Summary of Projects of Interest for 2015 + Airport Parkway widening report

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John Verbaas

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Jan 28, 2015, 5:53:20 PM1/28/15
to city-centr...@googlegroups.com
After a rather extended period of subdued activity...mostly related to the impact of the municipal elections, there are a number of studies and public consultations that are now picking up momentum and of some interest to the City Centre Coalition (CCC), many of which are being followed by contributors to the CCC.
 
This is a brief overview of some of these projects that we expect to be involved with over the next year as FYI along with a short report on the topic of the public meeting last night (Jan 27th) for the proposed widening of the airport parkway.  More details on the other projects listed below should follow shortly.
 
Comments to the list (ie. information to share regarding the projects listed below, or suggestions of other projects of potential interest) are always appreciated.
 
Project summary...
 
1.  Airport Parkway/Lester Rd Widening
2. O-Train (Trillium Line) extension to Riverside South (and spur to Airport)
3.  Hwy 174/Regional Rd 17 Widening + LRT extension to Orleans
4.  O-Connor Street Bikeway
5.  Western LRT Extension (Tunney's Pasture to Baseline/Bayshore)
6. Interprovincial Truck Tunnel Feasibility Study
 
 
Some project details
 
1.  Airport Parkway/Lester Rd Widening
 
Last night (Jan 27th) was public open house #1 on this proposed road expansion project.  The CCC also attended a pre-consultation stakeholders meeting in December for a sneak preview of the information presented last night.  This project is proposed to have a 3 stage rollout as follows:
 
Stage 1: expand Airport parkway to 4 lanes divided hwy between Hunt Club and Brookfield
  - Completion is envisioned for 2019, Projected Cost: 31m$
Stage 2:  expand Lester Rd to 4 lanes between Band St and the Airport Parkway
  - Completion envisioned for 2020-2025 timeframe, Projected Cost: 13m$
Stage 3: expand Airport parkway to 4 lanes divided hwy between the Airport and Hunt Club
  - Completion envisioned for 2026-2031 timeframe, projected cost 36m$
End-End project cost =  80m$
 
The study is expected to go through 3 rounds of public open houses (the 1st occured on Jan 27, 2015) and be finished in the latter half of 2016.
 
During the December pre-meeting the main topics that were raised were concerns about the project timing and about the degree to which this road expansion would lead to further congestion on Bronson Ave north of the canal.  Those same issues were raised by various members of the 100 strong crowd who attended the public consultation last night. 
 
The project timing issue is related to the fact that the City intends to extend the O-Train to Riverside south (Bowesville station) and potentially to the airport by 2023.  Thus doubling the capacity on the parallel roadway  just prior to the transit expansion seems like putting the cart before the horse.  Of course the project consultants insist that both are needed and the sooner we get started on the road expansion the better (since the transit expansion can't be rolled out any faster than 2023)
 
The other concern relates to the question of the utility (futility?) of delivering an increase of cars onto Bronson Ave which is already at full capacity in the section north of the canal.  Although the airport parkway expansion will reduce congestion and increase capacity for traffic headed to Heron Rd/Riverside Dr/Carleton U. it is not likely to be of any help to traffic destined to downtown/417 west/Carling Ave and in fact could significantly worsen the commute time on this leg of the journey not just for south end commuters but other city commuters currently using that corridor whose commutes will be worsened as a result of this project.  The CCC is working to push the city to study this issue and clarify what overall system wide benefits would actually accrue relative to the cost of this project.
 
Lastly, we will advocate that should the project go ahead that a new cycling facility be created as part of the project.
 
In the past, the CCC has been active in opposing road projects which increase capacity directly to the downtown core (Alta Vista Corridor and Prince of Wales Drive Widening...most sections of both proposed projects have now been postponed by 10-20 years).  How much interest is there among the membership to advocate for similar delays to the proposed airport parkway widening?
 
 
 
2. O-Train (Trillium Line) extension to Riverside South (and spur to Airport)
 
In addition to extending the line to Riverside South (Bowesville and Leitrim stations) and a proposed 'spur connection' to the airport...the project also envisions adding new stations along the existing line at Gladstone, Walkley, and South Keys.  The current target date for these changes to be in service is 2023 with a projected cost of 99m$ (not including the cost of the airport spur).  A plan with recomended route/station locations is expected to go to City Council for approval  in June 2015.
 
 
3.  Hwy 174/Regional Rd 17 Widening + LRT extension to Orleans
 
A study had been initiated in 2012 to widen the 174 from the Split to Rockland.  In 2013 the revised Transportation Master Plan also included a  new plan (not originally envisioned in the 2008 Transportation Master Plan) to extend the LRT from Blair Station to Orleans.   As a result of this change, it was decided to combine the study for the LRT extension together with the road widening study as they will be sharing the same corridor and the 2 plans should be co-ordinated.  Public Open Houses for Round 2 of these studies are planned for Feb 3,4,5  (2015) and study completion with a presentation to Transportation Committee is expected in the fall of 2015
 
 
 
4.  O-Connor Street Bikeway
 
The city is planning to add segregated cycling lanes along O-Connor St from Wellington St to just south of the 417.  
 
 
 
5.  Western LRT Extension (Tunney's Pasture to Baseline/Bayshore)
 
No doubt most readers have seen reports in the media of the challenges the City and the NCC are facing coming to an agreement on the exact routing for this LRT extension as it impacts the Ottawa River Parkway.  Supposedly discussions are ongoing.  The CCC has been involved in one of the public consultation groups which last convened in June 2013 (18 months ago) and no updates have been made public since that time.  It is unclear at this time what the timelines are for next steps/completion of this study.
 
 
6. Interprovincial Truck Tunnel Feasibility Study
 
This study is currently underway and a report is expected by the end of 2015.  There are no public consultation steps expected prior to the release of the report.   Some of the issues the study is evaluating include:
  - best routing for the tunnel
  - how to integrate the tunnel portals with the existing road network at the north and south ends
  - to what extent the tunnel can accomodate cars as well as trucks
  - how best to deal with shipments of dangerous goods
  - cost estimate
 

Charles Akben-Marchand

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Jan 28, 2015, 6:49:42 PM1/28/15
to John Verbaas, city-centre-coalition
Indeed, the CCC was created to oppose the addition of onramps to the airport parkway (which thus converted it into a commuter expressway rather than a link to the airport).

- Charles

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Bernie Geiger

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Jan 29, 2015, 12:42:40 AM1/29/15
to Cha...@akben.ca, John Verbaas, city-centr...@googlegroups.com, David Chernoshenko
Yes, some 15 years ago, widening and expansion of the Airport Parkway was fought on the grounds that it would put more traffic on Bronson and through the Glebe.  Accordingly compromises were made: no parkway widening, only new ramps at Hunt Club, no new ramps at Walkley and no new ramps opening until the O-Train was completed Greenboro to Bayview.   Note that the O-Train has since taken all (limited stop) buses off (and allowed room from more cars).

This time the planner's strategy is different.  Tuesday night they claimed that while more cars would use it from Lester to Brookfield, many get off at Riverside, Carleton, Col By and QE Drive.  Thus there would be no more traffic down Bronson, indeed they said traffic in the core was declining.  Such a different story from 15 years ago.

I guess the residents of Findlay, Broadway, Torrington and Lakeside don't count in the Glebe.   Nor the residents along Old Bronson.....

I would recommend that CCC and its Councillor fight back against widening the Airport Parkway, as they did over 15 years ago, and fight hard to have the O-Train Trillium Line extended to South Keys Station and at least as far as The Leitrim Road park and ride/bus transfer, long before the Parkway is widened.

I live a few blocks from the Parkway, near McCarthy woods and do not relish the increase in background traffic noise as all those increasing Findlay Creek, Osgoode and Greely residents roar their gas guzzlers nearby.

Note that there can be several phases to Trillium Line expansion.  These can include lengthening to Leitrim, Bowesville, the Airport, Riverside Park and double tracking of the whole line to Bayview and electrification of part or the whole line.  Not necessarily in that order.  Note that an EA just looks at what COULD be done, not what actually WILL be done.   As you know an EA was done for the NS-LRT a decade ago and the contract was cancelled by O'Brien.  But guess what: That EA was used to justify the enormously wide and expensive Strandherd Bridge over the Rideau, even though it will now NEVER be used for LRT.

Bernie Geiger, Ottawa

John Verbaas

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Jan 30, 2015, 1:17:42 PM1/30/15
to Bernie Geiger, Cha...@akben.ca, city-centr...@googlegroups.com, David Chernoshenko
Hi Bernie and Charles...thanks for your comments and for reminding us of some of the CCC's corporate history.
 
Clearly we are all wishing we could live in a world where the O-Train expansion was implemented first and any decision whether or not to widen the airport parkway would only happen after that.  The challenge with this as I have been told is that the O-Train expansion can't be accelerated faster than 2023 (Why this should take 8 years is a bit of a mystery to me)
 
Bernie, to that end, I'm wondering about your comment below about at minimum extending the O-Train to South Keys and Leitrim first as part of a multi-stage plan.  Did  you say this because you have reason to believe that if the O-Train expansion was put into stages that a first stage expansion to South Keys/Leitrim could be done materially sooner than 2023 (and without appreciable cost penalties to expand further later?)
 
Also re. your comment about the fact that an EA is being undertaken now doesn't necessarily imply the project is a 'done deal' is a good one.  For example, an EA was done for the AltaVista Corridor in 2003-2005 and as of the 2013 Transportation Master Plan, implementation of its more controversial 2nd and 3rd phases is now pushed off to beyond the 2031 time horizon.
 
One other comment I'd like to make is on the anecdote you (Bernie) shared from the meeting that the consultant said not to worry about worsening delays on Bronson because traffic 'in the core' is actually going down.  Hello?  transit ridership is also going down...and why? because of recent downsizing of the federal civil service.  I don't think there is any justification to believe that this recent trend of reduced traffic in the core will continue (after all in 2019 the extra lane of the 417 east will be opened to general traffic and that boosts the car capacity into downtown from the east by 2,000 cars per hour!)...so I am going to worry about the impact the airport parkway widening will have on Bronson and I don't appreciate comments from the 'experts' without any opportunity for cross-examination.
 
This email is getting long so I will end it here...but I have many more thoughts to express on the topic of this project which I hope to get around to writing down in the near future.
 
John
 
From: Bernie Geiger [mailto:Ber...@Geiger.ca]
Sent: January-29-15 12:43 AM
To: Cha...@Akben.ca
Cc: John Verbaas; city-centr...@googlegroups.com; David Chernoshenko
Subject: Re: [ccc-ottawa] Summary of Projects of Interest for 2015 + Airport Parkway widening report

Michael Richardson

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Jan 30, 2015, 3:35:29 PM1/30/15
to jver...@rogers.com, Bernie Geiger, Cha...@akben.ca, city-centr...@googlegroups.com, Michael Kostiuk., Michael Kostiuk, David Chernoshenko

John Verbaas <jver...@rogers.com> wrote:
> One other comment I'd like to make is on the anecdote you (Bernie) shared
> from the meeting that the consultant said not to worry about worsening
> delays on Bronson because traffic 'in the core' is actually going down.
> Hello? transit ridership is also going down...and why? because of recent
> downsizing of the federal civil service. I don't think there is any

It's not just the federal civil service: total number of jobs (absolute
numbers, not relative to population) in the core are going down.
[This data point is well understood by Michael Kostiuk, on the CC]
The growth of jobs is in the industrial parks and other hard to service
transit places.

If all the jobs aren't in one place, then the expensive LRT begins to become
useless.

But worse: as the number of people living downtown still goes up, at least
one person of the household (which might include two twenty-somethings these
days) will need to travel to a job elsewhere.
That means that the traffic on Bronson will now be in two directions on a
regular basis.

David Jeanes

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Jan 31, 2015, 12:02:08 PM1/31/15
to jver...@rogers.com, Bernie Geiger, Charles Akben-Marchand, city-centr...@googlegroups.com, David Chernoshenko, Friends of the O-Train, Ben Novak
On 30 Jan, 2015, at 13:17, John Verbaas wrote:

Clearly we are all wishing we could live in a world where the O-Train expansion was implemented first and any decision whether or not to widen the airport parkway would only happen after that.  The challenge with this as I have been told is that the O-Train expansion can't be accelerated faster than 2023 (Why this should take 8 years is a bit of a mystery to me)

Particularly since the reason we selected Diesel LRT in the first place was so that we could get it up and running in only about 20 months after completion of the EA.

David Jeanes


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