Confederation Line West LRT Extension (Stage 2) [Tunney's to Baseline/Moodie] | U/C

[Richard Eade]

Yup, that whole area is a mess.

It went from a plan to have the buses run on Navaho (which is why that overpass is so wide, and oddly configured) to moving the buses to the south (to, apparently, free up Ottawa-owned developable land along Woodroffe, between Navaho and Baseline roads for TOD, and keep the P&R). That forced Algonquin to flip its building design (which is why there is such an awkward entrance to the loading area that requires a U-turn on Navaho). But even after such a drastic change, the City didn’t re-evaluate other components.

The tunnel, for instance was designed to have trains in the inside tubes stopping at a central platform – which, it seems, is what is still going to happen. And the outside tubes were to carry buses from the south to a turning loop around the headhouse, north of Navaho. Once it became clear that the buses would be stopping south of College Ave., those outer tubes could have been deleted – reducing the price of the tunnel, and making it more compact.

Alas, because there was so little actual understanding of what the City wanted in the first place, meaning that major decisions were now being made on the fly, it was too late to put the tunnel on a diet. An excuse was created that the extra tubes would be used for train storage. Apparently, that was just spin. They are not even laying tracks for the trains to get to those tubes. (But, of course, it is a future possibility – like the additional station east of Blair, near Gloucester High School.)

Now, look at the bus loop that we are getting at the future Algonquin Station. (Yes, J.OT13, it is so far away from Baseline Road, that they are changing the name to drop the road reference.) The idea for the north loop was a tight loop that dropped people right at the headhouse. The new loop is HUGE. Like Hurdman, and Tunney’s Pasture, it will involve lots of unsheltered walking to bus stops.