Centretown residents gathered this morning to protest the city’s plan to re-route buses down Albert and Scott streets during LRT construction.
Residents say this will result in greatly increased traffic, with an additional 2,500 buses traveling through the area every day while LRT construction takes place on the Transitway.
The construction is expected to last about two and a half years.
“People are expressing they’re upset,” says community activist Eric Darwin. He was at the rally, where around 50 people gathered at the corner of Albert and Preston streets in temperatures below -25 C.
“I think people were waiting for the debate over where the buses would go, and instead the city just said ‘oh it’s an internal decision’ and they slipped it through,” Darwin says.
The city plans to widen Albert and Scott streets from four lanes to six to compensate for the increased traffic. Residents are concerned about the noise and vibration that will come from so many buses, as well as health and safety considerations such as exhaust fumes and pedestrian crossings.
“As part of the environmental assessment and preliminary design of the project, Scott and Albert streets were determined to be the best detour solution that will allow the city to maintain reliable transit service,” Deputy City Manager Nancy Schepers wrote in an email.
She also noted that the city has met with local communities and association executives four times between March and December 2013 to discuss the project.
Some residents say they understand the bus traffic has to be re-routed somewhere. Dalhousie Community Association President Mike Powell says residents would like to see the city consider some of the alternatives.
He suggests using the Sir John A. Macdonald parkway and the Queensway as alternate routes for some of the buses, or creating a detour to keep empty return buses off Scott and Albert streets.
“We just want to spread the pain a little bit. And particularly when the options to spread that pain are places where there aren’t currently people living,” Powell says.
Schepers says the city continues to examine alternative detours, and will present the final designs to the community in May 2014.