CDL.TO
Moderator
Have they figured out what phase 2 will actually look like?
O-Train extension is happening as part of Phase 2.
The TMP calls for the Baseline BRT as well as the Kanata North BRT to be fully funded by the city so they can be done whenever. The EA for Kanata North is ongoing, Baseline has actually never started. Both are scheduled for the 2020s I believe although there's no reason why they couldn't start as soon as EAs are finished. I believe the Baseline BRT is actually relatively unnecessary from a need perspective, it's more of a luxury and its projected travel counts are not quite in BRT range. It's planned to be built more for connectivity, and for potentially relieving congestion on the Confederation Line if and when that ever happens (although it's unlikely as the Confederation Line is highly scalable and can have its capacity more than double without major capital expense).
One quick win that is happening now is the Moodie Transitway extension. Construction is starting this year for completion in late 2015, last I heard. The Eagleson-Terry Fox transitway in Kanata has a completed EA and could be done at any time as well. That's a very inexpensive project, I believe it's only about $20M, yet it will improve travel times to Kanata's core significantly by replacing the slow, traffic-light filled Katimavik route currently used. It should be done ASAP IMO. That segment was slipped into the TMP at the last minute before final council approval as a cheap concession to Kanatans upset about a perceived lack of attention to them in the TMP (bullshit IMO as they got the bulk of the road projects), so I'm not sure when its scheduled.
Yep. It will consist of 3 separate projects done simultaneously to begin construction in 2018 (when phase 1 completes) and to be in service by 2023:
1) Extending Confederation Line west from Tunney's Pasture to Baseline with a spur to Bayshore. From Tunney's, the route will follow the existing transitway to Dominion, then along an abandoned CPR RoW just south of the Parkway to Cleary Avenue (where there will be a station) then in a tunnel underneath Richmond Road to Lincoln Fields (there will be an intermediate station at New Orchard as well here). From LF the main line will stop at Iris (Queensway station removed) on the way to Baseline. The spur to Bayshore will run a tunnel underneath Connaught Avenue to Queensview bus garage (where there will be a station), then north of Highway 417 to Pinecrest & Bayshore. Service to be split evenly between Baseline and the Bayshore spur--both continue downtown meaning travel from Bayshore to Baseline will require a transfer at LF. Estimated cost is $1.48B ($980M for main line, $500M for Bayshore spur)
I did hear that the Confederation Line is being built to enable short-turns at Hurdman, but that was years ago before design started and I don't know if that carried through the process. In any case, short turns between Tremblay & St-Laurent are definitely possible using the MSF spur. I agree that Bayshore trains shouldn't continue all the way to Orleans. If they do not only do you have the issue of full trains at Hurdman but also the issue of overservicing Orleans. As frequency in the tunnel would have to reach 90 seconds by 2030 for capacity reasons, having no short-turn in the east would mean the ridiculous expense of having trains crossing the Greenbelt every 90 seconds.
Construction update was given yesterday. They're WAY ahead of schedule on the tunnel. The western roadheader has reached Lyon station and is now beginning to mine out the platforms. Central roadheader is supposed to reach Parliament station within the next week. They're past the 20% mark now! At this rate tunnelling will be completely finished by early 2015, leaving them with a generous 2.5 years to build the tracks and pantographs before testing has to begin--something that really only needs one year.
Eastern roadheader is still moving very slowly. At this rate, RTG is probably going to have the central roadheader take over a bunch of the eastern crew's section. Currently they're projected to meet just west of Rideau station (which is to be dug out by eastern crew). They're probably going to have central take over Rideau Station with the eastern crew doing just the tunnel east of there.
^ Absolutely no idea on Sandy Hill. My sources are the construction website + OC Transpo reports (the only thing they've released that isn't on the construction website is bus detour plan info) + the odd info scrap I get from a friend of mine who works for Scotiabank as a secretary for some guy who does financing for RTG. (We need to get an actual RTG construction worker on here!) She's my source for new tunnel projected completion date.
I wonder why Watson hasn't publically announced that one--possibly to avoid giving people false hope if something messes it up and it's "delayed" back to its original schedule. Or maybe so he can unveil as a "SURPRISE things are going GREAT!" during the election campaign.
It would be possible, if warranted, to start work on the eastern segment in spring 2015 instead of late 2015 as currently projected. May 2015 is the projected completion of the highway 417 widening--but they're actually scheduled to not use the new BRT until October 2015. That wouldn't actually be helpful because the segment east of Hurdman is actually projected to be done almost a year before the rest of the line anyway.
West of downtown the Albert/Scott bus detour won't be fully ready until 2016 so timelines are tight there. (I believe some work can start here in late 2015 though).
The central-east portion--from the eastern portal to Hurdman--is the one section where early construction is possible & useful. Work between Hurdman and the portal has been delayed until April 2016, to minimize the amount of time required for the bus detour there which will be highly disruptive (by far the most disruptive detour as it involves converting existing auto lanes to transit as opposed to building more bus lanes like on Albert/Scott), but they could easily start those in April 2015 if necessary.
An early opening between Lyon and Blair in the autumn of 2017 is starting to look very possible, if they advance Rideau-Hurdman construction, with Lyon-Tunneys opening in spring 2018 as scheduled. Hopefully RTG will bring it up later this year as things get clearer and ask city council if they want to take that approach.
I'm still wondering how they plan to temporarily move Hurdman, Lees and Campus Stn stretch. They need to still connect the 97, 98, 99 and etc to the Transitway network. Rideau River and Canal make it difficult. Any idea?