Scott Street LRT Working Group, June 12 - a recap

As Stage 2 LRT construction slowly begins, we have reassembled two working groups to address residents’ issues. Our office has also committed to publishing summaries of each meeting so the wider community is up to speed on the project as it continues.

Throughout the Stage 2 planning period the Workman/Dominion Working Group was very active and had a constructive role to play in planning the Dominion Station. Through the construction period, this group has been rebranded as the Scott Street Working Group, covering the area from Tunney’s Pasture to just west of Dominion Station.

Despite the fact we are very early in the Stage 2 construction process and there is little news to share with residents a Scott Street Working Group meeting was called for June 12 to give members a chance to ask some questions directly to staff. These questions will be answered either via email over the summer or possibly at another meeting to be held in the fall.

Attendance:

Damon Berlin, Annie Goodchild – LRT Stage 2 Stakeholder Relations

Councillor Jeff Leiper

Tom Pechloff, Councillor’s Assistant

Roland Dorsay – Champlain Park Community Association

Rebecca Grace – Wellington Village Community Association

Mari Wellman – Westboro Beach Community Association

Councillor Leiper opened the meeting with a brief overview of the history of the working group before turning things over to Damon Berlin for a brief update presentation.

Berlin said with the contract now signed, East West Connectors (EWC) has begun preliminary work on the Stage 2 project. His presentation would include tentative renderings and schedules but cautioned that nothing has been finalized as of yet. He said the two major players in East West Connectors are Kiewit and Vinci.

Dorsay asked what percentage of people will live within 5km of LRT once completed. Berlin said it would be 77%. Dorsay also asked what was the significance of the 5km. Berlin said if you can walk 1km, you can ride 5km and Leiper said this would inevitably encourage more people to take transit.

Berlin mentioned the train would enter the tunnel just west of Dominion Station, operating in the current transitway trench before that. The Dominion LRT Station will be located almost exactly where the current Transitway Station is. The station will have enhanced pedestrian connectivitiy and multi-modal connectivity with 60 bike parking spots. There will be 40 bike parking spots for the Westboro LRT Station. Will accessibility is prescribed in the contract, the specifics are not known. That being said, seeing as how there is little room for a ramp, Berlin said there will likely be elevators at both stations. There will be fare machines at both stations.

• Tree removals Summer 2019 (underway)
• Borehole work Spring/Summer 2019 (why you see cones along SJAM Parkway)
• Utility relocation Summer 2019
• SJAMP realignment 2019
• Rochester Field site mobilization 2019, (parking)
• Parkway Tunnel Construction 2020
• Bus Detour Construction 2021
• Dominion Station Construction 2022
• Westboro Station Construction 2022

Berlin said the tree removals were being delayed by nesting migratory birds but that the process would continue in August. He also clarified for Dorsay that the Bus Detour Construction would be in 2021 so it would be operational by 2022.

Berlin said the bus detour along Scott Street from Tunney’s through the Churchill extension to the SJAM Parkway will start in 2022 and run until Stage 2 revenue service. Once Stage 2 opens, there will be no more buses on the parkway, down from the current 450,000 trips a year.

Berlin said the SJAM Parkway realignment would begin in July to allow EWC to build the tunnel. Once tunnel construction is complete, the final alignment would take shape. He had no firm timeline for when that would be.

Mari Wellman wondered if turtle breeding areas would be marked and wondered who she could talk to about that. She also wondered whether the historic remains of Westboro Beach would be marked too. Berlin said silt fences had been installed to prevent turtles from entering construction areas. He told her Goodchild would get her a contact person with whom she could discuss the turtles and historic remnants.

Berlin said tunnel construction would be an open cut process where crews would dig from the top. He says construction hours would be 7am to 10pm Monday to Friday. Dorsay asked whether there would be any blasting. Berlin said as of now the answer is no, but that response is a little premature. He said methodologies still need to be approved and nothing has been confirmed yet, adding that the soil here is different than the soil downtown.

As for the Scott Street detour, the dirt berm at Smirle will be removed and a bridge installed at Goldenrod. There will be slight widening at Scott Street intersections with advanced greens for buses. Scott Street will be extended past Churchill with a bridge connecting it to Workman and then extended to meet at the SJAM Parkway.

Leiper asked when the protected intersections will come to Scott Street. Berlin said he would find out  (we have since learned Scott and Holland will be built in late 2020).

Wellman asked how close the Workman Bridge will be to Churchill. Berlin said it would be closer to Roosevelt.

Before giving completion target dates, Berlin stressed they were very preliminary targets. The southern extension would open in 2022, the east extension in 2024 and the west extension in 2025.

Dorsay wondered whether there was a budget for mitigation. For instance is there a plan if Scott Street traffic is worse than expected. He said the problem with living with traffic issues is that there is a growing anger and frustration and with it comes demands to fix issues caused by the Chaudiere Bridge closure. He said that problem will go away when the bridge reopens but will be replaced by having 200 extra buses on Scott Street.

Berlin said there is a contingency fund and added the bus detour worked well along Scott Street for Stage 1. While Dorsay agreed, he said the dynamics west of Tunney’s Pasture are different.

Rebecca Grace asked how the pick-up/drop-off (PUDO) would work at Tunney’s Pasture Station. Berlin said Stage 1 stations like Tunney’s have no PUDO areas but that was among the lessons learned for Stage 2. He said if there are PUDO issues along the north/south side streets at Tunney’s Pasture station, he would recommend parking signage. Leiper added that traffic speed would increase if parking was removed.

Wellman asked about pedestrian access to stations nothing that the pathways, particularly to Dominion Station, are not safe at night. Berlin said that was another lesson learned from Stage 1 as a connectivity study was done for every station. Connectivity to Dominion was part of the Project Specific Output Specifications (PSOS) in the contract. Wellman asked if there would be opportunity for more input on this as the construction progresses. Berlin said the consultation was two years ago, the input was recorded at the time and will be used whenever possible, adding that all connectivity boards are available on stage2lrt.ca.

Dorsay asked for an update on the strip mall at 747 Richmond Road. Berlin said EWC now owns it, the pizza place needs to vacate by September 1 and the building will come down later in September. Even though the station will now be in the Byron Linear Park, the building still needs to come down to make way for the train alignment. There will still be two buildings there, one 8 storeys, the other 12 storeys. They just won’t be on top of a station anymore.

Dorsay asked how many trains can each station accommodate? Berlin said the trains are 98m long and the platforms will be long enough to allow 14 doors to open for 30 seconds, allowing for the movement of 600 people.

Wellman asked whether there is bird-proof glass at the stations. Berlin said mitigation measures are in place.

Dorsay asked about security and wireless connectivity. Berlin said there will be data in the Stage 1 tunnels and WIFI downtown. He was not yet sure about the Stage 2 tunnel. As for security, all stations were CPTED designed (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). They are big glass structures with open expanses and CCT cameras and emergency call boxes throughout. Berlin added the stations along Scott Street will all be community stations. As such, high volumes are not expected and they shouldn’t be stations where potentially bad elements exist.

Dorsay asked which stations would have washrooms. Berlin responded that there would be washrooms at the terminus stations (Tunney’s Pasture and Bayshore).

Dorsay also asked about bus volume on the SJAM Parkway once LRT construction is complete. Berlin said it would go from 450,000 trips a year to no trips. Once that happens, Dorsay asked whether that part of the Parkway could be used to link to the 417. Leiper said that would be a Transportation Master Plan conversation. (The Stage 2 route as shown on GEO Ottawa makes that seem unlikely).

Dorsay asked whether the LRT Stakeholder Relations group would be willing to do a presentation to the K9 group, a collective of all community associations within the ward. Berlin said that would be no problem.