Ottawans got their first peek last Wednesday at an ambitious regional transportation plan that looks ahead 30 years.
Transportation
OTTAWA
Ottawans got their first peek last Wednesday at an ambitious regional transportation plan that looks ahead 30 years.
It involves the construction of two major bridges, a pair of transit tunnels across the downtown core, extension of an existing light rail transit line and development of others, and the development of commuter rail service to parts of the surrounding area as far away as Alexandria, 80 km to the east, Smiths Falls 60 km south, and Arnprior 50 km west.
It would also extend rail transit across the Ottawa River to Gatineau, Que., east to the Gatineau airport and north to the town of Wakefield.
Within the city, the west leg of the bus transitway would also be completed early on to help relieve east-west traffic congestion.
The plan was greeted by general approval from municipal politicians, but with a degree of caution by the local construction industry.
Titled Moving Ottawa, the plan is the work of a special task force appointed several months ago by Mayor Larry O’Brien, after a previous light-rail project was killed by city council.
Headed by former federal transport minister David Collenette, the task force worked for about five months and came up with a report that is long on ideas and short on specifics — especially concerning prices and funding.
The light rail project that was killed would have cost $880 million. The suggestions in this report would cost far more, although there are few figures in the 96-page document.
Counc. Alex Cullen, head of council’s transit committee, said it would be up to council to investigate prices and funding.
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Much of the early reaction centred on the transit tunnels — an idea that has come up off and on for many years. Counc. Marianne Wilkinson said there have been occasional mentions of such a tunnel since 1913.
The report suggests the three-kilometre tunnel could be build for about $450 million, with that estimate based on a recent metro extension in Montreal that cost $143 million per kilometre.
“That’s a joke,” said John DeVries, president of the Ottawa Construction Association. “Did they have anyone in their group who’s an expert on costs?”
He said the association had “offered to provide an experienced construction perspective to help them with the costs . . . and the mayor’s office declined.”
Bert Hendriks, of R. W. Tomlinson Ltd., a heavy construction firm, was curious about the suggested price as well, calling it “a shot in the dark.” An engineer with the city when the existing bus transitway was being built, he said that “nobody’s done any budgeting on (a tunnel) that I’ve seen.
“I don’t see how anyone could without using the expertise of the construction industry, and I don’t know anyone who asked the industry for help.”
Dale Harley, a spokesperson for the National Capital Heavy Construction Associationm said the group has always supported the city’s efforts to invest in infrastructure, and would continue to do so. But, he cautioned, “we need to make sure that the funding for this project doesn’t come at the expense of other much-needed infrastructure renewal projects for roads, water and sewer.”
One of the new bridges would cross the Ottawa River into Quebec east of the downtown core. Possible sites are being studied, but none is likely to be selected for four years yet.
The other bridge would cross the Rideau River in the city’s south end. It had been planned as a part of the previous light-rail project.
City council will now consider the plan. With its old transportation plan in shambles since the light-rail project was killed, it must decide on a new course of action by the autumn of 2008.
Should it proceed with the plan, a massive co-operative effort would be needed. Most of the rail lines would run on existing rights-of-way, so introducing commuter rail to them would involve agreements with VIA Rail and the Ontario Central Railway. Work on the Ontario side of the river would mean obtaining funding from both federal and provincial governments. The Ottawa River bridge and the rail extension into Gatineau would bring that city council and the Quebec provincial government into the action.
The task force mentioned only the most general time frames in its report.
The Rideau River bridge, for example, should be completed by 2010, it said. So should a westward extension of the existing transitway. The downtown tunnels should be built in 2012-14. A spur line to the airport should also be built at the same time.
The extension into Gatineau should be done by 2017. So should the Ottawa River bridge. By then, too, conversion of the bus transitway to light rail should be under way, to be completed by 2037.
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