West Gatineau LRT & Downtown Loop | Proposed

[J.OT13]

Nine Gatineau area projects have been placed on the Province of Quebec's economic recovery plan out of 200 across the province. One of those is the Aylmer-Ottawa Tramway.

Other projects include:

RapiBus extensions towards the east;
Widening Highway 50 to Mirabel;
170 new hospital beds (likely an expansion and not a new hospital);
Consolidation of UQO campus;
New elementary school;
Two "maisons des âinés" in Gatineau and one CHSLD in Maniwaki.

https://www.ledroit.com/actualites/c...4d3f88b94e0249

[J.OT13]

Has anyone heard anything about the public consultation for the Ottawa portion of the Tramway? I checked the website, and there's nothing new.

http://www.sto.ca/index.php?id=797

[OCCheetos]

Consultation info is now up. http://www.sto.ca/index.php?id=838&L...rce=sto_mobile

Has more details about what each option would look like, including proposed station locations.

[TransitZilla]

The surface options don't seem too bad to me. I like the "Wellington Without Traffic" option.

The tunnel is probably the best for a number of reasons, but I could certainly live with the surface options presented, as long as the continuous bikeway on Wellington is maintained.

[OCCheetos]

The "To learn more about…" links provide a lot more detail about each option including diagrams showing the alignments in a lot of detail. I missed them the first time I read through it.


It looks like they might have just copied and pasted the Confederation Line tunnel to represent the proposal... Makes sense, but I think it'd be funny if they were proposing a tunnel with the same platform lengths as the Confederation Line.

[Aylmer]

(click for large)

Yes, yes, yes. This works on so many levels.

For transit, it ensures (almost) total priority. You can also see how they plan on allowing for buses and trams to share exclusive lanes west of Lyon, but have buses turn off onto Lyon. I'm a bit skeptical of the cohabitation, but this is an elegant way of doing it. Even without the tram, that one measure would go a long way to improving transit.

There's so much possibility to turn Wellington in front of Parliament into an iconic street. By reallocating the lanes to trams and cycleways, it'll manage to move more people while also freeing up so much space.

The most significant modification I'd make is to keep the trams on Wellington north of the War Memorial.

• Instead of having the cars going the long way around, I'd send them all on the south-east branch of Elgin. There's already four lanes, enough for two northbound and two southbound.
• The south-west branch of Elgin can just be pedestrianized, allowing Sparks to spill directly into Confederation Square.
• Keeping transit on Wellington means it can be relatively easily extended to Mackenzie/Alexandra Bridge to close the loop in the future. The tracks could also be extended onto Rideau/Montreal in the future.

But all in all, this is a really good proposal. Gatineau gets an efficient transit link, and Ottawa gets a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-imagine its symbolic centre.

[Horus]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

The "To learn more about…" links provide a lot more detail about each option including diagrams showing the alignments in a lot of detail. I missed them the first time I read through it.


It looks like they might have just copied and pasted the Confederation Line tunnel to represent the proposal... Makes sense, but I think it'd be funny if they were proposing a tunnel with the same platform lengths as the Confederation Line.

The graphic on the site shows prospective underground station locations along Sparks.


The station they are proposing to pair with Parliament station would be located further along Sparks near Metcalfe. I'm not sure how they would propose to make that underground connection that they tout as a benefit of the Sparks tunnel option. It may not actually be as far as that graphic makes it out to be.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

The surface options don't seem too bad to me. I like the "Wellington Without Traffic" option.

The tunnel is probably the best for a number of reasons, but I could certainly live with the surface options presented, as long as the continuous bikeway on Wellington is maintained.

Personally I am all for this. A car free Wellington makes a lot of sense. But if we haven't done it already in what universe will Ottawa agree to it for another city's Tram to run on?

Weirdly Ottawa just might as are Canadian in that way as clearly the loss to us is nowhere near the gain to the other side but still hard to believe there won't need to be some kind of sweetener. I'd vote for extending the tram instead to Rideau Centre or beyond with maybe something like free rides for the Ottawa only portion.

In a lot of ways the cars allowed at all is worse as dropping to one lane will cause a lot of gridlock especially as pedestrians alight from trams and block the right turns. The partial Elgin to Bank closure doesn't seem to impact much and westbound might work better with everything routed around actually. You get the car free parliament view too.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by Aylmer

[URL="https://i.imgur.com/Tgg1ZSG.jpg"]
The most significant modification I'd make is to keep the trams on Wellington north of the War Memorial.

• Instead of having the cars going the long way around, I'd send them all on the south-east branch of Elgin. There's already four lanes, enough for two northbound and two southbound.
• The south-west branch of Elgin can just be pedestrianized, allowing Sparks to spill directly into Confederation Square.
• Keeping transit on Wellington means it can be relatively easily extended to Mackenzie/Alexandra Bridge to close the loop in the future. The tracks could also be extended onto Rideau/Montreal in the future.

Unfortunately that idea was specifically rejected by the STO. Wellington is on a slope and building an accessible platform would be "unsightly" because of all the retaining walls necessary.

Otherwise, that sounds like a great idea.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by Horus

The graphic on the site shows prospective underground station locations along Sparks.


The station they are proposing to pair with Parliament station would be located further along Sparks near Metcalfe. I'm not sure how they would propose to make that underground connection that they tout as a benefit of the Sparks tunnel option. It may not actually be as far as that graphic makes it out to be.

The west end of the STO station could connect to the east end of the OC Transpo station? It would be better than nothing.

[Aylmer]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

Unfortunately that idea was specifically rejected by the STO. Wellington is on a slope and building an accessible platform would be "unsightly" because of all the retaining walls necessary.

Otherwise, that sounds like a great idea.

I missed that part - good catch. Well perhaps in the future if/when there's a desire to extend the system for the loop or Rideau, the Elgin stub could just be done away.
I stand by my proposal to consolidate the traffic along the SE branch of Elgin regardless of the location of the station.

[J.OT13]

I want to start with pointing out one thing I noticed so far. Under the Urban Transportation Modes: Tram section of the STO webpage, it states the following:

Standard electrical power supply through catenary wiring, but may also run on batteries at specific points (Portage Bridge, downtown Ottawa).

http://www.sto.ca/index.php?id=838&L...rce=sto_mobile

From the get-go, this responds to one of my biggest concerns with the surface route, and that is visual clutter along Wellington and over the Ottawa River.

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

The "To learn more about…" links provide a lot more detail about each option including diagrams showing the alignments in a lot of detail. I missed them the first time I read through it.


It looks like they might have just copied and pasted the Confederation Line tunnel to represent the proposal... Makes sense, but I think it'd be funny if they were proposing a tunnel with the same platform lengths as the Confederation Line.

I don't know if the STO has officially chosen a length of pltfrom/tram, but considering the capacity they indicate for a tram vehicle (260-375), I imagine they will be around the 30 meters range, similar to ION. In anticipation for future growth, ION stations were built with 80 meter platforms. I would expect a max length of maybe 60 meters for the STO tram.

Originally Posted by Aylmer

The most significant modification I'd make is to keep the trams on Wellington north of the War Memorial.

• Keeping transit on Wellington means it can be relatively easily extended to Mackenzie/Alexandra Bridge to close the loop in the future. The tracks could also be extended onto Rideau/Montreal in the future.

But all in all, this is a really good proposal. Gatineau gets an efficient transit link, and Ottawa gets a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-imagine its symbolic centre.

I agree with keeping the trams on Wellington as opposed to turning south on Elgin for that final station. The future loop comes to mind as the main reason for me as well. For now, I would build the last Ottawa station between the Château Laurier and old Union.

EDIT: I see that was already discussed as part of the STO analysis and the forum. And now understand the location of the final station location. As you suggested, it would be relatively simple to remove this stub/station to complete the loop if/when it happens.

Originally Posted by Horus

The graphic on the site shows prospective underground station locations along Sparks.

The station they are proposing to pair with Parliament station would be located further along Sparks near Metcalfe. I'm not sure how they would propose to make that underground connection that they tout as a benefit of the Sparks tunnel option. It may not actually be as far as that graphic makes it out to be.

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

The west end of the STO station could connect to the east end of the OC Transpo station? It would be better than nothing.

What I had imagined for the underground option was that the hallway connecting the STO and OC concourses would be under the streets (Lyon and O'Connor). This would mean that the STO and OC Lyon concourses would be connected through the fare-paid area while the Parliament concourses would be though the outside the fare-paid area.

The way it's show, it's a little harder to understand how it would work.

[J.OT13]

Confirmation, no wires along Portage and Wellington:

Surface Integration on Wellington Street Option

Description of the Integration Option

• Arrival by the Portage Bridge without overhead catenary wires.
• At-grade integration on Wellington Street without overhead catenary wires.
• Route continuing along Wellington Street until Elgin Street, in dedicated transit lanes.

http://www.sto.ca/index.php?id=838&L...rce=sto_mobile

[rocketphish]

Gatineau's tram dreams could see removal of car traffic from street in front of Parliament

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: 7 minutes ago • 3 minute read

Removing all car traffic from a portion of Wellington Street in front of the Parliament Buildings is one of the options in the City of Gatineau’s plans to run a tramway into downtown Ottawa.

Gatineau and its public transit agency, Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO), is weighing two scenarios of running a LRT-light train service between the Portage Bridge and Elgin Street: building a train tunnel under Sparks Street ending at O’Connor Street, or building rail on the surface of Wellington Street through to Elgin Street.

STO and the City of Ottawa announced the options in May and additional information released ahead of a public consultation that began Monday revealed the no-car scenario on Wellington Street between Bank Street and Elgin Street.

The study is examining how to best weave a rail service from west Gatineau, through that city’s downtown, over the Portage Bridge and into downtown Ottawa. Eventually, the study will come to a preferred route that will hopefully solve the long-standing question of how rail systems in Ottawa and Gatineau can be linked up. There are no cost estimates or timelines yet.

The Portage Bridge, not the closed Prince of Wales rail bridge, has been established as the primary interprovincial connection.

If a tramway should run between Gatineau and Ottawa, Wellington Street is the best place for the tracks to go if the trains are to run on the surface in Ottawa, the study has determined.

The Wellington Street three-station, surface-tram option eyed by STO’s consultants has its own sub-options when it comes to cars on the section of the ceremonial Confederation Boulevard.

It comes down to how to best use 27.9 metres of transportation space between properties flanking Wellington Street.

One sub-option would allow car traffic on Wellington Street — one lane in each direction east of Lyon Street — with the double-track tram line on the north side of the road, followed by a bike lane and then the sidewalk in front of the Parliament Buildings.

The other sub-option would shake up downtown mobility, taking the space that would otherwise be used for cars between Bank and Elgin streets and redistribute it to the sidewalks. West of Bank Street, the tram would run on the north side of the street and next to the tracks there would be one lane of car lanes in each direction.

Uniquely, all scenarios in the Gatineau-based study contemplate building on streets owned by the City of Ottawa.

Vivi Chi, the City of Ottawa’s director of transportation planning, said it’s too early in the process to be discussing land costs or a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding city land.

“At this phase of the study, the study team is working through many issues, including right-of-way requirements, before a study recommendation and project costs are determined. Once this complementary study is complete, the STO will pursue the next phases of the overall project, including MOUs as required,” Chi said.

Both the Sparks Street tunnel and Wellington Street surface rail scenarios bring opportunities for the City of Ottawa.

Sparks Street, of course, has been under the microscope for years as a space desperately needing transformation.

With Wellington Street, the city would have an opportunity to merge Ottawa’s “town and crown” elements contemplated in a 2013 report on downtown mobility. The vision, which included a cycle track on Wellington Street, aimed to better link downtown with Parliament Hill.

STO is asking people to fill out a questionnaire about the tram options on the agency’s website at sto.ca by July 19.

jwilling@postmedia.com
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local...-7a771e8aefae/

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Horus

The graphic on the site shows prospective underground station locations along Sparks.

The station they are proposing to pair with Parliament station would be located further along Sparks near Metcalfe. I'm not sure how they would propose to make that underground connection that they tout as a benefit of the Sparks tunnel option. It may not actually be as far as that graphic makes it out to be.

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

The west end of the STO station could connect to the east end of the OC Transpo station? It would be better than nothing.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

What I had imagined for the underground option was that the hallway connecting the STO and OC concourses would be under the streets (Lyon and O'Connor). This would mean that the STO and OC Lyon concourses would be connected through the fare-paid area while the Parliament concourses would be though the outside the fare-paid area.

The way it's show, it's a little harder to understand how it would work.

This video gives us a bit of an idea:

• Video Link

With the surface tram route, three stations is feasible, but not for the tunnel option, so the last station is built a little further our to provide more coverage.

I figure STO Lyon would be linked underground for transfers but STO Parliament would be on its own?

[J.OT13]

My preferred option would be surface as it provides a service not currently offered by the Confederation Line or OC Transpo: an easily accessible, frequent transit service above grade. It would also leave the door open for a future loop around the downtowns which has been long time vision for many.

I would prefer keeping Wellington open to regular traffic as it is part of very few continuous east-west corridors in the city. That said, I could be persuaded otherwise.

One thing of interest on the STO website:

Due to the very large anticipated volume of pedestrians coming from the first tram station that would be required to cross Wellington Street ( either transfer to the O-Train at Lyon Station or to walk directly to a downtown destination), a pedestrian tunnel could be added to facilitate this movement. It would include a direct connection between these two stations. As with the different components of the project, this tunnel would be designed in compliance with the various applicable standards and regulations, including the most stringent safety requirements.

http://www.sto.ca/index.php?id=838&L...rce=sto_mobile

This further supports my hypothesis that STO views Lyon as the transfer station, and not Parliament.

One the other hand, so who knows:

Pedestrians could choose the quickest route out of the tunnel to their destination, including direct underground connections to the O-Train stations which would provide weather protected transfers. Exits would be strategically located to optimize access to users' final destinations.

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

The west end of the STO station could connect to the east end of the OC Transpo station? It would be better than nothing.

It would actually make sense to connect to the end of Parliament Station since the fare paid zones of Parliament station are on either end of the concourse.

[Uhuniau]

Wait wait wait - we bent over backwards to satisfy the NCC's mid-century dream of a Wellington without "unsightly" transit, only to re-dedicate it to STO?

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Wait wait wait - we bent over backwards to satisfy the NCC's mid-century dream of a Wellington without "unsightly" transit, only to re-dedicate it to STO?

A seriously bizarre idea. If they EVER close Wellington in front of Parliament to traffic it should be for pedestrian use not for a mass transit line. Imagine ad-clad teal and white trams being the only traffic on the most important part of Confederation Boulevard.

[zzptichka]

Originally Posted by Harley613

A seriously bizarre idea. If they EVER close Wellington in front of Parliament to traffic it should be for pedestrian use not for a mass transit line. Imagine ad-clad teal and white trams being the only traffic on the most important part of Confederation Boulevard.

What's not to like?
And Quebec will pay for those trams.