Confederation Line East LRT Extension (Stage 2) [Blair to Trim] | U/C

[lrt's friend]

Yes, the Baseline Transitway is a crucial missing link. It is true that Transitways are more expensive to operate but we need this missing link to provide an overall better network. Besides, what is more expensive to operate than Transitways but buses in mixed traffic.

I still contend that the failure to put the Hospital complexes on the Innes Road rapid transit route was a big mistake. All to satisfy a handful of complainers near Russell Road. Surely, a short shallow tunnel would have addressed those concerns. So we reroute through the horrendous big box Trainyards which is so anti-pedestrian when all we need is a pedestrian route from the Confederation Line through the VIA Rail station. Why do we need a second rapid transit line backing onto the Belfast rail yards, as if it is going to generate any ridership?

[1overcosc]

The $100M figure comes from slower cost growth. The post-LRT transit system's annual cost growth will be slower than if the city didn't pursue LRT at all, so the calculation is that by 2031, the annual budget will be $100M less than it would be otherwise. Not necessarily that $100M will be immediately saved. There's a difference.

The actual 'immediate' savings from Phase 1 LRT have been calculated at $18M, according to the transit commission earlier this year.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Mikeed

The fact that Orleans has the highest transit usage in the city

I keep seeing this claim. Does anyone have the stats to hand for all geographies?

[Dundas]

Does the train end at place dorleans? Those other stations after PDO are they just listed
incase we get more funding?

I have a hard time imaginating PDO station and the centrum station since they will be so close to each other.

[1overcosc]

Yep, the line will end at Place. The remainder of the route is being studied so that we have approved/designed plans in place to fund once/if the city does so.

[Dundas]

So hopefully they will demolish the old PDO station and make it pretty then from there I go to the tunnel which now goes to the park n ride but instead I will take an elevator down to the middle of the highway to the train platform? It makes it feel kind of lonely eh?

[waterloowarrior]

Reports to FEDCO
http://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/item.aspx?itemid=333027

[ACmodels]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

Reports to FEDCO
http://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/item.aspx?itemid=333027

Does the link even work? Whenever I open it never loads up on my page.

[1overcosc]

^ It appears that eAgenda/SIRE is currently down.

[waterloowarrior]

Link works now
2023 - Stage 2 - Blair to Place D'Orleans
Post 2031- Trim Extension/Highway Widening - including stations at Orleans Town Centre, 10th Line, Trim

Staff will investigate savings with including Trim extension with Stage 2 and discus with upper tier governments

[rocketphish]

Full-steam ahead for city's LRT expansion plans

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: June 22, 2015, Last Updated: June 22, 2015 8:53 PM EDT

The city’s finance committee will be asked to approve spending $7 million more to develop the second phase of light rail now that an environmental assessment has confirmed the ambitious plan is viable, even though other levels of government have not officially approved funding the project yet.

The detailed report also finds a rail link to Ottawa’s international airport is technically possible, but there’s no clear plan yet on who would pay for the $155-million project.

The city wants to complete the Stage 2 project by 2023, which means preparatory work must continue this year and next. The finance committee will be asked on Monday to approve the transfer of $7 million in existing available transit capital budget funds from a park and ride account to the Stage 2 LRT project account.

The second phase of the city’s light rail plan, approved in 2013, includes three rail extensions that build on the Trillium O-Train line and the new Confederation line, currently under construction.

• To the south, the Trillium line would extend from Greenboro station to Riverside South (Bowesville Road), including the possibility of an airport link.
• To the west, the Confederation line would extend from Tunney’s Pasture station to Baseline and Bayshore stations.
• To the east, the Confederation line would extend from Blair to Place d’Orléans station, and perhaps even further east to Trim Road.

The $3-billion plan would add 30 km of track and 19 new stations in the east, west and south.

That figure does not include either the $155-million airport link or the $160-million extension to Trim Road because both were added to the study after the city approved in 2013 how much it could afford.

A trio of environmental assessments confirms the routes and stations for each of the proposed extensions, including the description of the station’s physical footprint, ridership capacity, cycling and pedestrian connections, and potential environmental impacts and mitigation needed for each.

The plan crystallizes an agreement reached earlier this year between the city and the National Capital Commission on the jointly-developed solution for the portion of the route between Dominion and Cleary stations, which would run under rebuilt and realigned lanes of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.

Bayshore station, which would become the western terminus, would have public washrooms, as would Baseline and Place d’Orléans stations.

The airport link would have two stops: one adjacent to the EY Centre on Uplands Drive and another located between the airport terminal and parking garage, at the top level of the parking garage.

Property requirements are a key component of the plan and city staff need direction from council to begin the real estate transaction process to ensure land can be secured. The city needs to buy or expropriate about 45 parcels of private and public land along the route, the report says.

Paying for the second phase of light rail is possible if the two senior levels of government each chip in one-third of the costs, the province adopts changes to development charges in relation to transit, and transit fares and transit taxes continue to be aligned to the rate of inflation affecting transit costs, the report says.

[email protected]
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...xpansion-plans

[waterloowarrior]

http://www.stage2lrt.ca/

[rocketphish]

Ottawa Council endorses $3B plan for light rail expansion

Matthew Pearson, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: July 8, 2015 | Last Updated: July 8, 2015 5:22 PM EDT

Approving the ambitious $3-billion plan to extend light-rail service by 2023 was a historic moment for Ottawa, Mayor Jim Watson said Wednesday.

“After years and years of debate, we’re actually moving forward to get the train going farther east, farther west and down south,” he said, adding the work will build on the success of the Confederation line currently under construction.

Council’s unanimous approval means the city can formally move ahead with its funding requests to other levels of government and submit a trio of environmental assessments — one each for the three extensions — to the province for approval.

Councillors also agreed to transfer $7 million to the stage 2 LRT project account so staff can proceed with preliminary implementation plans.

Phase two would see:

• The Confederation line extend west by 13 kilometres from Tunney’s Pasture station to Baseline and Bayshore stations, with 10 new stations, and east from Blair station to Place d’Orléans with four new stops. A further extension to Trim Road, at an added cost of $160 million, was not included in the initial plan but will continue to be explored.

• The Trillium line extend south from Greenboro station to Riverside South and add five new stations. A rail link to the airport, at an added cost of $155 million, will also be explored further. The airport authority said last week it is prepared to contribute to the estimated $35-million cost of building a light-rail stop inside its passenger terminal.

Council also asked staff to explore the feasibility of extending light rail to Kanata sooner than 2031 and connecting Riverside South to Barrhaven Town Centre via bus rapid transit.

Encouraging the eventual builder to finish the Trillium line extension before 2023 was another request.

While it appears the LRT plan is moving full-steam ahead, council did receive a submission from residents of Unitarian House. The 123 signatories asked the city to reconsider the current proposed western extension, particularly the section from the proposed Dominion to Cleary stations.

The seniors home shares a 2.4-hectare campus on Richmond Road with the First Unitarian Congregation church and a daycare, both of which are also opposed to the city’s plans to build a tunnel underneath the property because of concerns about increased noise and vibration associated with construction and underground trains.

Watson said he’s aware of the group’s fears and pledged the city will try to mitigate construction impacts, as it has done in other parts of town when there was a major construction project.

“We will do our best to ensure the disruption is minimal, but when you’re building a major train system, there is going to be some disruption,” he said.

[email protected]
twitter.com/mpearson78

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...rail-expansion

[rocketphish]

Stephen Harper will build Ottawa's LRT with his own hands if he has to

David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: July 27, 2015 | Last Updated: July 27, 2015 9:40 PM EDT

The federal government’s billion-dollar contribution to Ottawa’s light-rail plans has nothing to do with the fall election, but the local Conservatives want you to know it’s happening only because of Stephen Harper’s strength and leadership.

That was the theme of an announcement Monday morning at the Bayview O-Train station, where MPs Pierre Poilievre and Royal Galipeau joined a handful of city councillors to say what we’ve known since Galipeau sent the city a letter last week: the feds are in for a third of the city’s $3-billion plan to extend the first phase of rail with lines east, west and south starting in 2018.

“Under the proven economic leadership of the 22nd prime minister of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, the government is committed to providing approximately $1 billion for phase 2 of the light-rail transit project,” Galipeau said.

The Ottawa-Orléans Conservative has acquired the title of “federal interlocutor” (i.e., the guy you talk to) for light rail in Ottawa. He praised Mayor Jim Watson and transit commission chair Stephen Blais for working hard on the file, too, but goodness, the Conservatives are fantastic. They’ve invested in rail in Ottawa, but also in the National Arts Centre, the Science and Technology Museum, the Ottawa River Action Plan.

“Ladies and gentlemen, these are investments that are making a huge difference in the lives of communities like this one,” Galipeau said, switching between English and French regularly. “We must remember that these investments were realistic and responsible. While we raised our investment by 10 times, we reduced the tax burden to its lowest level in more than 50 years. We’ve reduced the debt. We’ve balanced the budget. We gave Canadians what they wanted: Lower taxes, investment in infrastructure and fiscal responsibility.”

He suggested celebrating the Conservatives’ record, though he said he wouldn’t ask a crowd consisting entirely of journalists to applaud.

Poilievre echoed him.

“I’d like to repeat that this announcement wouldn’t have been possible without the good management of our finances,” he said in French. “As Mr. Galipeau said very clearly, we balanced the budget and now we can help cities, and families in fact, to balance theirs. We know that budgets don’t balanced themselves. It takes financial discipline and that’s what we have at the federal level. We’re today because of the strong leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, we have the resources to invest in communities like this one. We have a balanced budget and that makes it possible to deliver in cities like Ottawa,” et cetera.

Vice’s Justin Ling asked Poilievre about the report from the Parliamentary budget officer saying that the federal budget isn’t balanced.

“All of the announcements we’ve made are budgeted within the existing fiscal framework, which eliminates the deficit and lowers taxes for Canadians,” Poilievre said.

The gang of them climbed on and off the waiting O-Train, yelling “all aboard” a few times for the cameras. Galipeau waved from the train driver’s window.

Then they all got off and walked off to their cars and drove away.

[email protected]
twitter.com/davidreevely

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...s-if-he-has-to

[McC]

Reevely got a couple of good zingers in that one.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by McC

Reevely got a couple of good zingers in that one.

Read his twitter stream from during that announcement. He was not impressed.

[Richard Eade]

I see that there have been some minor adjustments to the Stage 2 eastern extension of the LRT.

Since the consultation undertaken in February and April of 2015, further engineering studies have suggested two modifications to the alignment that will reduce cost, and make the project more effective. The two modifications are as follows:

• The first recommended change would reuse the existing Transitway east of Blair station to pass under Blair Road and the highway ramps, and then cross over into the median of Highway 174 near the existing transit overpass.

• The second recommended change would relocate Montreal Road station into the median of the highway, allowing for a station entry on each side of Montreal Road. This change will avoid relocating the hydro lines on the east side of Montreal Road as well as avoid the geotechnical challenges east of Montreal Road. The replacement of the highway bridges over Montreal Road will be bundled into the LRT project.

These changes have no additional environmental impact, will reduce implementation cost, and have been incorporated into the Environmental Project Report (EPR) that is now available for 30 days for your review and comment.

From the Notice of Completion for the Transit Project Assessment Process for the Confederation Line East Extension.

[rocketphish]

City tweaks Stage 2 LRT alignment in west and east ends

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 24, 2016 | Last Updated: March 24, 2016 12:05 PM EDT



The city is changing the alignment of the LRT line in three places during the second phase of the project.

One tweak means the the LRT tunnel won’t have cut through the Unitarian campus on Cleary Avenue. The city proposes to swing the tunnel south sooner, going from east to west, cutting through the property of a current strip plaza at 747 Richmond Rd. Instead of Cleary station tucked behind the plaza on National Capital Commission land, the station would front Richmond Road.

The city says the change would concentrate the construction on one site, especially considering the redevelopment potential for the plaza property.

According to the city, the changes won’t impact the budget.

The Unitarian campus on Cleary Avenue has a church, seniors residence and child-care centre. The Unitarians have been pushing the city to swing the alignment away from the campus, fearing construction and noise would have a negative health impact to residents and operations at the child care.

There are two other changes in the east on the second-phase blueprint announced by the city Thursday.

Where the city was planning to run LRT below Blair Road and two ramps connecting Hwy. 174, it now wants to run trains along the existing Transitway on the north side of the highway, eliminating the need to build tunnels in the area. It’s cheaper, easier to maintain and has a better connection with the future Cumberland Transitway corridor east of Blair Road, the city says.

The final tweak, which will save $12 million, has the city bringing the LRT line into the median of Hwy. 174 sooner, going west to east. The transition was going to happen east of Montreal Road, but the city now wants to move trains to the median 2.3 kilometres farther west, just east of Blair Road. It means the city wouldn’t need to build a new 500-metre-long structure over Montreal Road. Montreal station would be located in the highway median.

It also means the highway would need to be widened to accommodate the LRT infrastructure. The city wants to bundle the Montreal Road bridge replacement, already planned in the next five years, with the Stage 2 LRT work.

The entire Stage 2 project, which extends LRT to Place d’Orléans, Algonquin College and Bayshore Shopping Centre, along with extending the Trillium Line O-Train to Riverside South, is projected to cost $3 billion.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-west-and-east

[Capital Shaun]

Not liking the changes in the east end. How does a future station near Jasmine Cr work if the LRT is already in the median by that point?

[JM1]

Why should taxpayers care about reducing costs? Wasn't this a fixed price contract. Do we get the savings or do they accrue to the RTG consortium?

Originally Posted by rocketphish

City tweaks Stage 2 LRT alignment in west and east ends

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: March 24, 2016 | Last Updated: March 24, 2016 12:05 PM EDT



The city is changing the alignment of the LRT line in three places during the second phase of the project.

One tweak means the the LRT tunnel won’t have cut through the Unitarian campus on Cleary Avenue. The city proposes to swing the tunnel south sooner, going from east to west, cutting through the property of a current strip plaza at 747 Richmond Rd. Instead of Cleary station tucked behind the plaza on National Capital Commission land, the station would front Richmond Road.

The city says the change would concentrate the construction on one site, especially considering the redevelopment potential for the plaza property.

According to the city, the changes won’t impact the budget.

The Unitarian campus on Cleary Avenue has a church, seniors residence and child-care centre. The Unitarians have been pushing the city to swing the alignment away from the campus, fearing construction and noise would have a negative health impact to residents and operations at the child care.

There are two other changes in the east on the second-phase blueprint announced by the city Thursday.

Where the city was planning to run LRT below Blair Road and two ramps connecting Hwy. 174, it now wants to run trains along the existing Transitway on the north side of the highway, eliminating the need to build tunnels in the area. It’s cheaper, easier to maintain and has a better connection with the future Cumberland Transitway corridor east of Blair Road, the city says.

The final tweak, which will save $12 million, has the city bringing the LRT line into the median of Hwy. 174 sooner, going west to east. The transition was going to happen east of Montreal Road, but the city now wants to move trains to the median 2.3 kilometres farther west, just east of Blair Road. It means the city wouldn’t need to build a new 500-metre-long structure over Montreal Road. Montreal station would be located in the highway median.

It also means the highway would need to be widened to accommodate the LRT infrastructure. The city wants to bundle the Montreal Road bridge replacement, already planned in the next five years, with the Stage 2 LRT work.

The entire Stage 2 project, which extends LRT to Place d’Orléans, Algonquin College and Bayshore Shopping Centre, along with extending the Trillium Line O-Train to Riverside South, is projected to cost $3 billion.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...-west-and-east