By Kim Tulipan
Residents and businesses in the Carling Avenue and Preston Street area can expect construction to begin on the new light-rail station in the next few weeks, but they shouldn’t expect any traffic disruptions, says the light-rail project manager at OC Transpo.
Serge Lavigne says the new platform will be built along the existing Canadian Pacific Railway tracks, which run under Carling Avenue next to the Dow Honda Motors dealership. Construction of the station will most likely continue until the launch of the new light-rail pilot project next summer, he adds.
The Region of Ottawa-Carleton and OC Transpo’s two-year pilot project will have three Bombardier trains running along the eight kilometres of track from Bayview station near LeBreton Flats to Greenboro station at South Keys.
Workers will have to blast or chip rock away to widen the area around the track at the Carling Avenue site. But this shouldn’t cause any disruption to traffic or to the area’s residents and businesses, says Lavigne.
“We’re going to make many efforts to make sure there is as little disturbance as possible,” says Lavigne, adding that construction workers will move most of the rock and equipment using the tracks.
Jeff Mierins, president of the Dow Honda Motors dealership, says his only concern about the project is that the station may bring more loitering and graffiti.
“I can imagine once the platform is ready there will be easier access for people wanting to spray-paint (the rock and surrounding walls),” says Mierins. “But that’s a very minor side effect to something that appears to be beneficial to the whole region.”
He says to avoid the possibility of graffiti, he plans to increase the height of the 1.5-metre fence separating the dealership from the tracks to about 2.4 metres.
The Carling Avenue station is the first of five new stations to be completed in time for the project launch next summer.
Construction of the Greenboro, Confederation Heights, and Carleton University stations will start later this winter. Crews will soon begin working on the rail bed at the Bayview site in preparation for development in the spring, says Helen Gault, director of planning and development at OC Transpo.
Proposed extensions to the light-rail line include linking Bayview station to Hull, and the Greenboro station to Ottawa International Airport. Based on results of ridership and operating costs at the end of the two-year pilot project, the new City of Ottawa will consider keeping the light-rail project as a permanent extension of the city’s transit system.
A resident of Railway Street for over 40 years, Margot Sauve says she thinks it’s about time the region makes use of the tracks. Although the new project means more noise, Sauve says she will get used to it.
“It’s really mind over matter,” says Sauve. “You stop hearing it if you don’t want to hear it.”