City proposes partially buried western LRT extension, but local critics remain unsatisfied
By David Reevely, OTTAWA CITIZEN June 13, 2013 12:02 PM
OTTAWA — The key to the city’s latest plan for a western extension of its light-rail line is partially burying a 700-metre segment of the line north of Richmond Road.
That section of a longer stretch between Tunney’s Pasture and Baseline station has been controversial since the city proposed in April to run trains along the edge of the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway between Dominion station and Cleary Avenue in McKellar Park.
Residents — many of whom paid a premium for views of the Ottawa River — objected to having trains running within metres of their houses, and the National Capital Commission objected to having tracks on its property instead of green space.
The city’s solution is to run the trains in a deeper trench and to partly cover the line with grass and trees, with just a few openings to the north for ventilation and so riders get some daylight and glimpses of the river. It is not, strictly speaking, a tunnel, though the idea is for it to appear that way from the homes to the south.
“This section covers the area directly adjacent to private homes,” explained deputy city manager Nancy Schepers, presenting the revised plan in a Thursday morning briefing at City Hall.
The plan also makes the line easier to cross on foot: the previous vision had a handful of specially built crossings over a surface line. The new version’s grassy covering will allow people to walk across it almost anywhere. The previous plan made much of improving access to the Ottawa River bank and the revised version improves access further, with the city offering to build pedestrian and bike over- or underpasses at each station that cross not just the transit line but the Macdonald Parkway as well.
That’s clearly meant to appeal to the board of the National Capital Commission, which is skeptical of the city’s request to use its land. As of Thursday morning, Schepers said, the board hadn’t been briefed on the revised vision, but the city’s planners and the NCC’s are working closely together.
“I have confidence, like with the Confederation Line, that we will be able to get to a position where we will be able to get approval to transfer the lands and build the system as shown,” Schepers said.
The Citizen’s call to NCC spokesman Mario Tremblay, asking to speak to commission chairman Russell Mills, wasn’t immediately returned. Mills has previously said he also thinks the city and the NCC can make a deal, though in April they still found themselves too far apart.
The estimated cost of this version of the plan is $980 million, $80 million more than the plan presented in April. Burying the whole line would cost between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion, according to Delcan’s David Hopper, the city’s lead consultant on the plan. An alternative that would have cut south across Rochester Field (and moved Dominion station there) would have cost about $1.3 billion, for little extra benefit.
Community groups formed to oppose the city’s plan still oppose it.
“We’re not happy with this plan,” said Lesley Taylor, the president of a group called Underground Solution. “We find that, number one, it’s not completely underground, as that’s our mandate. We find that where it does go underground, it’s not really underground, it’s just sort of bermed. We’re worried about the green border and they won’t be able to plant the trees back on top of the train, so that’s eliminating the green border.”
They don’t like the city’s plans for stations at Dominion and Cleary, either, which are close to homes. “Especially at Cleary, the station will really be interfering with the view from the condos, besides just being ugly,” Taylor said.
The city should spend “whatever it takes” to preserve the green space next to the Macdonald Parkway, she said.
dreevely@ottawacitizen.com
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