By Ben Novak
You may ask why we, in Mainstreeter territory, should be concerned about the city’s debate over the expansion of its new Light Rail Transit line through Ottawa west end.
The answer is simple. If citizens opt for a rational solution, the city will save hundreds of millions of dollars in capital costs.
That means tax savings! Now do you think we should be interested?
On Nov. 28, Mayor Jim Watson and Member of Parliament John Baird, the federal minister overseeing the National Capital Commission agreed to take 100 days to “work constructively … towards a solution.”
A solution to what exactly?
To the alignment of a section of the LRT line in the west end of the city, from Dominion Station on the Transitway to Lincoln Fields Station, a distance of about 3.5km.
Looking at a map, one logical corridor for the LRT is Richmond Road. The NCC suggests an alignment along Rochester Field reaching the Richmond/Byron corridor and descending toward Lincoln Fields between two high-rise buildings.
The Richmond corridor options all involve tunneling under Richmond Road at tremendous expense. Tunneling in a residential and mixed-use area can hardly be justified. The reason given is the preservation of a strip park which itself was once a functioning streetcar corridor.
A natural solution would be to use the topographic features of Rochester Field. Start with an underpass under Richmond Road. Come out into the existing reserve that once carried tramways. From there, proceed parallel to Richmond Road, perhaps even take out part of a lane and preserve a line of trees on the south side (see illustration).
Such a line would reach a point where it would again cross Richmond via an underpass and descend into Lincoln Fields Station. Here again the topography is very favorable.
Discussions have reawakened old opposition against such a plan. Community groups see little benefit for their neighbourhoods. The NCC position is one of long-term benefit to the city as a whole. Our politicians are averse to any explanation of benefits.
Very good examples of integrated and well-designed surface rapid rail services are found in Barcelona, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Buffalo, Minneapolis, Edmonton and Calgary, to name a few. In some of these cities, the types of transit vehicles used are not as design-friendly as Ottawa’s modern trams promise to be (see illustration).
In our discussion, we need to favor terms such as transit, trams and accessibility. We must avoid using language such as ‘commuter trains’ and ‘rumbling trains’ or similar distorted rhetoric.
The vehicles the city has chosen through the P3 selection process are silent, well-designed, low-floor trams which glide noiselessly along the tracks. These same vehicles run in in-street settings in many places around the world.
One of the barriers to a sane and cost-effective solution is the fact that few people here have seen such trams in operation. This is unfortunate. Seeing is so often believing.
If the next phase of Ottawa’s LRT was under discussion after initial sections were operating, none of these fears and falsehoods would appear.
While local residents wage opposition, tree screens can be preserved even with an on-grade LRT.
In a few years, the pressure to develop areas served by a light rail system will be high. Many people will sell their properties at significant profit. To saddle the whole city with hundreds of millions of dollars in needless extra costs is hardly logical.
A cost-effective option that would save money for real expansion elsewhere in the city should be encouraged. The Rochester Field – Richmond Road solution presents just such an opportunity.
Source: Wikipedia, Alstom Citadis
Ben Novak is an engineer and urban planner, as well as a resident of Old Ottawa East.
