Ottawa Construction News staff writer
The provincial government has committed $50 million to fund the anticipated $80 million cost for a kilometre expansion of the O-Train Trillium Line to Riverside South.
The funds will allow the line to be extended from Earl Armstrong/Bowesville Station to a new terminus station approximately 200 metres west of Limebank Road in the future Riverside South Town Centre community.
Provincial funding will support capital costs, including an additional train required to service the extension, the city says in a news release.
The city is also finalizing details with the Riverside South Development Corporation, a partnership between Urbandale Corporation and Richcraft, to implement a privately supported area-specific development charge that would raise the additional funding required to implement this extension. The province’s financial contribution is in addition to the more than $1 billion contribution to the fully funded O-Train Trillium Line and Confederation Line extensions that are proceeding as part of the Stage 2 LRT Project. This is the single largest investment any provincial government has made to support public transit in Ottawa.
An addendum to the Trillium Line Environmental Assessment will be filed with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) this June. A connectivity study for Limebank Station will occur as part of the Riverside South Community Design Plan update, anticipated to take place later this year.
The Trillium Line extension is one of the three extensions in Ottawa’s Stage 2 LRT project. In the south, the Trillium Line will be expanded to reach Limebank Station, with a link to the Ottawa International Airport by 2021. In the east, the Confederation Line will extend to Trim Rd. by 2022. In the west, the Confederation Line will extend to Algonquin College and Moodie Dr. by 2023.
The complete O-Train system will span 64 kilometres and include 42 stations.
