Council to make changes to LRT expansion
Posted Mar 28, 2012 12:18:30 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
More changes could be on the way for the downtown LRT expansion.
City council passed two motions, Wednesday, that would allow administration to conduct feasibility studies into creating a covered walkway that would link the National Arts Centre to the LRT line and into moving the Downtown East Station closer to Metcalfe. The city decided to look into the tunnel after late hour meetings Tuesday night.
Over the weekend, the owner of the Lord Elgin Hotel, Jeff Gillin, offered the city $2-million over a 10-year period to build a station at the National Arts Centre.
“When I first heard of the $2-million, I was very grateful to the Gillin family for putting it on the table, but also recognized that that was not nearly enough to build a station, certainly, and not even enough to build a covered walkway,” said Coun. Keith Egli. “This allows us to find out what it’s really going to cost.”
Mayor Jim Watson said a station at the NAC would not be feasible, even if there was more money.
“I was not going to support a brand new $40 to 50-million station at the NAC entrance when we knew the traffic patterns and more people wanted to go to the Rideau Centre, the Byward Market, Sandy Hill and Lowertown.”
“Everyone was happy with this solution to get some form of an entrance in the general vicinity of Confederation Square, downtown in the perceived heart of Ottawa,” said Coun. Diane Deans, the head of the Transit Commission. “Now we just have to find the dollars to make it happen.”
The city will also look into moving the Downtown East station closer to Metcalfe.
Watson said he did not know how long the two feasibility studies would take, but said they would neither inflate the cost of the project, nor delay construction.
