Category Archives: ottawa river

Distilling Our Lady of the Condos – part ii

Last winter, Domtar knocked down an elderly mill building on the Islands in the Ottawa River. Great consternation arose, as they did it Without Consulting the Bureaucrats. Priceless heritage lost!

Like a dog with a bone, the media and planning pundits worried about the lost potential for a vibrant outdoorsy urban waterfront à la Granville Island or The Distillery in Toronto. Few people seemed to notice that Victoria Island is one of the windiest, coldest, bleakest spots in Ottawa, a far remove from sunny* Granville Island or the spirits factory in Toronto. Numerous calls were made for the Distillery Folks to come to Ottawa and Save Our Historic Neighborhood.

I had visited the Distillery District in Toronto last year. It was a rainy day when I visited. I didn’t come away quite as enthused as other observers; it was too much a tourist theme park rather than a real neighborhood (such as the Danforth). That might come in time, though, as urban renewal migrated east of the downtown core.

So a few weeks ago, I dutifully trotted over to take a gander at the Famous Place. It is indeed well done. I kept thinking of Victoria Island and also of Our Lady of the Condos on Richmond Road. What would the convent site in Westboro be like if the Distillery Corporation had bought it?

This dramatic modern interpretation of a flatiron building greets visitors walking from the downtown. Unflinchingly modern, it perches cheek-by-jowel with the original Distillery structures.

Now, as the Friendly Giant might say, Look Up. Way way up:

 

Yup, that’s one big highrise. And it’s not the only one. Here’s a bird’s eye view of the block, courtesy of Google. Notice how close the very high rises are to the antique Distillery heritage structures. can you imagine Ottawans or our planning folks saying this is compatible development? Our community associations would explode in a burst of dust.

 

 

the google view doesn’t quite capture the actual height contrast between the old and new, so here is another angle:

And yet, on the ground, in the Distillery precinct itself, the walking environment is pleasant, the view primarily of the podiums and low rises, with the glass towers somewhat receding and by no means omnipresent or hulking over the place like some overpowering manifestation of Nasty Developer Greed.

Here is the latest tower going up right at the eastern edge of the Distillery buildings, as of yesterday:

So what if Ashcroft proposes a forty storey glass condo to replace the much-maligned four storey seniors residence on the south side of the convent site in Westboro? Would it “ruin” the site? Would the contrast “destroy” the heritage? Would the car traffic render Westboro chaos? (note that these Toronto towers plus a bunch more proposed ones exit onto ordinary city streets similar to Richmond Road and Byron. There is no subway presence in the area, but like Westboro an LRT is on the way).

The Distillery neighborhood gives me great pause to ponder the merit of high rise vs low rise intensification arguments. And puts the Lansdowne and Convent site controversies into a different context. Do we really want the Distillery folks to redevelop Victoria Island? Or the convent? Let’s be a bit more careful about what we wish for.

Perhaps we should have had a wide-open international competition for those sites, where proponents would be invited to come up with their own land use mix and urban developments. Might have been interesting.

But naah, we are much too timid to allow that. We’d get something else … say Lansdowne Park, or LeBreton Flats…

 

_———-

*sarcasm. irony. whatever.

 

 

 

 

Bayview Station (final)

The saga of the amazing perambulating Bayview Station is nearing completion.

Recall that the station has been proposed in various scales, sizes, and locations. Well, the final plan is available exclusively to readers here.

Bayview Station is back to being “on the structure” of the transitway bridge over the O-Train cut (yes, I know, the O-train isn’t in a cut, it’s on the level, it’s the road that is elevated, but  such is our road-focussed society that the road becomes the normal level, and the flat becomes the hole…).

The new station is in the same style as the majority of other proposed LRT stations. It has an arched roof made out of metal diamonds or triangles finished on the underside with wood. The exterior colour is usually shown as a light coloured metal.

It is an LRT station, not an O-Train station, so the station itself is on the LRT alignment and the O-train platforms, to be rebuilt on the west side of the track, are largely uncovered and seem to remain bus-shelter style. They do get some additional shade and rain protection from the overhead bridges, especially with the O-Train platform shifting slightly south to be directly under Albert Street. Still, I wonder if it worth lobbying to have the O-Train Station built to a similar standard of the LRT station.

I also note that the current configuration will work equally well for the O-Train terminating at Bayview or continuing on to Gatineau via the Prince of Wales railway bridge (provided it is not converted by the city to a road bridge for the STO). This configuration does not work well if the O-train tracks are someday turned at Bayview to go east towards LeBreton Station. The option of having direct train service from the airport to the downtown is not yet foreclosed although planners have not been enthused about the link.

The main entrance is on the O-Train level. The stated reason for this is that the station is primarily a transfer station between the E-W and the N-S rail service. An unstated reason is that the STO wants to build a major transfer station for its Rapibus line at Bayview. So in the picture below, the station is viewed from the north, between the Ottawa River Commuter Expresway and the head of the O-Train platform, where Bayview Yards is now and the proposed Rapibus station might be:

The two tall towers immediately behind the station (pictured above) are the proposed Phoenix 35 storey twin office towers (6500 employees, 200 parking spaces, so it is really-transit-oriented development) located on the triangle of land immediately south of the Station and before you get to the existing City Centre 8 storey tower.

The elevated station is built on the existing structure. The only widening of the structure will occur for the stairs and elevator shafts going down to the O-Train.

Here’s a daytime view of the station, now seen from Albert Street, just west of the O-Train, on the opposite side of Albert from the Tom Brown Arena. Note that there is no pedestrian entrance from Albert on this side of the station. Hintonburg and Mechanicsville residents will generally approach the station through the O-Train level entrance and a series of ground-level pathways extending on the north side of the Station  structure to Bayview Road (this is also the Bikewest route); or to the south on a flat pathway extending along the edge of the Tom Brown soccer field.

The whole LRT station is supposed to fit on the existing structure. The extensions on each side support the stairs and twin elevators on each side. I suspect the roof detail for the stairways has not be designed yet, as none is shown. Presumably the stairs will also contain escalator(s) but it is hard to tell from the plans provided.

Personally, I think we could cut some costs by providing stairs and elevators only, and skip the escalators. We need to walk more, and a 20′ flight of stairs twice a day might help reduce some coach-potato-office-cubicle bellies and promote coronary fitness. But if there are escalators, I will of course join everyone else in using them and skipping the stairs.

If you go back up to the top picture, you will notice a flight of exterior stairs at the northeast end of the platform (far left). These are denoted as “emergency stairs”. I confess to some confusion here. If the emergency is a vehicle crash, or bomb scare, why do the stairs keep one close to the structure? If it’s for “maintenance emergencies” the stairs are unusable for the handicapped, strollers, etc. Wouldn’t it be cheaper and more useful to put in a asphalt ramp similar to the walkway there now?

Access to the new Station from Dalhousie (ie, from the east) is via a secondary entrance at the Albert Street level at the SE corner, where the OC Transpo Albert Street bus stop is now. This corrects a major failing of previous designs which favoured transferring passengers and only minimally serviced walk-in clientelle.

Here is a plan view of the Bayview Station:

The station itself is primarily the yellow (fare-paid area inside the turnstiles) area shown on the existing structure that carries the transitway over the O-Train. Note how the bridge has been widened just enough to locate the stairs and elevators. The O-train platform has been moved to the west side of the existing tracks, and extended a bit further south, beyond the Albert Street overpass shown in white. There is a pedestrian pathway running off to the southwest by Tom Brown arena. The entrance for people coming from the east is on the Albert level, and shown in pink. Most readers can double click on the drawings to  enlarge them to full screen.

The plan shown above also shows that the City has been listening to public input. There is now a  connection to the Albert Street multi-user path on the east side. The path along the soccer field at Tom Brown will be very useful and direct, and eliminates the need for a flight of stairs up the steep hill to Albert Street where the path is now shown doing a sharp S-bend.

I was out walking the Station area on Friday with City engineers and consultants figuring out just how to wiggle the N-S bike path through the station area. This path will be constructed next year, in 2012, from the River up to Gladstone Ave. While on the platform areas with the plans in hand, the access routes seem to make a lot of sense and will provide direct and safe access to the station from the surrounding communities. The trick right now is trying to route the bike path through and keeping it open during the conversion of the transitway to the LRT.

Here’s a close-up of the main station entrance at the lower, O-Train level:

It is not perfectly clear from just this drawing, but there is lots of room for the pathway on the west side, from Hintonburg, to pass under the stairs as the stairs shown on the plan above the words ”lower plaza” are really 16′ up at that point. Try to compare the pic at the top of the post with the drawings if you are really keen to see the details of the circulation.

I still think the Station is underserved with bike racks, but now areas for expanded racks have been identified. The curvy green dotted line in the illustration is the bio-swale designed to carry runoff waters down the slope in a decorative and ecologically sensitive manner. The drawings show most of the station sides glazed in, as is befitting this windy spot; I hope the few unglazed sections are built so that glazing can be added later if required.

For keeners, the illustrations shown the supporting pillars under Albert Street as black circles; but the ones under the transitway are shown as hollow black squares. Readers may also find it helpful to go back to last weeks post about the Bayview-carling CDP which has areal illustrations of the area around the station all built out.

In sum, the designers seem to have finally gotten this Station right. Now, to build it…

Sim-City model: Bayview-carling CDP

The City has been sporadically doing up a CDP (Community Design Plan) (which is a plan of dubious effectiveness under the Official Plan) for the O-Train corridor running from Bayview Station to Carling Avenue.

Residents frequently ascribe its tardiness to a desire on the part of the City to see all the developable land purchased and rezoned before the plan is drawn up. In that way, the city won’t have to continually amend it.

The City is committed to having CDPs done for all the stations along the OLRT. Having seen some of the in-progress ones I’d have to say they are better than nothing.  At least they might tell some residents (and Swiss immigrants) that they won’t be getting what the current zoning is for.

And having seen some of the completed ones, I have been left shaking my head that they could ever have been passed with any sincerity as to upholding them. I just don’t see scattered four storey infills as the definition of intensification. Nor will the OMB.

With that in mind, let’s look at the Bayview CDP. In particular, the Bayview Station end of the plan. (Recall that the Carling end of the plan is undergoing a feeding frenzy with Ottawa and Toronto developers gulping up every lot; and the middle section, around Gladstone, is about to get a lot hotter with  upcoming development of the former printing plant that occupies one entire block at Gladstone and Breezehill).

The City has decided against holding a real world public meeting on the plan, instead exploring an online public meeting. You can find it here: http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/carling_bayview/index_en.html The last item on the menu on the left of their page is titled Online Open House, click and…   

There are three videos at the site; the first and second are for the very patient raw beginners (you know, the equivalent of the first dozen display boards at a real meeting, which are full of text, and you just skip over to get to the meat in the last few panels on the other side of the room). The third video shows the recommended plan. It is 20 minutes long, but is worth watching. (Remember, it’s still quicker than going to a real meeting…).

Here is what the area looks like, as seen by a future migrating Canada goose:

In the centre is the LRT Station, although we are not sure yet if it exactly there, or somewhat further to the left (west) directly over the OTrain tracks. The green buildings running off to the upper right above Albert Street are the approved plans for LeBreton Flats, currently likely to built in 2067 (our bicentennial) if the current buildout pattern is continued by Malhotra’s great grandchildren who will by then be owners of Claridge.

Immediately below (south of) the LRT Station is the proposed Phoenix triangular development at 801 Albert. This is for two 35 storey office towers employing about 6500 civil servants and having a total of 200 or so parking spots since everyone will come by transit or bike path. Having seen these proposed plans in some (preliminary) detail, the office complex ain’t too bad for the site.

Running further south in the picture along both sides of City Centre Avenue the planners envision mixed use developments that are highest closest to the O-Train and lowest adjoining the existing houses of the neighborhood.

I look forward to presenting these pictures at future planning committee meetings and OMB hearings when objecting to office highrises in the areas they now show as continuing to be low rise residential. Indeed, the L-shaped building in white at the lower right (in the above picture) is the proposed Domicile condo at the corner of City Centre and Somerset (present home of International Paints and Fine Thingys Antiques). Planners show it as 5 floors; the developer is already proposing 12.

Here is the city’s artist impression, the perspective from Dalhousie:

The pink houses are the existing neighborhood residential. Preston Street runs on a diagonal on the lower right; Somerset runs on the opposite diagonal lower left.The top- most pink townhouses are Walnut Court; beyond them is the proposed LeBreton project in turquoise ( a pleasant break from the yellow brick now being used). Notice how the buildings step up from stacked townhouses adjacent the pink neighborhood, to high rises along the OTrain. The tallest twin towers are Phoenix’s, opposite the Bayview Station. Immediately south of them (a bit to the left in the pic) are six blocks of towers built on the City Centre warehouse complex site.

The City has kindly shown us a persective from Hintonburg too:

This time the view is from a hot air balloon just north of West Wellington after it met Somerset at the triangular park shown on the lower right. The elongated low rise white building is Tom Brown (yes, I know its orange in real life, just pretend…) which has had some whopping big additions put on the west, north, and east sides of the existing building. The city has also shown a new ped bridge reconnecting the chopped up parts of West Wellie, allowing us to walk over the OTrain tracks and use the bike paths to be built there in 2012.

Off to the left (north) are new white buildings for the Bayview Yards area. One of them sports a curved middle section, evocative of the old train roundhouses that used to be nearby. Beyond Tom Brown, on the other side of the OTrain, are the two tall Phoenix towers, and to their right (south) are the Equity City Centre buildings.

Alas, just chopped off the far right edge of the picture is the site at the corner of Breezehill and Somerset, beside Devonshire School, which Claridge is now clearing in preparation for a yet-unrevealled condo and shopping complex.

The last view of this exciting mega-node sim-development is from Mechanicsville:

 

It shows the view from the 28th floor of the proposed Urbandale condo tower on Parkdale Avenue. In the foreground is Laroche Park; off to the left is the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway and the river itself. The proposed  condo towers on the far side of the park may be some time coming because they are on contaminated soil (the uncontaminated lands were reserved for non-buildings) and no one yet has the heart or dollars to remediate the crap found there. Notice how the buildings rise up as the view goes east, to their highest point (on the Mechanicsville side) at the west end of the new Bayview Station itself.  The penultimate height and bulk of building is still the Phoenix buildings in the distance on the south side of Albert at City Centre Drive.

While the decision to hold a on-line public consultation has been controversial, it is still useful. Most useful of all are the 3-D sketchups of how the properties could develop. The buildings shown are, of course, a planner’s wet dream, nicely stepped up in height and density, and varied in form. Builders prefer to build clones of the previous building, or in pairs, to save money. But unlike 2-D flat drawings of zoning codes, the 3-D view allows way more people to imagine what might develop.

IF the plan passes, and the zoning is put in place to match the pretty sim-city models shown, will council have the courage to insist on the zoning being followed? Or will council continue to fob the hard decisions off to the OMB?

Now that you’ve seen the pic, go to the city site http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/carling_bayview/index_en.html , click on Online Open House (last item on the menu on the left) and watch  video #3. Some sweet voiced lady will walk you through the Bayview of a Brighter Tomorrow!

LRT Stations: (part iii) Bayview Station

The Bayview Station is quite complex to describe compared to Tunney’s or Hurdman. Basically, it is a long thin platform built atop an earthen embankment, pretty much where the bus shelters are now. But rather than have sloping pedestrian paths connect to the O-train platform about 16′ lower down, under the overpasses, the City proposes to build an escalator connection at the west end of the new platform that takes users directly down to the O-Train platform. This is a great development for users that transfer. 

What complicates the Bayview Station is that it is in the middle of an empty space and the surrounding transit connections are still undecided. They have to allow for the O-Train (or its LRT successors) to continue north across the Prince of Wales Bridge to Gatineau, or for the bridge to be converted to a busway for STO buses to arrive at a transfer station to be built at Bayview. They also have to allow for the O-Train (or its LRT successors) to turn east and join the soon-to-be-constructed East-West LRT line. This would allow direct airport to downtown LRT service, which would be a real boon to travellers, visitors, and convention traffic (the alternative, extending the  north-south LRT to Gatineau’s casino and convention centre, would deliver the benefits of direct service to Gatineau). They also have to plan for the possibility that the Western LRT extension study will recommend the track turn south and then west along Carling. Whew. And that’s before the cycling and pedestrian access options are put in!

So what the City proposes, and this is quite clever, is to build the new east-west LRT on the earthen embankment, with two partial “basement” or lower levels. One would be at the O-Train end, the other at the eastern end of the platforms.  If tracks are needed to connect to the O-train corridor, they would be built down in a cut on either side of the new station, with new stations built below but just outside the foundations of the first station. This should minimize building a grand station in advance of need (that might never come) or disturbing the first phase of the station when building the subsequent phases. The devil, of course lies in the details. Because keeping lots of options open also closes off other choices that might make a better station and city now.

Here are the general site characteristics:

The site analysis has some curious features, which leads me to think the Planners didn’t actually visit the site. They claim the station has great River views to the North, but don’t the berms along the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway block that view? The brown zig-zaggy lines identify ”bad” views of industrial lands. But all these lands are slated for redevelopment with transit-friendly condos and offices … and local condo builders tell us that industrial views do NOT reduce the saleability of units. The site plan does correctly identify that Bayview has a fabulous view of the downtown, and the station will be visible from far and wide. It shall be interesting to see how they take advantage of that.

I cringed a bit when I saw the pedestrian and cycling plan for the environs:

The golden yellow dotted line running along Scott and Albert Streets identifies a potential on-street cycling lane. This axis is a nice direct route connecting the west end with downtown. But it doesn’t identify the existing MUP along Scott or Albert, which if improved and connected might make a better safer parallel facility (“BikeWest”); although the continuing the existing MUP is mentioned in subsequent slides (the Bayview slides are a hodge-podge of different ideas not at all integrated).

Unfortunately there is no key provided to explain the exploding graph over the top of the station that shows alighting and boarding. And I shudder a bit when the neighborhoods around the station are shown as blank white zones, a sort of terra incognito.

The opportunities study, shown below, fixes some of these concerns. It shows a possible connection of the Albert MUP to the Scott MUP winding it through the entry plaza of the Station and then down to the O-Train platform, and then west along the north edge of the transitway viaduct (where the old spay-neuter clinic was) [insert cyclist joke here] and Merkley now is, and then somehow connecting to the Scott MUP via the existing Bayview Road underpass. This link will work, but only for the first phases of the LRT system, as the land will be required for other facilities later on and a new MUP route would be required.

The opportunities plan also shows the north-south MUP from the new Somerset underpass, which is good. On this slide they neglected to show it reaching the O-Train platform, which numerous other slides do show. It would even better if the route crossed the O-Train tracks on the old Wellington alignment, which neighborhood plans continually call for reopening for pedestrians and cyclists.

For pedestrians, the plan calls for a set of stairs down the slope behind Tom Brown arena, to replace the goat trail there now, and a path along the soccer field to Breezehill North. This is good. They call for wider sidewalks (6′ and 9′ wide) east of the  overpass over the O-train, but don’t address the appallingly narrow and unwelcome substandard sidewalk currently on that bridge. Will this be false economy?

They also propose a kiss-and-ride and taxi stand at the City Centre Avenue end of the site.

I am struck in the above drawing at how cathedral-like the station outline is. Given its prominent views in all directions, and consequent visibility from all directions, there is generous opportunity to build a truly landmark station here. Unfortunately, no sketches of the building are provided.

In the illustration below, the City shows the surrounding area as it might be built out in the future:

The build-out uses the existing plans for Bayview Yards and the Bayview-Carling CDP illustration for development along the City Centre spine. The NCC illustration for LeBreton Flats is also employed for the area east of City Centre Avenue. At the rate Claridge is building out Phase One, we should see development here in about 2090. Conspicuously absent is any mention of development north of the Station, supposedly the site for a new museum (Science and Technology?).

Here is the initial build out plan for the site (it would require significant add-ons if the STO service arrives, or the O-Train goes downtown or is converted to LRT):

Starting at the left side of the picture, note the new path along the Tom Brown soccer field, connecting to Breezehill North, and with a flight of stairs up to Scott. There is no indication who will build this, or when. Note that the path continues under Albert and joins the proposed paths on the north side of the LRT corridor and has an entrance to the O-Train platform and LRT station above.

On the east side of the O-train tracks, the O-train corridor cycling path or MUP is shown running from the O-train platform south to the new Somerset underpass being built this year. It notes that the path will be built by others, not part of the OLRT. It is not clear from this drawing, but is on others, that the path continues past the O-Train platform towards the river and joins a proposed E-W MUP. This drawing does NOT include the E-W MUP connection along the north side of Albert connecting to the Scott MUP, although that is shown on other diagrams. I suspect it will take perseverance by the cycling lobbies to ensure these links are actually kept in the plans and built.

The station itself has generous bike parking areas under the eaves of the large roof overhangs.

Bizarrely the City proposed relocating the pedestrian crossing of Albert to a point further east, probably for the convenience of motorists entering a small side street. But it means that pedestrians arriving at the grand paved pedestrian forecourt of the station do not have a pedestrian crossing of Albert. I have no doubt they will cross anyway, and the City will have engineered in a safety hazard.

The kiss and ride lot, to the east end of the station environs, has been improved by turning it into a small crescent street circling a TOD development. This is good.

Below is a drawing of the station with trains at the platforms:

Note that the “downstairs” lobby for the O-train is shown at the left (west) end of the platforms; and at the east end is a downstairs lobby for when the lower-level platforms are built alongside this station (maybe)(someday in the future). See below:

Curiously, another downstairs public platform area has suddenly appeared in this drawing that is not on the previous ones. That is the connection between the two lower level platforms, between the area shown in blue and the unexcavated dark gray. This link is essential for the best look and feel and subjective safety of patrons. It remains to be determined if it will be built, and when.

I look forward to seeing what the proposed building exterior and roof looks like. It has enormous potential, due to the building height at the top of a significant rise in the landscape. At its west and east ends, the station will soar at least 33′ above the tracks.

In summary, the Bayview Station seems to address all the major access concerns in a rudimentary way. The station is very large, and complex. It remains a bit of a mystery to see if the City will actually build this grand a station at this location or if it will fall victim to cost cutting. The City will need to consult more with the community to improve the Albert Street crosswalk, the Albert-Scott E/W MUP, and pedestrian access from the Scott side(west) of the station.

Tomorrow: LeBreton Flats, the Station under a bridge…

Western LRT (part iv) The River Parkway

Perhaps the most controversial and divisive suggestion for converting the transitway to LRT concerned the portion along the Ottawa River Parkway. There seems to be a large crowd that is convinced the parkway would be ruined by letting LRT transit users have a view instead of just motorists. Concerns were expressed about destroying green space, the aesthetics of overhead wiring, and the danger to dog walkers from high speed trains. Spectres of high chain link fences demarking the line where it slashed through mature forests … etc etc.

Recall that two of the Richmond-Byron options covered in the previous post used tiny bits of the Parkway – from Dominion Station to Rochester Field, and from Dominion Station to Cleary Avenue. Both of these options added the rail lines to the space south of the existing Ottawa River Commuter Expressway lanes. No car lanes would be removed.

For the options that use more of the Parkway, the City proposes removing the two eastbound car lanes, and replacing them with the LRT tracks. The alignment would have to be modified slightly to smooth out the curves. The City is allocating an enormous sum (compared to landscaping for other sections) to “restore” and grade the areas along the tracks.

The rationale for replacing two car lanes with transit tracks is interesting. They have not advanced the argument that it is better on environmental grounds to reallocate valuable cultural landscapes from private autos to public transit. Rather, they point out that the Parkway currently functions at rush hour as one lane in each direction for general traffic, and one lane in each direction for buses. Off peak, there is only enough traffic to warrant one lane in each direction anyway. So, they argue, removing the eastbound lanes and converting the westbound lanes into a two-way two-lane road has the same private car capacity as now.

As for the aesthetics, they put forward the position that the new tracks simply reuse a modified eastbound lanes embankment. The tracks will not be fenced. A number of people at the presentation scoffed at this, but the engineers point out that the existing buses travel at 80kmh with no fences, and some people elect to cross the road. The planners suggest that with some berming and careful planting of shrub beds, parkland users can be gently directed towards the underpasses. New underpasses would be added at Woodroffe and maybe elsewhere.

Instead of fence, the engineers suggest a more subtle penetrable warning line might work. For now, they are suggesting posts and a chain, like in a bank lineup, to warn users that they are approaching the track.

The warnings are required since they are also investigating “green tracks”, as used most famously in Holland. There, grass is planted right up to the rails, and the city places trays of grass between the rails. The result is two steel rails apparently running through a lawn.

At the meeting, someone scoffed that dog walkers and others would trip over the rails (and then be run over) so this is more hazardous than a road, but I don’t see why this is any different from six inch high concrete walls called curbs.

In the evaluation criteria (covered in an upcoming post) the attributes of each route option is measured, including the urban intensification potential. Ironically, I didn’t think (judging by the questions) that opponents of the Parkway option  realized that dumping on it for reduced intensification implies they prefer the Richmond corridor as more attractive because of its greater intensification potential. Did the people living along the Parkway realize how much land along Richmond can be developed as high rises? Does Dilawri want to retire rich?

In the illustration below, the top left picture shows a train travelling past Ambleside. The bottom left picture shows how the eastbound berm is higher than the westbound, offering nice river views for transit commuters and transit tourists. The top right picture shows the bike path/car lanes/train track on the same parkway corridor. It also makes the point that a train track doesn’t take up much more room than the bike path. The bottom right picture shows the grass growing up to the edge of the rails, a gentle chain fence, and a membrane over the ties to create a smooth surface. It is also possible to put grass between the rails, in shallow trays.

 

Tram in Holland on grass strip; picture from the internet

 

Western LRT (part iii) Richmond-Byron Options

If the western LRT does not go via Carling Avenue, there is a whole set of options in the Richmond-Byron corridor, shown below:

The Churchill-Richmond option had a fatal flaw: too sharp a turn at the corner of Richmond and Churchill. The McRae-Richmond option required redoing the Westboro Station and then entering a short sharp S turn, something that engineers love — NOT. Another McRae option put a President’s Choice station at Loblaws and then turned west under Byron. That tunnel section would have emerged just west of the Westboro Station condo development. Here’s what is left:

The Churchill-Byron option digs cut and cover tunnels under Churchill, and turns “at the top of the hill” (but really underground, so there is no “hill”) which requires taking out the laundromat there (call out the heritage buffs). All of the options following use some part of Byron. More details of how that might work along Byron are several slides down. The cut and cover tunnel under Churchill and Byron would come out just west of Westboro Station condos, which would have a station called … wait for it … Byron Station. Am I alone in thinking we may need to rename some stations in this area?

The slide below shows another option at the western end of the Byron route, taking it up to Carling via a cut and cover tunnel under Woodroffe.  This has the merit of serving Carlingwood, a major destination now and intensification area for the future.

All of the above options turned south from the existing transitway trench. There is one option that uses all of the trench, all the way to Dominion Station. Dominion Station would have to be realigned a bit as the LRT would turn west at Dominion (this realignment is pretty easy, as the station is merely two bus shelters; but the new station would be heated and have a grade separated ped and cyclist crossover). This option does NOT take out or change the current lanes of the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway. Rather, the LRT somewhat follows the south side bike path a short distance to Rochester Field.

Rochester Field is currently a vacant lot. It is not part of the Parkway. Negotiations are under way to sell it to the City. Parkland is apparently so scarce and valuable in the leafy McKeller Park area that the City is seriously considering putting the LRT in a tunnel under the park in order to preserve parkland and access the south side of Richmond. No such respect is being offered to Dalhousie or Hintonburg residents who are being offered an open cut which cannot be covered over “due to the expense”. Plus ca change…

There are two options as the line goes west along Richmond. One follows the sosuth side of Richmond Road all the way to Lincoln Fields. The other deeks up Woodroffe to hit Carlingwood before heading west. I have yet to see a layout of how the line would get off Carling and still hit the existing Lincoln Fields station alignment. I suspect that the need to angle the line north off Carling,  then sharp south (a turn of about 110 degrees) while simultaneously rising from the Carling median up and over the westbound Carling lanes and then down to enter the station and go under Carling Avenue … will be a problem. Even if engineerable, will riders like the corkscrew motion?

The City has a nifty sketch showing how the LRT might tunnel under Rochester Field, you will see it a few slides down.

A variation of the above line uses a longer stretch of the River Parkway lands. The LRT would run along the south side of the Parkway almost to Cleary. It would then tunnel under Richmond to a point just beyond Woodroffe, and run on the surface after that. These options utilize the straight line to connect Dominion to Richmond (which makes for faster trains, which means less cost to construct and operational savings forever). Conveniently, the engineers have managed to keep all the stations above ground, which should please their budget masters and their customers .

I was really impressed by how well the LRT works out along the Richmond-Byron stretch. The consultants realized that Richmond is three-four lanes in the middle, but only two lanes at each end. So they put the road on a diet, and made it two lanes all the way. It would become less like a highway and more like a street. They then snuggled the LRT between Richmond and the dog-paths in the linear park. The result: no major loss of trees; a calmed Richmond Road; a refocused Byron Avenue that serves adjacent residential streets and less of a parallel raceway to Richmond Road; and fewer streets crossing the Byron linear park, making it a better neighborhood park.

Only at the stations would the LRT facilities creep into the linear park, but these could well be assets rather than detractions. Sorry for the small pic below, but squint at it long enough and you can figure out the details. On the left, pic 1 is LRT track between Richmond road and the linear park; pic 2 shows a station. Pic 3 and 4 show the tunnel section, which would be built using cut and cover, so there will be (temporary) tree loss.

On the top right (of the picture below) the LRT train leaves Dominion off to the left, passes in front of the office building and Keg Manor, and angles into the tunnel under Rochester Field, later to emerge between Richmond Road and linear park. The last pic at the bottom right shows a train stopped at a surface station along Richmond Road.

Next: the (dreaded) Ottawa River Parkway options.

West LRT – the Loblaws option

David James is a blog reader with some keen observations on the merits of various DOTT and west LRT proposals. You will frequently find his intelligent comments on my posts, gently pointing out the error of my ways. David isn’t particularly a fan of the “Loblaws” route I outlined yesterday, but he kindly drew up a drawing illustrating the route, and provided some commentary on its merits.

The top right of the illustration below starts the route beside the 30 storey condo tower Minto built a few years ago. Underground, it swings onto McRae, under the Loblaws parking lot, and westward under Byron Road or the linear dog park:

Here’s David’s description: The cyan line representing the LRT line is about 8 m wide, while the orange stations are about 20 m wide (probably a bit excessive) and
sufficient to accommodate 180 m 6-car trains. The stations look like side-loaded, but that’s just because it’s easier to draw them that way. The orange width is sufficient to encompass the centre platform stations.

The curves on either end of the hydro corridor portion of the route are
of 130 m radius. The alignment along McRae’s actually results in a backward-bending alignment, which would not be the case were one of the other cross streets to be used, but none of them are quite as suitable. At any rate, these are not exactly high-speed curves. The routing along McRae also requires the relocation of the hydro tower at Richmond
opposite Loblaws.
To get logically-placed stations on 200 m of tangent track was a bit tricky. The eastern station ends up having one end right at Richmond Road and slightly off-axis to McRae, while the western station has to be either behind the Westboro Station development or beneath the old streetcar hill that is now Byron. The City sold some “spare” land from the old streetcar RoW along Byron to the Westboro Station developers, so the space for a station behind the Westboro Station condo is even more constrained than it otherwise would have been.
I took the liberty of naming the stations. Since the condo at Golden is
called “Westboro Station” I decided to make the nearest station bear the name “Westboro”. The station under McRae I named “Richmond” for lack of a more suitable name.

Eric again:  don’t blame David for the design shown, he actually prefers the Transitway - Dominion – Cleary – Richmond option. He kindly illustrated the route I suggested at the last advisory committee meeting for the west LRT.

This is the last post in this series on the western LRT. There will be a public meeting at Tom Brown Arena on Nov 29th in the evening. Open house 5.30 to 8.30; presentation at 7pm. Watch for the advertisments in the newspapers.