Transportation committee approves Baseline rapid transit plan
Posted Feb 2, 2017 08:14:03 AM.
Last Updated Feb 2, 2017 08:43:53 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – A plan to widen Baseline Road and put transit-only lanes in the centre median has been approved by a city hall committee, but it’s not welcome news to a group dedicated to protecting the Central Experimental Farm.
The $148-million Baseline Road busway would bypass downtown and provide bus-only lanes along Richmond, Baseline and Heron roads, connecting Bayshore with Baseline and Heron stations. The busway aims to improve reliability and reduce travel times. Buses currently travelling the corridor mix with regular traffic and get stuck in congestion.
The plan would involve widening Baseline Road, requiring a seven-metre wide strip of the Experimental Farm on the north side between Prince of Wales Drive and Merivale Road. That’s concerning to Friends of the Central Experimental Farm.
“It’s a research facility. It’s a public garden. It is a heritage site. We would like to see it stay that way,” president of the group, Judy Dodds, tells 1310 NEWS.
“I am very supportive of improving the rapid transit system, it’s just disappointing that it has to come at the cost of encroaching on a heritage site,” said Dodds.
The design was approved by the city’s transportation committee, Wednesday. If it goes ahead, construction would begin in 2020.
