What is Ottawa's best choice when it comes to transportation? The truth is, there may not be a best choice, but that will all change within the next decade. Throughout the city's history, the implementation of a Light Rail Train was always considered illogical due to its high costs and time consumption. These issues are unavoidable, but with the city's rapid growth, a drastic measure is becoming more and more necessary. This plan will have an exceptional effect on traffic congestion and will reinforce safety issues that revolve around transit. The entire project is based around the citizens' needs. Specifically, once it is completed, underground tunnels will avoid crowding downtown Ottawa and other intensified areas of the city, which are already very limited on space. The train's stops will be located in areas that have been ruled most accessible for its future users (schools, highly populated areas, downtown, malls, etc.) The LRT plan has now started.
First and foremost, traffic congestion is an issue that has been rapidly worsening in the Ottawa area over the past 10 years. Throughout any weekday — notably rush hour from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. — it has become very time consuming to travel to and from the east and west ends of the city. This affects everybody that leaves their house, whether they’re driving, taking the bus, or taking the train. It applies to all modes of transportation during regular work commute hours: roads and highways are bumper-to-bumper and OC Transpo services are overfilling their vehicles with passengers. Despite the extension of bus schedules and the creation of the O-train, the growing population has slowed down the services and rendered them much less effective. The implementation of a Light Rail Train Plan will help dissipate the population across four modes of transportation as opposed to the existing three. Also, taking into account the LRT’s higher efficiency, it will be able to move more passengers and move them faster. This will eliminate overcrowding, increase riders’ safety, lower the number of drivers on the road, etc. In North America, 13 per cent of all deaths are related to falling, particularly those over the age of 45. Thirty per cent of bus-related death falls take place when the passenger is leaving the bus. According to On The Road (a book on transit safety), this is due to adverse conditions, unfamiliarity with stairs and setup, failure to grab the handrail and poor lighting. In addition, 54 per cent of bus-related crimes happen to, from and at the bus stop. Again, these problems are caused by overcrowding, poorly lit bus stops and bus stops located in unsafe or questionable areas. These issues are easily avoided and will be prevented with the upcoming LRT system. It is a long-term investment that is well worth it, financially and environmentally,
In Canada, transit is an issue dealt with at the municipal level. There are three main groups in charge of proposing, discussing, approving and controlling the LRT project: the city’s mayor, the city councillors, but most importantly, the residents of Ottawa. The mayor is responsible of a majority of the planning, incorporating the appropriate businesses and the budgeting. The city councillors must observe the issue from their ward’s perspective and as an overall view for the city. Once they have obtained all the necessary information to make a decision, a majority vote is mandatory to approve the plan. The citizens, who will be living the effects of the project first-hand, are there to voice their opinions and sway the mayor and his councillors. Although there are no agencies currently involved with the LRT plan, Ottawa’s Mayor Jim Watson had previously suggested connecting with Infrastructure Ontario [a provincial agency] to assist in the competitive bidding process. Watson also said he is planning to appoint a management board to oversee the expensive plan as well as a transit commission to oversee the construction and management of the project. He doesn’t feel comfortable leaving this huge project in the hand of city councillors, but rather in the hands of people who ride the transit and have experience with transit issues.
Now, with a new mayor in place, Ottawa’s LRT plan is under way. The funding has been resolved, and study estimates have led to the conclusion that the overall costs will be a total of $2.1 billion. The federal government is providing $600 million, the provincial government is also providing $600 million, and the municipal government is in charge of covering the remaining costs. According to City Councillor Rick Chiarelli, the municipal government is currently working on the funding through property taxes and user fees, as well as negotiating with the provincial and federal governments to bump up the grants. According to The Rapid Transit Expansion Study, several LRT plans were reviewed from Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Boston. It was ruled not cost-effective to convert the Transitway to LRT due to service disruption during the actual conversion as well as the issue of value for money. The study, which was conducted in 2003, estimated that the transitway from Orleans to Kanata would cost $1 billion. It was decided that this would money would be better invested in establishing new rapid transit corridors rather than replacing existing ones. Once the functional design was finalized, the environmental assessment had been approved, the geotechnical and hydrogeological investigation was completed, the plan was underway. The LRT plan is currently in the preliminary engineering phase of the project In other words, “This work will advance the OLRT design to allow a more refined project cost estimate and prepare specifications for final design and construction. It will also include a value engineering process that will investigate options to manage project costs.” This should all be finished by 2012. Construction is planned to take five years, and full service is expected by 2019.
The Light Rail plan should have been put into action much earlier than today, but it's better late than never. It's important for Ottawa's population to have its mind set on long term goals, especially as Canada's capital, a place flowing with tourists, and most importantly, a rapidly growing region. The funding has been acquired from provincial and federal governments, which means that all that is left is for the municipal governments to carry out the procedure as effectively and efficiently as possible. As Ottawa's population multiplied, they had the option to dig their grave or dig a 44-meter tunnel and enable a state-of-the-art transit system — they made the right decision.
SOURCES:
City of Ottawa. (2010). Ottawa Light Rail. Retrieved from http://www.ottawalightrail.ca/en/project-plan
City of Ottawa. (2010). Ottawa Light Rail. Retrieved from http://www.ottawalightrail.ca/en/project-plan/current-status
City of Ottawa. (2010). Ottawa Light Rail. Retrieved from http://www.ottawalightrail.ca/en/project-plan/fast-facts
CTV Ottawa. (2010). Watson wants management board to oversee LRT. Retrieved from http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100915/OTT_Watson_100915/20100915/
Government of Alberta, Government of New Brunswick, Royal Canadian Mounted Police. (1971). Roadside Surveys Drinking-Driving Behaviour. Alberta and New Brunswick, Ministry of Transportation.
Grafftey, H., and McInenly, R.A., (revised edition 1990). Safety Sense: On The Road. Ottawa, ON: Safety Sense Enterprises Inc.
Transport Canada. (2003). The Rapid Transit Expansion Study. Ottawa, ON: Transport Canada.
Willing, J. (2010). Create board to oversee Ottawa's LRT project: Watson. Retrieved from http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/09/15/15358576.html
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