How intrusive will WLRT wiring be along the parkway?

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On a recent visit to Toronto, I made a point of noticing overhead electric wiring for streetcars. My general memory of streetcar wiring was situations like the one pictured above, a spagetti heap of wiring over an intersection.

Of course, such situations occur when different streetcar lines meet. And for the Ottawa case, the LRT is a single line with no branches or loops or turnoffs, so wiring situations like the above just won’t be here [yes, there will be a spur line off to the maintenance yard, and in a few cases parallel tracks to store trains, but these will be no where as a common as streetcar intersections are].

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In Toronto, the overhead wiring running up the centre of the street above the track is supported by cross wires, running from one side of the street to the other. It quickly became apparent to me that the really visible part of the wiring was that running parallel to the street, from post to post, above the sidewalk. This was a tangle of thicker cables, messy connections, utility boxes, etc, whereas the single strand up the centre line I had to search for.

During the first WLRT public meeting last month, angry Westboroites claimed the City had fixed the pictures to hide the overhead wiring, to make it invisible, whereas it was sure to be a visual nightmare. After a few times pointing out that the pictures did have the wiring on them, to jeers from the audience, the consultant gave up and just let the audience wallow in their anger.

Fact was, one had to squint really closely to actually see the wire, which may be a factor of enlarging the photo, or maybe, just maybe, the wiring isn’t all this visible. Ergo, my inspection of the scene overhead Toronto streets.

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The above pic is a view along the Spadina streetcar line. The Spadina line is modern, running down the centre boulevard, with some landscaping and curbing elements. The overhead wiring was again visible mainly by looking for it, and accentuated here by using a zoom picture. Some of the overhead signs on the wires related to the LRT line and others to traffic movements on the road lanes. If those signs weren’t hanging on the wires, they would have been put up on freestanding posts.

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In front of the AGO, the wiring was actually hung on the frame of the new building. It made for a wonderfully clear sidewalk, and I think it quite bold that the planners / architects or whomever actually allowed the wires to be attached to a significant public building we are all supposed to be admiring. I can’t see Ottawan’s welcoming wiring anchored to our new convention centre, or the NCC ever agreeing to such a practical solution if other, hugely expensive alternatives are around. Here is a closer picture:

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It is very noticeable that the wiring is underground only on one side of the street. On the north side, the old posts continue, including some real monsters:

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The question of what the posts along Ottawa’s new LRT will look like may have been discussed with the NCC but I am not priveleged to that conversation. I do recall how nicely redesigned the red light camera posts are in front of the War Museum compared to elsewhere in the city. So I expect the NCC  will be very keen to approve the posts holding up the wires if the Western LRT skims the edge of the Ottawa River Commuter Expressway.

Maybe someone will even be concerned about how they will look going through condoville on LeBreton Flats. Claridge and the NCC’s third building is now going up on the Flats, and has a direct view of the wiring between the LeBreton Station and the tunnel portal under the cliff at Queen Street.

Interestingly, the NCC has shown (thus far) no interest in what the trackbed will look like when viewed from all those condos they hope to develop on the Flats, but I suspect their level of interest will be much higher when it comes to the sacred green blades viewed by motorists on the Parkway.

Sir John just might be rolling in his grave — for various reasons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 thoughts on “How intrusive will WLRT wiring be along the parkway?

  1. Or compare to Calgary:

    http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Calgary,+AB&aq=3&oq=cal&sll=45.250157,-75.800257&sspn=0.759922,1.234589&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Calgary,+Division+No.+6,+Alberta&ll=51.053535,-114.084477&spn=0.010656,0.01929&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.053753,-114.0845&panoid=jXZQOnkhSusvYqr-aju0xQ&cbp=12,27.63,,0,7.61

    Interestingly, in Sunnyside, above, the poles were painted a baby blue and they end up being a lot less intrusive than the dull steel grey they are elsewhere:

    http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Calgary,+AB&aq=3&oq=cal&sll=45.250157,-75.800257&sspn=0.759922,1.234589&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Calgary,+Division+No.+6,+Alberta&ll=51.068936,-114.114239&spn=0.010652,0.01929&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.06885,-114.114165&panoid=SHfWVxb5FiMd9-XSZeC3fA&cbp=12,3.3,,0,6.01

    Here are some more painted poles, in an olive colour, this time from from Edmonton. Note also the hanging chain “fencing” that Edmonton uses rather than the chainlink fencing the City of Ottawa and the NCC use:

    http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Edmonton,+AB&aq=0&oq=Ed,+AB&sll=51.068855,-114.114175&sspn=0.010652,0.01929&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Edmonton,+Division+No.+11,+Alberta&ll=53.514618,-113.525977&spn=0.020057,0.038581&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.51452,-113.525961&panoid=btd4epmQFQ5NjsLi1AEORA&cbp=12,339.28,,0,5.21

    Some more dull grey poles, again from Edmonton with the hanging chain fencing. Note that the number of poles doubles in this picture on approach to a station around the bend; pan right and you see a line of single poles:

    http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Edmonton,+AB&aq=0&oq=Ed,+AB&sll=51.068855,-114.114175&sspn=0.010652,0.01929&vpsrc=6&t=h&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Edmonton,+Division+No.+11,+Alberta&ll=53.49813,-113.527222&spn=0.020167,0.038581&z=15&layer=c&cbll=53.497945,-113.52644&panoid=jhn_wqY8cBEoduySveReNg&cbp=12,325.66,,0,8.91

    My take on this is that because the painted poles indicate someone actually put some thought into their appearance, they end up standing out less – even when, in Sunnyside’s case, they should stand out more. The poles along the Parkway could perhaps be painted dark green, brown or black (or perhaps a combination of all three) – the NCC’s apparent favourite colour palette.

  2. It’s possible that there will be no overhead wire over part the Dominion/Cleary route. That would be nice for the residents along the Parkway. We’ll know soon enough what can and cannot be done.

  3. The building in the first photo looks strikingly similar to the proposed podium for 505 Preston.

  4. David –
    Not sure what your links intend to display.
    When I click on them I get a google map in a window but it does not drill down to any form of streetview imagery which is what I assumed you are trying to depict.
    Maybe I’m doing something wrong?

    1. Indeed I was… unfortunately the blog software has excluded the final parts of the urls (from the double comma onwards).

      No worry though: Eric and I have been in touch about it.

  5. Eric, you may have to point your blog followers to the wider array of articules on the wlrt issues particularly the current city preferred route, so that the wiring is such an debatable factor with your view expressed on it and people can weigh in at the overall level to the whole issue of wlrt.

    Btw, and I quote within this blog

    “Maybe someone will even be concerned about how they will look going through condoville on LeBreton Flats. Claridge and the NCC’s third building is now going up on the Flats, and has a direct view of the wiring between the LeBreton Station and the tunnel portal under the cliff at Queen Street. Interestingly, the NCC has shown (thus far) no interest in what the trackbed will look like when viewed from all those condos they hope to develop on the Flats, but I suspect their level of interest will be much higher when it comes to the sacred green blades viewed by motorists on the Parkway.”

    I don’t think NCC owns the land that Claridge home condo, the lebreton station and tunnel portal location. South the parkway land near that area is not owned by NCC as far as I know. Not that I am defending NCC, but it is hard for them to say anything against anything in this case, so I guess they didn’t.

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