyance for me too. I have had to drive to Greenboro and hope for a parking spot. I could not rely on a busing back to Greenboro from Walkley. If it wasn't for the scarcity and cost of parking at the Civic, I wouldn't use the Trillium Line at all. It still shows that it was a temporary demo project and Phase 2 doesn't put this entirely behind.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

So you'll enjoy the time savings for 2 years and then go through 2 years of worse service than what you had before the extension opened.

Not sure where you are getting those time frames from. The Moodie extension opened in December 2017, most of the construction the western portion of Stage 2 won't start until after the southern portion is completed (late 2021?) and the western portion won't open until until late 2023. So that is 4 years of time savings, not 2 (though admittedly not very long)

As has been said many times before, this whole thing is a bit of a chicken and egg thing:

• Because the Moodie extension was built, it made the LRT extension to Moodie cheaper than ending at Bayshore (due to land prices at Bayshore).
• Had the Moodie extension not been built, extending the LRT to Moodie would not have been an option (it would have been too expensive for the budget), so an Transitway extension to Moodie would have been justifiable.

[OCCheetos]

CBC article about "The Fence"(s)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/prince-of-wales-bridge-fence-gate-vandalism-1.4652838?cmp=rss

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

It's almost as if people are indirectly asking both cities to provide a pedestrian river crossing in that area as it connects two crucial areas or something...

[PHrenetic]

Good Day.

Could it maybe be a (GASP) tourist attraction ??!?

;-)

[Uhuniau]

The people keep speaking.

The powers that be keep ignoring them.

[Allandale25]

The Ottawa Liberal candidates had a press conference this morning to talk about the Prince of Wales bridge and making it into a transit connection.

Video here: https://twitter.com/Yasir_Naqvi/status/999282324842803200

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by Allandale25

The Ottawa Liberal candidates had a press conference this morning to talk about the Prince of Wales bridge and making it into a transit connection.

Video here: https://twitter.com/Yasir_Naqvi/status/999282324842803200

They really committed to nothing except talk.

...and talk is cheap.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

They really committed to nothing except talk.

...and talk is cheap.

Particularly in the middle of an election campaign they're losing badly.

[zzptichka]

Getting desperate.

[Allandale25]

Looks like Gatineau wants to use the Bridge for LRT. Sorry Moose. Image from this tweet.

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by Allandale25

Looks like Gatineau wants to use the Bridge for LRT. Sorry Moose. Image from this tweet.

Further discussion can be found in the Ottawa Gatineau O-Train Expansion thread.

[rocketphish]

Gatineau LRT plan could spur reopening of Prince of Wales Bridge
Plan envisions a connection between Ottawa and Gatineau over currently blocked-off bridge

CBC News
Posted: Jun 21, 2018 7:07 AM ET | Last Updated: 37 minutes ago



Gatineau's LRT plan could be the first step toward rail traffic returning to the Prince of Wales Bridge.

The city unveiled its plan on Wednesday, a $2.1 billion proposal that would bring commuters across the Ottawa River at both the Prince of Wales and Alexandra bridges.

The plan is just a proposal at this stage, with the city set to embark on two years of studies and consultation about what it would take to make the project a reality, but the hope is it could be in service by 2028.

Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin said the plan is about much more than his city.

"We are not making Gatineau stronger with the project. We are making the whole region stronger," he said.

He put forward his proposal as a provincial election in Quebec is just around the corner, saying he wants the political parties running to commit to helping build the project.

The City of Ottawa owns the Prince of Wales Bridge and has also expressed long-term plans to use it for a rail crossing.

Pedneaud-Jobin said it's too early to talk about who pays for what in any potential project.

"We will have that discussion at one point in time. What we presented today was a vision for the future," he said.

Ottawa Coun. Jeff Leiper, whose ward has the bridge on its border, said Gatineau's vision is good for everyone and could help get Quebec commuters out of their cars, easing congesting in central Ottawa wards.

He said Gatineau's study is good for the city, because it will present a clear cost for what the bridge needs.

"It's not really clear to anybody at this point how much it would cost to get that bridge back into service," he said.

In 2013, the City of Ottawa's transportation master plan estimated it would take tens of millions of dollars to transform the bridge into a multi-use crossing.

Leiper agreed with Pedneaud-Jobin that it's too early to speculate on who pays.

The Kitchissippi councillor said he wants to space for pedestrians and cyclists to use the bridge as well, but for now he is just happy to see moves toward reopening it.

"The bridge is absolutely gorgeous," he said.

"It is going to be at some point a very important part of regional transportation."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/gatineau-lrt-bridge-prince-wales-1.4715350

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by roger1818

Further discussion can be found in the Ottawa Gatineau O-Train Expansion thread.

How do they plan on using the Alexandria Bridge?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by AndyMEng

How do they plan on using the Alexandria Bridge?

Could a train line be suspended from under the bridge?

[OCCheetos]

I've seen some people suggest that since the bridge will need to be completely rebuilt in around 15 years they could just do it sooner and rebuild it to better support LRT.

[SF Thomas]

City asks feds to wait on Prince of Wales Bridge appeal while repair order challenged in court

JON WILLING, Ottawa Citizen

Published: July 13, 2018


The City of Ottawa has asked the federal Liberal government to hold off on considering an appeal over the Prince of Wales Bridge, believing it has a good shot at overturning a repair order in court.

The Canadian Transportation Agency last February ordered the city to either discontinue the rail line and bridge or make them ready to use within 12 months of receiving notice.

The city thinks the order is baloney.

In documents filed in the Federal Court of Appeal on June 29, the city says the CTA doesn’t have the power to investigate if a rail line has been discontinued, and even if it does, the agency is exceeding its jurisdiction by “imposing non-existent maintenance standards” on the rail line. Only the federal minister of transport has the power to issue maintenance orders, the city says.

There is no hearing date yet at the Federal Court of Appeal.

The CTA decision stems from a complaint by a group called Mobility Ottawa-Outaouais: Systems and Enterprises, or Moose. The group has dreams of creating a regional rail system using the Prince of Wales Bridge as an interprovincial link. After seeing that the city dug up some tracks near Bayview station, Moose claimed the city has discontinued the line.


The city had to remove tracks to build the new Bayview O-Train station. The city says it has plans to realign the track.

Nothing compels the city under the Railway Act to operate a rail line, or even maintain it in a state of ready-to-use service, the city says in the court filing. Fixing the line for a third-party group, like Moose, would provide a “financial windfall” to a private venture, leaving property taxpayers picking up the tab, the city says.

“The decision compels the city to make significant capital expenditures for no current and likely no future value to Ottawa taxpayers,” the city says in a notice of appeal. “It is disruptive to municipal planning involving both the city and Gatineau and does not take into account the city’s existing efforts to develop a well thought-out, open, comprehensive, and collaborative regional transportation mandate.”

It would take three years alone to fix the bridge, the city says. Realigning the tracks around Bayview station would take two years.

After receiving the CTA order, the city launched a two-pronged strategy to block the decision. The city convinced the court to hear its appeal and asked federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau to bring the matter to cabinet, with hopes the Liberals would quash the CTA order.

Now, the city is asking Garneau to suspend the request for cabinet intervention to prevent the possibility of conflicting decisions. If the city doesn’t win at court, it will ask Garneau to take the matter up with cabinet, according to the city’s legal department.

The City of Ottawa owns the historic bridge. It bought the structure and the Trillium Line corridor from CP Rail in 2005 to protect a potential Ottawa-Gatineau rail link in future transit plans.

The bridge is also part of the City of Gatineau’s recently announced $2.1-billion LRT plan.

While the cities collaborate on interprovincial transit, there has been no public discussion about who would pay for the bridge’s rehabilitation, expected to be in the tens of millions.

The City of Ottawa has its hands full with its own LRT planning. Ottawa will break ground of the second phase of LRT after opening the first phase, scheduled for November. The conversation will then move to the third phase to Kanata and Barrhaven, and possibly the interprovincial transit connection using the Prince of Wales Bridge.

The city is currently on the hunt for an engineering consultant to recommend ways to make preventative repairs on the bridge. A request for qualifications asks for firms that can provide professional guidance on the bridge’s substructure.

According to Alain Gonthier, the city’s director of infrastructure services, there isn’t a new timeline established to renovate the bridge.

“Maintaining this structure aligns with the city’s comprehensive asset management program and is being done as part of a regular maintenance program,” Gonthier said.

[email protected]

twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...ridge-appeal-while-court-hears-challenge

[OCCheetos]

https://www.merx4.merx.com/public/solicitations/793604073/abstract

MERX link for the RFQ mentioned in the article.