According to Randall Denley in a recent Ottawa Citizen column, the National Capital Commission is apparently interested in building and integrating 'The Loop' into Ottawa's forthcoming transit plan. 'The Loop' being a 2001 plan to have light-rail run from Bayview Station across the Ottawa River into Gatineau, along that city's downtown and back across the river, before running parallel to Wellington and back to Bayview Station. From the Citizen:The federal policy that jobs and museums must be shared between Ottawa and Gatineau means the movement of a lot of people across the Ottawa River every day. More than 5,000 commuters come into the core of Ottawa from Gatineau during the morning rush hour and 2,000 go from Ottawa to Gatineau.
A plan which offer have immediate and significant improvements to the transit systems of both Ottawa, Gatineau, and therefore the National Capital region. According to estimates presented in the same column, the cost for The Loop was pegged at $110-200M; no small amount, but compared to the price tags attributed to other transit plans, and considering the upside the plan has, it would be nice to see something happen--and quickly.
Imagine spending a morning at the War Museum, hopping on a train that whisks you off to the Museum of Civilization for the afternoon, and then catch that train again to check out the National Gallery of Canada in the evening. Not a bad day.
1 comment:
The Prince of Wales bridge should be part of this project. Two birds. One stone.
Not that it's likely to see the light of day, given that the NCC pays lip-service to transit these days, while at the same time obstructing LRT in Ottawa. And it's not like they're actually going to PAY for any of the stuff they dream up. They're only paid to dream stuff up (and tear it down), not actually BUILD anything.
The NCC is retarding the progress of this town by decades, and it's only getting worse.
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