Future Kanata LRT route gets nod from committee
The transportation committee is recommending approval of the proposed route for a $1.85-billion LRT extension through Kanata.
During a committee meeting Wednesday, Kanata North Coun. Marianne Wilkinson, who’s retiring after this term of council, called on the city to plug the Kanata LRT plan into the next transportation master plan. An LRT extension to the western suburb “is desperately needed,” she said, adding that an hour-and-a-half is too long for people to take a bus downtown.
The proposed route and the preliminary cost estimate, in 2017 dollars, are part of the project’s environmental assessment. The plan includes a mix of surface, underground and elevated rail. Like the first phase and planned second phase of LRT, the tracks would be completely segregated from roads.
Construction isn’t expected until after 2031 because there is no money in the bank for the project. The city will need upper levels of government to help build the 11-kilometre extension between Moodie Drive and Hazeldean Road.
The extension could be built in phases — first from Moodie Drive to Terry Fox station, then to the Canadian Tire Centre, and finally to Hazeldean Road — if money becomes available.
The proposed route would run tracks along the north side of Highway 417 before crossing over the highway to the Canadian Tire Centre and continuing to Hazeldean Road, just outside Stittsville.
An elevated station beside the Canadian Tire Centre is in the blueprint, even though the city can’t predict what Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has planned for the property. Melnyk hasn’t indicated what he wants to do with the building if he constructs a new arena on LeBreton Flats.
Transportation general manager John Manconi said Palladium station, as it’s called in the plan, will probably be necessary, even if the Senators move downtown.
“We’ll see what happens to that site. If it intensifies, that’s great. If it stays the way it is, we’ll build into that,” Manconi said.
A few citizens who made presentations to the committee urged the city to plan for affordable housing opportunities in developments around LRT stations. The city says there are policies to make affordable housing a priority on cityowned property. Coun. Catherine McKenney wants the city to put together a list of government-owned land within 600 metres of all LRT stations.
Bringing the west into the LRT network would virtually complete a west-to-east rail line through Ottawa.
The first phase of LRT, between Tunney ’s Pasture and Blair station, is scheduled to open in November. The second phase, with extensions to Moodie Drive, Algonquin College and Trim Road, plus Trillium Line extensions to Riverside South and Ottawa International, is scheduled to be finished in 2023. Kanata LRT would be the third phase, possibly in conjunction with extending the Trillium Line to Gatineau over the Prince of Wales Bridge.
The missing community from Ottawa’s rail plan is Barrhaven.
Manconi, who attended recent a public meeting on bus service in Barrhaven, said the southern suburb shouldn’t have train envy when it comes to transit.
“It’s not all about the train and council has been clear about that,” Manconi said. “They want good service on all modes, whether it’s the diesel train, the electric train, the bus service (or) Para Transpo.”
Manconi suggested Barrhaven was a trailblazer when it comes to rapid transit in Ottawa.
“Barrhaven had the first Transitway in suburbia, so it had, and has, phenomenal BRT (bus rapid transit) service right to Fallowfield and beyond,” Manconi said.
Council will vote on the Kanata LRT route next Wednesday.