Albert-Slater redesign gets the green light

Ottawa will rebuild Albert and Slater streets after the new lightrail line opens, aiming to make them more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists after hundreds of buses stop plying the east-west downtown arteries.

City council approved detailed plans Wednesday that include bike tracks, wider sidewalks, planters, benches and trees. The work should start in 2019 and will change both streets end to end, from LeBreton Flats to the Mackenzie King Bridge outside the Rideau Centre.

Transportation chief John Manconi called the $32-million-plus project a one-of-a-kind job, part of a basic redesign of downtown Ottawa the new LRT will make possible. About $26 million of the cost is in replacing pipes around Bronson Avenue and redesigning the spaghetti pile of streets there.

Beacon Hill-Cyrville Coun. Tim Tierney dissented on the grounds that the city has spent tens of millions of dollars rebuilding downtown streets lately and none of the money has been spent in his ward.

RECYCLING AND LANDFILL CENTRE GOES AHEAD

A new landfill and recycling plant on Boundary Road in Ottawa’s east end got city council’s approval.

Giving permission for landfills to open is up to the provincial government; the city can put up hurdles, but can’t block them. This vote was to rezone land so Taggart Miller can build its Capital Region Resource Recovery Centre, which the provincial government has already signed off on.

The facility will take institutional, commercial and construction waste collected and delivered by private contractors.

Nearby residents wanted the city to conduct a study that would examine the potential health consequences of harmful chemicals leaching into the ground when rain and snow fall on the garbage, but council’s rural-affairs committee rejected the request last week.

The work would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and almost certainly wouldn’t have made any difference, councillors agreed.