Doucet calls for rail along Carling

An article in Nepean This Week explained Capital Councillor Clive Douvet's concerns with running light rail along the Ottawa River Parkway: Namely that it would take to long to extend service into Kanata, and that not enough communities are served along the Parkway. His suggested alternative is Carling Avenue, which Doucet claims cuts through a community of 300,000 people and will bring rail to Kanata within five years.

To do so, Doucet says that the city would be able to close three major intersections along Carling, and gate (close when a train is passing by) whatever others remain. Bay Councillor and chairman of the Transit Committee Alex Cullen said that Doucet's idea is "nonsense" and that "Gating doesn't work." Cullen also said that the westbound route has already been decided:

But council rejected the Carling alternative last May when it voted 20-4 in favour of its current rapid transit plan, said Cullen.

“He’s trying to reopen the debate and delay things further on a proposal that’s already (been called) impractical,” he said.

Kanata North Councillor Marianne Wilkinson said that Doucet's trying to do too much at once.

“He wants to build east, west, tunnel, Carling and south all at once,” she [Wilksinon] said. “We don’t have that money. We don’t have $3 billion – and that’s a $3-billion job.”

To solicit public support for his proposal, Doucet is releasing a series of radio spots and will have a press conference on Nov. 17.

We'll see how all this goes.