The City of Ottawa invites residents to join City Councillors and project staff at an Ottawa Light Rail Transit (OLRT) Project Design Showcase in their community. Showcases will be held throughout the City from December 5th until December 19th.

The OLRT Project is approaching a major milestone this December as the procurement process comes to a close and Council makes a final decision on who will build the project. These public showcases will provide citizens with an opportunity to view updated project design details and to engage with project experts.

The project is being funded by an IBM 2012 Smarter Cities Challenge grant valued at US$400,000 and will be led by a team from IBM’s global technology workforce to work closely with City leaders and deliver recommendations on the City’s LRT plan.

“We are extremely privileged to receive this free work as part of the 2012 IBM Smart City Challenge,” said Mayor Jim Watson. “I am looking forward to their expert recommendations on how we can turn our Transit-Oriented Development plans into action, creating new destination neighbourhoods in Ottawa”

The City is planning to create compact neighbourhoods with mixes of business and residential development around the light-rail stations through the adoption of Transit-Oriented Development plans that will be presented to planning committee for approval later this fall. The first three stations of these plans will focus on revitalizing the areas around Cyrville, St. Laurent, and VIA Rail transit stations. The IBM team will gather and analyze information from a broad spectrum of stakeholders and data sources to provide the City with recommendations on the best ways to increase market interest for residential and business growth in these areas.

Ottawa was one of two Canadian cities and 33 municipalities worldwide selected from over 150 submissions in the IBM’s 2012 Smarter Cities Challenge, a 100-city competitive grant program IBM launched in 2011.As part of the initiative, the company sends a team of IBM experts to each winning city to study and make recommendations on projects of local importance. To date, teams have developed recommendations for more than 40 cities around the world, on projects related to transportation, urban planning, sustainability, health, finance, public safety and education challenges.

“We have learned a tremendous amount about the challenges facing today’s cities and how IBM, through the expertise of our employees, can add value as city leaders look for solutions,” said Normand Chatelier, corporate citizenship program manager for IBM. “We look forward to helping Ottawa’s leaders build a path to more thriving communities along the LRT corridor.”

“The long-term plan for the intensification and revitalization of these urban centres will lead to growth in transit ridership,” said Councillor Peter Hume, chair of the City’s Planning Committee. “I am looking forward to IBM’s recommendations on how to create the right conditions needed to attract residents to live and work around these transit stations. This will help us maximize the return on our investment in the Light Rail project, and help make Ottawa more liveable and economically sustainable by providing growth opportunities with infrastructure expansion.”

September 10, 2012 – Today the City of Ottawa received submissions from three industry teams to design, build, finance and maintain the Ottawa Light Rail Transit (OLRT) Project.

“We have reached another important milestone today in our effort to bring Light Rail Transit to Ottawa,” said Mayor Jim Watson. “I know residents are pleased to finally see progress on this vital city-building project.  Council is looking forward to awarding the contract later this year and getting shovels in the ground in 2013.”

Proposals have been submitted by:

• Ottawa Transit Partners (led by Vinci Concessions)
• Rideau Transit Group (led by ACS Infrastructure Canada)
• Rideau Transit Partners (led by Bouygues Travaux Publics)

Each of these teams was prequalified to submit proposals after an initial Request for Qualifications was completed in October 2011. Collectively, these firms have successfully built over $100 billion in light rail projects and 2,000 kilometres of tunnels in cities across the globe.

The City of Ottawa and Infrastructure Ontario will now commence the evaluation of these submissions, and will recommend a Preferred Proponent along with their design, cost and schedule to City Council for approval by the end of this year. Construction of the OLRT Project is anticipated to begin in early 2013 and the system is expected to enter full revenue service in spring 2018.

Ottawa Light Rail Art Program – Expression of Interest

The City of Ottawa’s Light Rail Transit Art Program invites professional artists to submit their qualifications to be considered for various permanent public art opportunities throughout the future LRT line. From the resulting adjudicated shortlist of artists, artists will be considered to create fully integrated, permanent works of art for Ottawa’s Light Rail stations.

The complete Expression of Interest (including eligibility, public art vision, budget, supporting documents and selection criteria) is available online at:  www.ottawalightrail.ca/en/project-plan/public-art.

Applications must be submitted no later than Thursday, Sept 6, 2012 at 4:00 p.m.

An information meeting will be held at:

172 Guigues Avenue
Routhier Community Centre, 1^st Floor, Lounge
Ottawa, ON, K1N 5H9
on Tuesday, July 24, 2012
from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

This information meeting will provide potential applicants with the particulars of the art opportunities and the project.

For more information:

E-mail:   olrtart@ottawa.ca
Phone: 613-244-4299

Work to achieve Federal Environmental Assessment approval began in earnest in March 2010. With this announcement the federal government now joins the provincial government, which granted its environmental assessment approval in August 2010.

“This project is the largest, most complex infrastructure project in the City’s history and today we have achieved a very important milestone,” said Mayor Jim Watson. “The federal government’s endorsement of our approach is a critical step forward for us as we move towards finishing the RFP and selecting the team that will build this project.”

The OLRT project is currently in the Request-for-Proposals (RFP) phase of the procurement process. Three world class consortia have been shortlisted to compete for the project contract and Council is scheduled to ratify the winner in late 2012. Construction of the OLRT project would begin in early 2013.

The OLRT project will generate over $3.2 billion in economic activity and 20,000 person-years of employment during construction alone. Once built, the system will carry in excess of 10,000 people per hour per direction during the morning rush hour and save transit riders approximately 15 minutes from their daily commutes.

See Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency Decision Statement