Ottawa agree to tunnel for Western LRT extension
Published: Mon, 2015-03-09 14:39A long-standing disagreement between the City of Ottawa and the National Capital Commission, which has been settled, could also be signal a new era of co-operation between the two organizations.
At a joint news conference held on neutral territory inside a downtown office building Friday, the city and the NCC announced that the best option for extending light rail west would involve fully burying a train tunnel beneath two eastbound lanes of the parkway.
An earlier plan proposed by the city for the 1.2-kilometre section of the $980-million Richmond Underground would have seen trains travel through a trench, only 700 metres of which would be partly covered, between Dominion station, near where the current Transit way means the Macdonald Parkway, and Cleary station at Richmond Road and Cleary Avenue.
But in November the NCC’s board dumped cold water on that plan, saying the city should consider another option or, if it’s determined to have the route run alongside the river, dig a deep tunnel for the trains.
Source: City of Ottawa