kEiThZ
Superstar
This also proves that the province and the feds will fund an alternative to a cancelled project as long as the municipality in question foots the bill for the cancellation.
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- Thread starter green22
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kEiThZ
Superstar
...and underground.
nfitz
Superstar
I think it's quite certain that this will be on a case-by-case basis!
And given we've been talking about this tunnel now for near 30 years ... I'm really not sure I'll believe it until they start digging the shafts.
Before now, there was still the case that Ottawa could do with at-grade. The numbers pretty blatantly say that that is no longer the case. There is no legitimate transit planning case that can be made for keeping it on the surface, only a financial one.
nfitz
Superstar
I agree ... this should have been built years ago. We've just seen so much stuff in Ottawa derailed. Should be a link to Gatineau as well ... and several more bridges.
Second_in_pie
Senior Member
I'm no expert on Ottawa's doings and transit plans, but what are the plans with the O-Train? I feel like if Ottawa will be LRT-izing their BRT network, would it make sense to turn the O-Train into a real LRT that is compatible with the rest of the network? With just a bit of extra money in tunneling through downtown, they could have a real strong network by integrating regional trains in with their LRT service. The O-Train should also be extended up across the Ottawa river through Gatineau, though assuming it has a somehow improved service.
Maybe if they replace the O-Train with LRT, they could send those DMUs over our way and test them out running in the Go system. That'll be the day
Maybe if they replace the O-Train with LRT, they could send those DMUs over our way and test them out running in the Go system. That'll be the day
waterloowarrior
Senior Member
I'm no expert on Ottawa's doings and transit plans, but what are the plans with the O-Train? I feel like if Ottawa will be LRT-izing their BRT network, would it make sense to turn the O-Train into a real LRT that is compatible with the rest of the network? With just a bit of extra money in tunneling through downtown, they could have a real strong network by integrating regional trains in with their LRT service. The O-Train should also be extended up across the Ottawa river through Gatineau, though assuming it has a somehow improved service.
Maybe if they replace the O-Train with LRT, they could send those DMUs over our way and test them out running in the Go system. That'll be the day
That was the previous plan (although in that case it would have run on the surface downtown). It was cancelled in 2006 and they did a reboot. Now the plan is to convert the O-Train to electric LRT once they've finished the Tunneys to Blair line + tunnel. The converted NS line will able to use the downtown tunnel. It will later be extended to Riverside South.
In terms of connecting with Gatineau, there is an ongoing study about that right now. However Gatineau is currently building a BRT line in the rail corridor on the other side. http://www.rapibus.sto.ca/index.php?id=6
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Justin10000
Banned
STO is STILL builiding the Rapidus line? Yeesh!
AnarchoSocialist
Active Member
The project as it is currently proposed is pretty much perfect for the city. It shouldn't be scaled back (nothing at grade, period, and certainly not running on streets downtown). Nor does it need to be expanded by turning it into a subway. Though the downtown section will be tunnelled, and sections between Tunneys and Lincoln Fields will be tunnelled or trenched, LRT is the best technology for the line. Basically Phase 1 (which starts with the tunnel and the line from Blair to Tunneys and then includes the N-S O-Train conversion and small extension and then Tunneys to Lincoln Fields) will be just right for creating LRT support and a backbone for the system. The downtown tunnel has also been designed so that eventual LRT lines out to Kanata in the west, a possible Montreal Road line in the East, and a Carling line, can all feed into the downtown line and not push the tunnel to capacity.
Regarding Rapibus: It is actually a smart choice for Gatineau. Like the Transitway in Ottawa it will help grow transit usage and serve suburban areas well until it makes more sense to build an LRT line (at least a line that follows the RapiBus corridor....a federal zone loop would largely be an NCC project). Of note, though the RapiBus transitway will be built largely in the rail corridor this does not affect the rail line. The current single track line will remain (though moved in some sections), and it can still be twinned in the future.
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Second_in_pie
Senior Member
Won't the LRT upgrades basically be replacing current parts of the transitway, then tunneling through downtown? If that's the case, it'll be 100% grade separated anyways, won't it?
I think that if they're converting the O-Train so it can be compatible with the rest of the LRT network, the O-Train should go through Gatineau and create an integrated transit network throughout the entire capital region. It'd make a lot more sense to do that across the rail corridor now, and then add BRTs branching off from the O-Train.
I think that if they're converting the O-Train so it can be compatible with the rest of the LRT network, the O-Train should go through Gatineau and create an integrated transit network throughout the entire capital region. It'd make a lot more sense to do that across the rail corridor now, and then add BRTs branching off from the O-Train.
Couldn't agree more. The tunnel is the backbone this city needs to expand effective service out from the core. The transit network is already in place, so you start the uprgrading process in the core, and then incrementally work your way out, pushing that BRT-LRT transfer further and further out.
And with the Rapibus, the number of kms of BRT being built compared to the population is basically the same as what Ottawa had in the late 70s (ratio-wise I mean). The Ottawa BRT model has been proven effective for growing transit ridership in a medium-sized city. What I particularly like about this plan is the fact that it runs beside a rail corridor for the vast majority of it's length, a rail corridor that is barely used (if at all? I can't recall ever really seeing a train on those lines, but I will admit the only time I'm really in Gatineau is to go to my cottage). Running it beside the rail corridor opens up options to acquire the rail corridor further down the line, for either commuter trains or an LRT system.
Yes. The grade-separated portion currently ends (or starts, depending on how you look at it) just west of Lebreton, and starts again just south of Laurier at UOttawa. The Transitway is then grade-separated in the west from Lebreton to the Ottawa River Parkway in Westboro, so past Lebreton Flats.
Side note, one of the reasons I think they chose to stop Phase 1 at Lebreton is the question of what to do with the section between Westboro and Lincoln Fields. That part of the Transitway route is currently no man's land, and the NCC has already stated that they don't want LRT running beside the Parkway. So the alignment is still very much up the air, as far as I know. They may have nailed something down now though, but I haven't heard anything on it.
In theory, yes. But interprovincial projects in the past (ref: Champlain Bridge at Island Park) have certainly not been poster childs for interprovincial co-operation. For the short term, I would be more enclined to have Rapibus connect with the Transitway, as opposed to having the Transitway connect with Rapibus. There are already HOV lanes on the Chaudiere bridge (the first bridge immediately west of Downtown), and it would be easier to put bus lanes down Booth St or in it's own ROW to hook up to Lebreton Station. Or route it on the existing bus lanes in downtown, as I would imagine that local routes would still use the current downtown lanes. The fact that the Transitway routes will no longer be clogging up the downtown, would open space up for Gatineau buses, who currently use Wellington because there's no room on Albert/Slater.
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kEiThZ
Superstar
^ Phase 1 is going to Tunney's Pasture. There will be an overlap in service between buses and the LRT. Buses will end service at Bayview. LRT will end at Tunney's. It's the tunnel that ends just before LeBreton.
kEiThZ
Superstar
One place the Ottawa planners are ignorant is on this insistence on wanting to run the LRT on the ORP. I don't get why they don't just duck it south after Dominion to the Byron-Richmond corridor. A ready-made corridor with lots of potential for TOD.
You're right. I typo'd there. My bad.