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

[Uhuniau]

The steel is growing at a fungal pace at Kichi Sibi. And the combination of LRT station + beach and park re-build is finally starting to take shape, AND there are new residential towers sprouting.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

The steel is growing at a fungal pace at Kichi Sibi. And the combination of LRT station + beach and park re-build is finally starting to take shape, AND there are new residential towers sprouting.

It will be fascinating to see the poorly used former glorified bus stop become a busy rapid transit station surrounded by higher density residential and interesting destinations.

[Har13]

2-3 years and westboro housing market will be on fire.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by Har13

2-3 years and westboro housing market will be on fire.

Already is, and land-banking is happening.

[Kitchissippi]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Thanks for posting! Great progress. Westboro is the last station left with no steel work.

Actually, Sherbourne doesn't have any steel yet, either. However, New Orchard just started getting its structure put up:

[SL123]

Video from Ottawa Freelance Photography on Youtube

• Video Link

[rocketphish]

Ottawa LRT west extension could be ready for passengers by 2027, city says
"It's been a challenging few years, with COVID and other factors. We're very proud of the work we have behind us, the quality we have behind us, and we're confident it will be both safe and reliable when it’s ready."

Marlo Glass, Ottawa Citizen
Published Apr 12, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 3 minute read



Ottawa’s LRT west extension line could be ready for passengers by 2027, City of Ottawa officials say.

Media were taken on a tour of what will eventually be a significant expansion to the Confederation Line, adding 11 stations and 15 km of rail, including a concrete tunnel running underneath the Kichi Zībī Mīkan Parkway, on Friday.

Jacelyn Daigle, the city’s construction manager for Stage 2 of the LRT system, said the Parkway Tunnel was 85 per cent complete and construction was expected to be finished by summer. Then work will begin to install tracks and the overhead electric catenary system. That’s expected to take until early 2026, when test trains could start running.

The western extension could see its first passengers by 2027, Daigle said, but she cautioned that date could still be a moving target for the “large, complex project” to extend the current LRT system past Tunney’s Pasture to Moodie Drive, with a “spur line” running south to Algonquin College.

The Parkway Tunnel is one of three underground elements of the expanding LRT line and will eventually be three kilometres long, travelling under Kichi Zībī Mīkan Parkway and Richmond Road up to 10 metres below ground level.

The tunnel is “on the critical path, helping determine when we finish this section of the project,” Daigle said.

The east and west extensions to the Confederation Line have a combined price tag of $2.57 billion.

The east rail extension to Trim Road was initially scheduled for completion by late 2024, but is now expected to start operations in 2025.

Meanwhile, the west rail extension was initially scheduled to be done by 2025, but the city’s light rail sub-committee was told last summer that it was 17 months behind, with delays on the cut-and-cover tunnel along the Kichi Zībī Mīkan and Byron Linear Park pushing the overall project completion date to late 2026.

Now that date has been pushed back again.

Cut-and-cover is a tunnelling method that involves excavating a trench, building a tunnel and then adding the roof, or cover, as opposed to “bored tunnels” that are constructed using tunnel-boring machines. Construction crews began working on the Parkway Tunnel in 2019 by relocating sewers, water mains and other utilities and realigning the Kichi Zībī Mīkan parkway and pathways.

Daigle said the delays could partially be chalked up to worker shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic, among other reasons.

“As with any construction project, there are unknowns,” she said. “The main items we had to navigate with constructors is site conditions, rock quality, soil conditions. It’s been a challenging few years, with COVID and other factors. We’re very proud of the work we have behind us, the quality we have behind us, and we’re confident it will be both safe and reliable when it’s ready.”

After the tunnel is complete, the next phase of testing will bring its own set of unknowns that could “refine further” the opening date for the public, she said.

Water leaks and falling concrete along existing O-Train tunnels have been valuable lessons for Stage 2, Daigle said, resulting in an emphasis on waterproofing the underground structures.

Notably, this project has a dedicated construction management team, which was not the case for the initial Confederation Line.

“We have our own dedicated field coordinators in the field, having a look, making sure no quality corners are being cut,” Daigle said. “They’re getting ahead of issues, co-ordinating any permits needed, anything the city can do to progress this project forward.”

PHOTOS

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ottaw...2027-city-says

[vtecyo]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

[B]Ottawa LRT west extension could be ready for passengers by 2027, city says...

Why not just round it up to a nice even 2030? /s

[eltodesukane]

Why taking so long...

[Kitchissippi]

CBC also has a video of the media tour: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7172987

I think this stretch from Tunney’s Pasture to Lincoln Fields will be the most TOD intensive in the entire line. The increase in property values will surpass the cost of the project, with future taxes paying for this extension faster than anywhere else. I’ve always thought that if the city had splurged on a fully-automated Metro from Lincoln Fields to Hurdman right at the start, we could have lived with BRT for the rest of the system for a good while.

[DTcrawler]

The Citizen article says the combined cost of the east and west extensions is $2.57B. If the total cost of Stage 2 is $4.66B that would mean the “relatively simple” south extension came in around $2.09B. How is it that possible?

Also, the CBC article falsely states that the total cost of Stage 2 is $2.57B. I hate that we can no longer trust what these “journalists” write because they’re too lazy to get their facts straight.

[harls]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

I hate that we can no longer trust what these “journalists” write because they’re too lazy to get their facts straight.

Don't worry, AI "journalists" are the future..

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

The Citizen article says the combined cost of the east and west extensions is $2.57B. If the total cost of Stage 2 is $4.66B that would mean the “relatively simple” south extension came in around $2.09B. How is it that possible?

Also, the CBC article falsely states that the total cost of Stage 2 is $2.57B. I hate that we can no longer trust what these “journalists” write because they’re too lazy to get their facts straight.

Even the articles talking about signing the contracts are vague. The east west contract is 2.57B. The South is confusing as the bid was $1.6 but we need to pay a bunch more because it's doing other maintenance early or something so that's added to the cost bringing it to $1.9B. The south extension is incredibly poor value but the spread the love around attitude and the Airport extension for the ego of it required it be included.

[OCCheetos]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

The Citizen article says the combined cost of the east and west extensions is $2.57B. If the total cost of Stage 2 is $4.66B that would mean the “relatively simple” south extension came in around $2.09B. How is it that possible?

Also, the CBC article falsely states that the total cost of Stage 2 is $2.57B. I hate that we can no longer trust what these “journalists” write because they’re too lazy to get their facts straight.

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Even the articles talking about signing the contracts are vague. The east west contract is 2.57B. The South is confusing as the bid was $1.6 but we need to pay a bunch more because it's doing other maintenance early or something so that's added to the cost bringing it to $1.9B.

For whatever reason, the reporting of these project costs has been completely inconsistent.

• The cost of Stage 1 was always reported as the capital cost being paid to RTG ($2.1B)
• The cost of Stage 2 East/West is also only the capital cost. (The maintenance costs are separate anyway since RTG is maintaining the expanded system). Approximately $3.9B.
• The cost of Stage 2 South has ended up being reported as the combined capital and maintenance costs, totaling $1.6B over 30 years.

The capital costs of Stage 2 South is currently about $800M, which includes some longer-term maintenance work moved up to the initial construction phase, along with some other costs that have since been reallocated into the program's capital budget to take advantage of capital funding sources (i.e. dev charges and debt).

The overall capital cost of Stage 2 (East, West, and South) is $4.7B.
The breakdown of those costs are:

• South: $800M
• East/West: $2.57B
• Thales: $70M
• RTG (New vehicles and MSF expansion): $492M
• City costs (Rail Implementation Office and Contingencies): $650M
• HST: $79M

The south extension is incredibly poor value but the spread the love around attitude and the Airport extension for the ego of it required it be included.

From a cost perspective, the airport extension is... okay? $155M of federal and provincial funding, or about $38.8M/km, is arguably not the worst value for money on the South extension.

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by OCCheetos

For whatever reason, the reporting of these project costs has been completely inconsistent.

• The cost of Stage 1 was always reported as the capital cost being paid to RTG ($2.1B)
• The cost of Stage 2 East/West is also only the capital cost. (The maintenance costs are separate anyway since RTG is maintaining the expanded system). Approximately $3.9B.
• The cost of Stage 2 South has ended up being reported as the combined capital and maintenance costs, totaling $1.6B over 30 years.

The capital costs of Stage 2 South is currently about $800M, which includes some longer-term maintenance work moved up to the initial construction phase, along with some other costs that have since been reallocated into the program's capital budget to take advantage of capital funding sources (i.e. dev charges and debt).

The overall capital cost of Stage 2 (East, West, and South) is $4.7B.
The breakdown of those costs are:

• South: $800M
• East/West: $2.57B
• Thales: $70M
• RTG (New vehicles and MSF expansion): $492M
• City costs (Rail Implementation Office and Contingencies): $650M
• HST: $79M

From a cost perspective, the airport extension is... okay? $155M of federal and provincial funding, or about $38.8M/km, is arguably not the worst value for money on the South extension.

Thank you for breaking it down. The fact that I've yet to see this sort of breakdown from any of our local media outlets is a joke. Lazy, lazy journalism but who can blame them when all they need to do to generate clicks and fuel their ad revenue is stoke some public outrage and call it a day.

[Jay31]

I think there's a danger in focusing too much on the capital cost to build a new transit line in isolation. It sounds good in political circles to say "on time, on budget... or "we got a deal", but as we learned with stage 1, optimizing for the initial construction cost means spending more down the line to correct mistakes. It also doesn't include the economic benefits of having mass transit that will radically change development whereever it goes in the city - increasing property values, tax revenue and providing opportunities for much more efficient housing than expanding the city further with more car reliant suburbs. This is not a story that journalists are good at telling - or people are good at receiving. Most people don't want to hear about an expensive capital project unless it directly benefits them, thus the costs become another reason to unfairly malign the project - when the long term benefits ($$$) will likely far outweigh the initial cost.

I'll admit, I'm in the bucket that will directly benefit from it - living very close to a new station. I've been quite impressed by the Richmond tunnel and Lincoln Fields spur progress over the past couple of years. We've gone from nothing to a hole in the ground to a complete tunnel and now train tracks, power infra and stations are going in. Given everything that's happened with the economy over the past few years, a delay isn't unexpected.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Kitchissippi

CBC also has a video of the media tour: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7172987

I think this stretch from Tunney’s Pasture to Lincoln Fields will be the most TOD intensive in the entire line. The increase in property values will surpass the cost of the project, with future taxes paying for this extension faster than anywhere else. I’ve always thought that if the city had splurged on a fully-automated Metro from Lincoln Fields to Hurdman right at the start, we could have lived with BRT for the rest of the system for a good while.

For sure. Quite impressive to see the TOD u/c and proposed along the west alignment. South along the original O-Train alignment as well.

Urban west Ottawa had a few clusters of towers along the river, but within a decade or two, we'll have a continuous (Vanier to Lincoln Fields) 13 kilometer skyline.

Speaking of the West alignment.

• Video Link

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by DTcrawler

Thank you for breaking it down. The fact that I've yet to see this sort of breakdown from any of our local media outlets is a joke. Lazy, lazy journalism but who can blame them when all they need to do to generate clicks and fuel their ad revenue is stoke some public outrage and call it a day.

I think you're ascribing a motive that doesn't exist.

[ponyboycurtis]

[QUOTE=J.OT13;10185000]For sure. Quite impressive to see the TOD u/c and proposed along the west alignment. South along the original O-Train alignment as well.

Urban west Ottawa had a few clusters of towers along the river, but within a decade or two, we'll have a continuous (Vanier to Lincoln Fields) 13 kilometer skyline.

Speaking of the West alignment.

I was thinking of the western skyline more like an EKG monitor. Viewing it from the Quebec side near the rapids I could start to see it last summer.

[J.OT13]

I was thinking of the western skyline more like an EKG monitor. Viewing it from the Quebec side near the rapids I could start to see it last summer.[/QUOTE]

Hoping we continue to get variety in height to continue that effect. Shouldn't be a wall of 27 floor towers now that we've loosen restrictions/developers have realized it's possible to build over 27.