LRT to come in on budget
Posted Jul 7, 2011 05:12:47 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ottawa’s LRT project will be keeping its price tag of $2.1-billion.
Mayor Jim Watson made the promise Thursday to applause from a crowded council chamber.
There were fears the costs would escalate but Transit Comission Chair Diane Deans says the new numbers are adjusted for inflation.
To find some savings a new alignment has been mapped out for the route, moving it one block north so the tunnel will be more shallow than originally planned.
Deans said the new plan puts the risk in the hands of the private sector and not on the shoulders of tax payers. It’s a new safety net that wasn’t part of the original plan.
Watson said many of the problems council was facing in getting the LRT built have been solved because the route will not be as deep as originally planned.
“This was one of the great irritants that the public had,” said Watson, citing conversations he’d had with people while campaigning and at public meetings. “Going down 12 storeys was a lot of escalators and from a safety point of view and from a customer service point of view it just didn’t make sense.”
Now the tunnel will run at less than half that depth, at four storeys deep. Watson says that will reduce purchasing costs, as well as the price tag for digging, excavating and building. In the future it will also mean reduced operating costs because there will be fewer escalators and shorter elevator shafts.
With the new plan the West Downtown Station will be moved one block north as the entire tunnel will now run under Queen Street before turning north again to follow Rideau Street.
Infrastructure Ontario will be helping the City to buy the more shallow land and bidding is expected to start this December.
The project is expected to be complete by June of 2018 with the downtown construction finished, at least at surface level, ahead of 2017 celebrations of Canada’s 150th birthday.
The new plan still has to be approved by the Committee of the Whole at City Council next week.
