Ottawa city committee passes new light rail plan

A new long-term transit plan that includes light rail has been endorsed by an Ottawa city council committee, almost one year after city council cancelled its previous light rail project.

The new plan passed by the joint transportation and transit committeeWednesday includes:

• A north-south light rail line heading toward the city's southeast.
• A rapid transit line along the Cumberland Transitway.
• A downtown transit tunnel.
• Completion of the transitway.

The committee also approved a statementona proposedenvironmental assessment for the downtown tunnel.

Coun. Maria McRae, who chairs the transportation committee, introduced the motion,which she said was put together by councillors, Mayor Larry O'Brien and city manager Kent Kirkpatrick.

"This is about a transit vision for the whole city," she told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning onThursday. "I think as a whole, we've all agreed that the congestion is downtown and if we don't solve the downtown, it doesn't matter what we're going to do, whether it's extending the transitway, building light rail in the east, in the south."

McRae would not provide a cost estimate for the plan, and she cautioned against relying on media reports that pegged the cost ataround $2 billion.

She said councillors decidedthe new planwas necessary after a staff recommendation last week to spend half a billion dollars on a bus-only transit plan.

"There were many councillors that didn't feel comfortable or confident that they could vote for the staff plan as is," she said, adding that it did nothing to address congestion in the city's south end.

Councillors also wanted a plan that the mayor could take to higher levels of government to seek transit funding, she said.

The plan will go before full city council on Nov. 28.

"Hopefully, if council passes this package on Wednesday, we have now given the mayor a plan that he can go sell, again, at Queen's Park and obviously Parliament Hill."

City council cancelled its previous north-south light rail plan last December.