Ottawa-Hull rail loop not mayor's priority
Watson wants LRT extended to city's western and southern suburbs first
A rail loop connecting the downtowns of Ottawa and Hull is a tough sell for Mayor Jim Watson, who's first trying to extend LRT to the fastest-growing parts of his own city.
Watson said he's most interested in bringing LRT to Ottawa's western and southern suburbs. Those areas still won't have rail service when the Phase 2 O-Train expansion is complete in 2025.
The newly formed Supporters of the Loop are renewing a call to create a transit loop that would connect tourist attractions and government offices in the core of the capital region on both sides of the Ottawa River.
“I think it's a very interesting idea but I have to be very clear and consistent that my next priority for transit of any kind in our city is Phase 3, which goes to Stittsville and Kanata and Barrhaven,” Watson said during a news conference Wednesday.
The city's next big funding request to the federal and provincial governments will be for the Phase 3 O-Train extensions, Watson said.
“That will continue to be my preoccupation, and my priority is to secure the funding for that project.”
The rail loop is only a vision, although it's been discussed in previous regional transit studies over the past 20 years. The route would use the Portage and Alexandra bridges as the interprovincial access points and complete the loop using Wellington Street in front of the Parliament Buildings and Laurier Street in Gatineau. The rail corridor connecting Wellington
Street and the Alexandra Bridge, which is slated for replacement by the federal government, would need to be determined.
Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) is planning a rail system between Aylmer and downtown Ottawa using the Portage Bridge. STO is determining if a rail tunnel under Sparks Street to Metcalfe Street or a surface tramway on Wellington Street to Elgin Street is the best Ottawa-based corridor.
The Supporters of the Loop, which includes business leaders and former mayors, prefers a carfree Wellington Street tram option.
In Ottawa, city hall has a council-endorsed plan to extend LRT to Kanata and Stittsville for an estimated $1.85 billion. In November, council will be asked to approve a $3-billion plan to extend LRT to Barrhaven.
The city doesn't have a nickel to put toward the Phase 3 expansions. It will be leaning on the federal and provincial governments for all of the construction money.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna, the Ottawa Centre MP, said during a mayor's breakfast event this week that she hears from people calling for ambition and a treatment of Canada's capital like a true capital region.
McKenna said “sometimes it's like two fiefdoms” in Ottawa and Gatineau, but she credited the mayors for trying to consider the cities as a unified region.
On the idea of a loop, McKenna, too, said it's a “really interesting idea” that would require feedback from the public.