Community members are trying to limit the number of buses that will come through their neighbourhood due to a planned detour during the Confederation Line construction, according to Dalhousie Community Association president Michael Powell.
The Rideau Transit Group’s, the consortium building the LRT, proposed a plan that will see buses rerouted down Albert Street and Scott Street from the existing OC Transpo transitway, that runs parallel to the Sir John A. Macdonald parkway from LeBreton Flatts to Tunney’s Pasture station.
The detour is planned to take place in two phases in 2015 and 2016, according to Hintonburg Community Association president Matt Whitehead. It will continue until the end of the Confederation Line construction in 2018.
Residents of the area are particularly displeased with the lack of communication between them and the Rideau Transit Group about bringing this high amount of traffic through a residential area, says the president of the Dalhousie Community Association, Michael Powell.
The community effort is not to eliminate the buses from running down the West Corridor, the name for the detoured area, but to try and detour buses that don’t need to go that route to the Queensway or the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
“I think people are looking at ways to minimize the amount of buses, but there are going to be buses using Scott and Albert,” says Whitehead.
Powell says residents are concerned how an increase in pollution levels and noise levels may impact the community. They are also concerned about safety in an area that sees a large amount of non-vehicular traffic.
“People don’t think about it when they zoom along in their car, but these are primary pedestrian and cycling routes for the neighbourhood,” he says.
The community associations are also working closely with their city councilors in an effort to get the best possible mitigation for the residents. New streetlights, crosswalks and other safety measure will be installed in the affected area, according to Kitchissippi Coun. Katherine Hobbs.
“It’s still not great for residents, I feel very much for them and I will fight to the death to get the best mitigation, but there is still going to be an impact for those residents,” she says.
Hobbs says there was not enough space to allow construction of the new railway while the buses were still running.
“It was never the city’s goal to move the buses out because it’s expensive,” says explains. “When the contract was awarded, we didn’t want to move out of the transitway. We wanted to have it built and keep the buses there, but they just couldn’t physically do it.
Residents of the area are particularly upset about what they say is a frustrating lack of communication between the Rideau Transit Group about the plans to send a high volume of bus traffic through a residential area.
“I think there is no question that there was going to be some buses on Albert Street, but it’s a question of having that conversation and coming up with a solution that achieves everybody’s objectives,” says Powell. “I think the rail group made what seems the most straight forward decision without thinking that the community would be opposed.”
The detour has not yet been finalized, but it is expected to be decided before summertime, says Whitehead.
“My understanding from our city contacts is that we will have the next open meeting in June where they would present the finalized detour planning,” he says.