Ottawa approves Stage 2 LRT, turns to planning Gatineau crossing

Even as Ottawa city councillorsvoted Wednesday to approve asweeping, expensive plan to extend light rail east, west and south by 2023, they were already contemplating the next stageand finally connecting the rail system to Gatineau in the north.

Councillorsgave Mayor Jim Watson a mandate to start formal talks with his Gatineaucounterpartin the hopeof speeding up plans to convert theold rail bridge over the Ottawa River tolight rail.

"This is something that has been talked about for a couple of decades," said Watson.

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"The reason why a previous council bought the Prince of Wales Bridge was ultimately to connect to (Gatineau's) transit system because so many people live in Ottawa and work in Gatineau, and vice versa.It just makes good sense."

Butthe file has been a complicated one because it entails two cities andtwo provinces, in addition to the federal government. The plan on the books has been to create a pedestrian bridge until the crossing could be used for transit more than a decade from now.

What's changed, Watson suggested, is that federal Liberal MPs in the region are very interested in linking the two cities' transit systems.

Watson underlined that the city still doesn't have the money to extend the O-Train to the Tach station ofGatineau'sRapidbus system, but the city wants to lay the groundwork in case money becomes available and the project could happen in the next five to seven years.

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The main discussionat council Wednesday led council to approve the second stage of its light rail project, to begin constructionafter the downtownline opens in 2018.

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"The plan with Stage 2 is the largest and the most extensive and detailed infrastructure work program in the history of the City of Ottawa," said the city's transportation general manager John Manconias the discussion began.

Most councillors took time to thank staff for all their work, and while councillors supported the project overall, some had outlying concerns.

Kanata-North's Marianne Wilkinson, for instance, was disappointed Orlans will see light rail when Kanata doesn't even have a rapid bus line yet,but said she would "hold her nose" and vote for the extensions.

She said she was hoping for a "golden tree to provide the funds" to take light rail out to Kanata, given the city has sped up the environmental assessment for it.

College Ward's Rick Chiarellireiterated his concerns about transparency. He's suggested the expropriations and land transactions the city will undertake for Stage 2 should be publicand not left to an audit after all deals are finished.

Riley Brockington urged the city to spend asmuch as possible of the $10 million set aside for public art on local artists.

The plan is for the city to put out requests for proposals by late May, but it must still secure more than $1 billion in federal funding or tendering and construction could be delayed, said the mayor.

The provincial funding was lined up last June.

Councillors also made minor tweaks to the sprawling Stage 2 plan, such as asking staff to look into buildinga park and ride lot at the future Moodie stationand building public washrooms in the Place d'Orlans station.

The motion to give the mayor a mandate to start talks with Gatineau about improved transit linkages: