The Ontario Liberals confirmed Thursday they will kick in an additional $50 million for the proposed extension of Ottawa’s Trillium Line from the Earl Armstrong-Bowesville Station to Limebank Road – on top of the $1 billion they’ve already promised the city for the construction and expansion of the light-rail transit system.
Property developers Urbandale Corporation and Richcraft Homes are also throwing in $30 million, bringing the total price tag of the Riverside South extension to $80 million. Their contribution will be financed through special development charges they have agreed to tack onto to the homes they sell in the area.
Flanked by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, a number of city councillors and fellow Ottawa MPP John Fraser, provincial Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli billed the province’s backing of the 3.4-kilometre extension as crucial to “connecting people,” reducing emissions and managing vehicle congestion on arterial roads like Bank Street and Bronson Avenue. The city’s aiming to launch its southbound Trillium rail line extension in 2021.
“Riverside South is one of the fastest-growing areas in Ottawa … so we’re taking action to provide environmentally and healthy relief sooner than later,” Chiarelli said, touting the new funding as the “single largest investment any provincial government has made to support Ottawa public transit.”
The suburb’s population is expected to mushroom from about 16,000 to 55,000 residents over the next decade.
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“Anyone who travels down to Riverside South and Barrhaven knows the tremendous growth that is taking place there,” Watson said. “Literally every month, I seem to see a new subdivision popping up, and this is one of the first times that a city has actually gotten ahead of the curve and we’re building the transit ahead before the massive build-out of the homes.”
The proposed Trillium Line extension will begin at Greenboro Station, where the existing line currently ends, and continue south to approximately 200 metres west of Limebank Road, where the future Riverside South town centre is slated to sprout. A spur line with stops in the Uplands area and at the airport are also part of the expansion plan.
Original plans had the Trillium expansion end at Earl Armstrong-Bowesville Station but Watson conceded that would have “left people off in the middle of a field” and “didn’t make much sense.”
Watson said support for the LRT extension to Riverside South since it was announced last summer has been “encouraging” and “overwhelming.”
In response to a reporter’s question, Chiarelli said the source of the province’s $50-million investment was leftover cash from a $15-billion pot of money set aside for infrastructure projects outside the Greater Toronto Area. Watson confirmed the City of Ottawa is not chipping in for the LRT extension to Riverside South.
Asked whether the city would plow ahead with the expansion in the event the Liberals lose the next election, Watson did not provide a firm “yes” or “no” – only saying that he’ll be putting questions about this to provincial party leaders in a survey.
“I hope to have a positive answer because certainly when we talk to candidates about this particular project, they all seem very supportive,” Watson told reporters. “They recognize that this makes good sense.”
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has said he is “fully committed” to seeing through the second phase of the LRT.
The last section of the track for phase one of the LRT – known as the Confederation Line – is being laid Friday.
The consortium building the light rail system, the Rideau Transit Group (RTG), is expected to turn over the completed line to the city on Nov. 2, 2018 – although the city’s general manager of transportation services was careful not to make that a promise at a meeting of the finance and economic development committee on Tuesday. If the RTG doesn’t make that November deadline, it will be fined $1 million.
The Trillium Line add-on is one of three major extensions planned for Ottawa’s LRT system. Extensions to the east and west ends of the city are slated for completion in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The municipal transportation committee, chaired by Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Keith Egli, approved a separate LRT expansion to Kanata on Wednesday. Construction for that would begin after 2031 and would ultimately depend on funding from the provincial and federal governments.
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