April 24, 2008

Infrastructure

Ottawa eyes $4-billion, 25-year transit plan

Bus transitway, light rail lines, downtown tunnel being debated

KORKY KOROLUK

correspondent

OTTAWA

A new mass transit plan that includes east-west and north-south light rail lines, a tunnel under the downtown core, and as much as 60 kilometres of new bus-only transitway, has been recommended to Ottawa city councillors.

Popularly known simply as Option 4, the plan would take perhaps 25 years to build at a cost of about $4 billion in 2008 dollars.

It calls for much of the existing bus transitway to be converted to electric light rail, with extended bus transitways bringing passengers in from Orleans in the east, Barrhaven in the southwest, and Kanata in the west to greatly enlarged stations at each end of the rail spine.

It also calls for an electric light rail line running north and south along the route of the existing O-Train line, originally conceived as a demonstration project running diesel trains.

The north-south route suggested would follow the same alignment, except that it would be extended to South Ottawa, a rapidly growing suburb south of the airport.

There would also be a spur serving the airport.

Councillor Alex Cullen, chair of the transit committee, estimated that the downtown tunnel would cost roughly $550 million, adding that it is central to any city-wide plan.

“Our staff, their consultants, the international peer review panel, have all found that it would be impossible to service our city to 2031 without a tunnel,” he said.

The project would be built in phases, with most members of council believing the tunnel would be done first — but only when funding is in place.

Both federal and provincial governments will be relied upon heavily to put up large chunks of cash.

While converting the existing transitway to rail would be disruptive, the work isn’t expected to be difficult. When it was built, all curves and grades were engineered to accept light rail when the time came.

The transit plan is set to be debated by full council next month.

If approved, the decision on the project order will be decided and the lobbying for money begins.

There will be opposition. Some councillors are known to be unhappy because it doesn’t benefit their wards first. Some are unhappy with the 60 more kilometres of bus transitway in the plan, pointing out concerns over greenhouse gas emissions because of the use of fossil fuels.

David Jeanes, of Transport 2000, a transportation lobby group, expressed disappointment that the plan didn’t include a link across the river to Gatineau, Que., which presently runs a lot of its buses into Ottawa’s downtown core.

The new proposal replaces a plan cancelled late in 2006 when the federal government withheld its promised contribution.

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