History

The Project

Public transit systems shape how cities evolve and thrive. The City of Ottawa’s LRT systems will leverage the power of transportation and community to create a modern, integrated capital city that is environmentally, socially, economically and culturally sustainable and a desirable place for living, working and visiting.

Task Force Report

Ottawa’s Light Rail project began in January 2007 with the Mayor’s Task Force on Transportation, chaired by The Honourable David Collenette, PC. The task force released its first report in June 2007 titled “Moving Ottawa.”

“Moving Ottawa” recommended an east-west rail tunnel bored through downtown “to alleviate the current transit bottleneck downtown and build a more inviting streetscape.”

The recommendations from the Task Force led to a revised Transportation Master Plan for the City of Ottawa, which was adopted in November 2008.

With a strategic direction now in place, the city commissioned a Rail System Selection Study to determine the best type of rail technology to meet Ottawa’s needs. The City also undertook an initial Cost and Affordability Study to refine the cost estimates first proposed in the Transportation Master Plan and determine the best, most cost-effective method for funding the system.

Investing in the Future

The total cost for the rail project portion of increment 1 of the TMP is estimated to be $2.1 billion. This amount is an affordable and prudent investment, as confirmed by the City Treasurer in her Cost and Affordability Memo to City Council, in October 2009 The City has the financial capacity to fund its share of project costs.

Work began immediately to secure federal and provincial funding contributions for the project and each superior level of government subsequently agreed to provide $600M in funding for Ottawa’s LRT project.

This investment will provide a solid financial footing for the project and assist in the evolution of the Nation’s capital with a new transit system that is efficient, reliable and affordable.

Establishing a Functional Design

Work also continued on the development of the Recommended Plan and Environmental Assessment. An interim report was published on May 6th, 2009 detailing the alignment and station locations for the downtown light rail system and the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT).

On December 16th 2009, the final report on the functional design, the Downtown Ottawa Transit Tunnel (DOTT) Planning and Environmental Assessment (EA) Study, was adopted by the City’s Transit Committee.

Exploring Underground

In May 2010, as the Environmental Assessment was underway, the City commenced a Geotechnical and Hydrogeological Investigation to provide the project’s engineering teams with valuable information about underground conditions along the LRT corridor. Information collected about soil conditions, seismic results and alignment routes will inform future advancements in the project’s design and provide enduring benefits for future transit oriented development adjacent to the LRT line.

Advancing Design

September 2nd, 2010 marked the commencement of Preliminary Engineering, when the City signed with Capital Transit Partners to advance design of the new LRT system.

Capital Transit Partners, a joint venture which includes Morrison Hershfield Limited, Jacobs Associates, STV Canada Consulting Inc, and URS Canada Incorporated, was selected after a rigorous competition. Their previous projects include the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Hudson-Bergen Light Rail on the New Jersey Gold Coast, and the Sound Transit University Link in Seattle, WA.

Together with City staff, Capital Transit Partners began the preliminary engineering work to advance the OLRT design, develop a more refined project cost estimate and prepare specifications for final design and construction. Preliminary Engineering also includes a value engineering process that investigates options to manage project costs.

Request for Qualifications

The City of Ottawa issued a Request-for-Qualifications (RFQ) in July 2011 inviting qualified firms and consortia to identify themselves to the City through its official, monitored procurement process. Companies from across Canada and the world participated in a rigorous, competitive RFQ process that evaluated their design, construction, maintenance and financing abilities to deliver the highest quality OLRT project – on time and on budget.

On October 21st, 2011 Mayor Jim Watson announced a shortlist of three consortia made up of world-class firms with extensive expertise in transit infrastructure projects. These consortia will compete in the projects Request-for-Proposals (RFP) phase, which was released on October 27, 2011. During this phase the shortlisted consortia will prepare their detailed OLRT project designs as part of their procurement submissions. The City of Ottawa and Infrastructure Ontario will evaluate each submission and present a winning proposal to Council for ratification in late 2012.

Moving Forward

Examine the latest news on the project by following the Current Status link.