The new Confederation Line LRT is getting mostly new stuff all along its route. New stations, new tracks, new signals, new bridges. Here is a pic of the west portal. The new library will go immediately to the right. To … Continue reading Reusing old stuff for the new LRT
Where were you when the lights went out last Tuesday? And where will you be if they go out again? Was it just last Tuesday that I left the Carnegie Library on Rosemont Avenue and browsed flowers at the Parkdale Market? … Continue reading Where were you when the lights went out?
There are two interesting (well, to some of us …) takeaways from regarding the landscaping starting around Bayview Station. First, that the landscaping is underway while major construction continues. But as soon as a patch of ground is finished active … Continue reading Pedestrians protected from overland flooding
I was standing on the Booth Street Freeway overpass at Pimisi Station looking east towards the downtown. The Rideau Transportation Group — RTG — is constructing the western portal to the downtown tunnel. This spot is right behind the new … Continue reading When dogs count more than peeps
Remember the old rock and stone block retaining wall along the Bronson Escarpment; the one that holds up the parking lot for the Juliana Apartments? It was getting to the point that the iron tie-back hooks were no longer working … Continue reading Fake Stone Walls
There is much to see looking into the transitway trench near Holland Avenue. The track is being laid for the Confederation Line LRT. In this picture (below) you can see the concrete overlay over the big concrete box-shaped storm sewer … Continue reading Under the Transitway Big Tent
The City has released some updated renderings of what some of the new stations along the Confederation Line will look like. As always, keep in mind these are artist impressions and reality may differ. Also don’t look too closely, as … Continue reading New Confederation Line Station renderings
The elevated portions of the Confederation LRT Line west of Bayview Station are on a high viaduct. Throughout its life as a transitway there were concrete side walls along the road. These may have been to stop debris from blowing … Continue reading Elevated Confederation Line safety
The old transitway viaduct near Bayview Station is being converted to rail for the Confederation line. I was curious to see the contractor, RTG, drill holes in the jersey-barrier type concrete sidewalls along the roadway. They used the holes … Continue reading Elevated Confederation Line noise
Recall that the Confederation Line will extend westward to Lincoln Fields, maybe by 2023. From there, the line will split with one pair of tracks running on to Baseline Station, and the other going to Bayshore. Of necessity, therefore, only every … Continue reading Track splitting on the Phase 2 LRT lines
Wandering around the west side by foot and by bike reveals new wonders perhaps missed because the summer heat made me slothful. Here’s the stone walls along most of the aqueduct through LeBreton Flats. They were restored / rebuilt about 20 years ago, but the City sorta benignly neglected to maintain the bank sides and landscaping ever since. Many of the trees have died (for lack of water, since they were planted in giant “pockets” underlain with impermeable fabric so the roots can’t get to the water table). The view below is from the new Booth Freeway overpass, which offers never-before-seen … Continue reading Wandering around the west side (ii) the historic aqueduct
The new Bayview Station on the Confederation Line will be built up high on the new bridge in the same place as the old transitway bridge. It will have a curbside entry from Albert Street at the east end of … Continue reading Underpass at Bayview Station
The soaring overpass on the Booth Freeway provides a nice pedestrian view down into the future Pimisi (formerly LeBreton) Station on the Confederation LRT Line. This pic shows all the footings for the foundations, one floor below track level. Pimisi … Continue reading Wandering around the west side (i) view into Pimisi Station
Remember those moving staircases in Harry Potter? Some cyclists and pedestrians may be forgiven for feeling they are in a fantasy world when approaching Bayview Station. The pathway was here yesterday … now its gone. It’s over there ! No, it’s … Continue reading New MUP Pattern at Bayview
John Turner and Jim Watson have lots in common. In a crisis, both claim they can’t do something. It didn’t work out well for Mr Turner. So people get killed moving about in Ottawa. Anyone looking at the traffic fatalities knows … Continue reading Yes you can, Mr Mayor
Why did the City change it mind about converting the transitway overpasses to rail? Instead of re-using them for the Confederation Line tracks, a number of them are being demolished. Here’s the old transitway at Bayview (built, c1980), recently demolished: … Continue reading In Rust We Trust
There are certain facts of life we have to deal with today, even if we regret how things came to be that way. I wont rehash how Booth Street north of Albert, going through LeBreton Flats, came to be designed … Continue reading About those not-quite-bike-lanes on Booth Freeway
So I was busy minding my own business sidewalk supervising the construction of the Confederation Line near Tunney’s Pasture. The old transitway roadbed in portions of the “cut” east of Tunney’s is actually a deck over the top of … Continue reading Under the LRT Tracks
Come this fall, your OC Transpo bus will be driving over a bridge made of foam. The currant arrangement of buses at the Tunney’s Pasture transfer station has some awkward routing, and movement is slow through the Holland intersection. The … Continue reading Your bus is driving on a bridge made of foam
If you associate hoodoos with Alberta, or maybe New Brunswick, or the American Southwest, be advised you can see something similar right here in Ottawa. At the new Bayview Station construction site. Our hoodoos are about two stories tall and encrusted with local roadbed base. And there is more than one: The hoodoos are created by forces of nature called RTG. Using massive forces, RTG drills holes in the ground, lines the hole with a steel pipe, and pumps in liquified rock (aka concrete) . Since the containing steel cylinder form is withdrawn at the same time as the rock … Continue reading Wandering around the Hoodoos of Bayview …
Albert Street lies between the 1980’s housing rebuild for LeBreton Flats and the yet-unbuilt Sens housing development. The street was dug up, new utiltities installed, and repaved in a much wider format last summer. You may have noticed this structure … Continue reading Wandering around the Flats — and in the sewers
If my (fallible) memory serves me correctly, all the Confederation Line LRT Stations are freestanding, at ground level, in a ditch, or underground. Only at three downtown stations are the stations under the street but exiting up partially through existing … Continue reading First high rise LRT station?
Construction has begun on the Confederation LRT line Bayview Station. The station will be built where the former overpass was over the OTrain Trillium tracks, ie, it is an elevated station incorporating the new bridge. A series of posts is … Continue reading Drilling for Passengers
I surprised and pleased to hear Hizzoner Jim Watson actually mention the Prince of Wales railway bridge on Thursday. And in the same breath, to mention rail transit on it. Of course, you and I and everyone else knows it … Continue reading Watson lets Prince of Wales slip his tongue
I continue to be curious about how much / little parking a stadium or arena can get away with. The shuttle parking at Lansdowne seems to work well, although I dunno if it runs for non-sport events. And that large … Continue reading Stadium / Arena parking revisited
