Terry Fox Tunnel Has Life Of It Own: MULVIHILL
Kanata North Councillor Cathy Curry has entered the $28-million Terry Fox Tunnel controversy.
The tunnel was initially approved in the 1990s when Kanata North formed part of the City of Kanata and Marianne Wilkinson was councillor. It has suddenly sprung to life albeit much to the surprise of Curry who had never heard of it and didn’t really see the need for the tunnel. Fast forward a few weeks and Curry, having met with staff, suddenly sees the light at the end of the tunnel.
“The traffic engineers, who plan out for 30-50 years, have modelled the traffic flow past and future and tell us that it will help significantly with the bus routes and to alleviate traffic on Terry Fox Drive and other nearby roads … OC Transpo will send a high number of buses that way – more when there is LRT there, too.”
Interestingly OC Transpo will send a high number of buses that way because, according to transit users, buses are currently few. However, there will supposedly be more buses when LRT hits Kanata North. This despite the fact OC Transpo has cut 75,000 hours of bus service.
It has now been about three decades and suddenly the need to spend a minimum of $28 million is urgently needed to divert traffic so buses can move more quickly through this suburb. Seriously? Where are these buses coming from? The city is already short of buses and it isn’t likely that diverting R1 or R2 buses is the plan. Perhaps OC Transpo can update transit users?
According to Wilkinson, “It may not be as crucial as we originally thought it would be, but there are certain times of the year when that road becomes almost unpassable. And whenever there’s an accident, it’s really bad.”
This just in. Whenever there’s an accident any road becomes impassable. That end of Terry Fox Drive is hardly traffic heavy and March Road is massively wide. Can they be busy? Sure but definitely not tunnel worthy and certainly not at this point. Wilkinson’s response is hardly warranted. The most-travelled part of March Road is between Herzberg Road and Highway 417 … a far cry from Terry Fox Drive.
The catch here is that funds for the tunnel were collected via development charges when the Kanata Centrum was built in 1981, held in trust, and can only be used for that specific purpose. It’s been 35 years and suddenly this is of the utmost urgency. Spending at least $28 million seems suddenly vital.
So, the tunnel lives on in perpetuity similar to the Kanata Lakes Golf Course and we all know what happened on that front.
Donna Mulvihill is a community activist and former hospital coordinator.
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Terry Fox Tunnel? – thanks Cathy Currie. Don’t outlaw speed cameras? – thanks Riley Brockington. I smell an election year coming and the current councilors need some buzz is my bet.
In Kanata, We affectionately refer to this as the Tunnel to Nowhere. The city did engage with us but we were firmly told by Cathy Curry that the rationale could not be questioned as it was a done deal but we could suggest changes. As a result of this consultation, thankfully the Tunnel to Nowhere now has bike lanes as it is so important to get from the crazy horse tavern to the Canadian Tire store by bike.
There are two parts to this work, one is the desperately needed improvements at the corner of Terry Fox and Earl Gray drive. That is not a well designed intersection. The other part is the tunnel which will take you from the road that takes you to the transit station to around where the Dymon storage location is.
The rationale of using it for buses for LRT is an invention of fantasy. Currently there are only two buses that could possibly use it. One of them comes South from Terry Fox and the other one currently serves the Katimavik area so they would have to cut service for that area in order to use this tunnel. So in reality one bus would save 400 m of travel with this tunnel. None of the other buses coming from Stittsville would use the station once the LRT is built as there are much closer LRT stations they would use. Buses from Stittsville now that would be going to this station would have to do a left hand turn on the light to get to the road that leads to the tunnel rather than just doing two right hand turns.
So now that we have established OC Transpo and LRT as a purpose for this Tunnel to Nowhere was invented as a reason for the tunnel, you have to wonder why they are doing it. Now we are being told that the funds were locked into doing this and were never spent and they must be spent on this and nothing else. I would like somebody who’s more of an expert who municipal finances to weigh in on this but I think that this is probably make believe too. I cannot imagine a municipality not being able to shift funds to a different project. Surely there’s some application to the province that could be made for a deviation or waiver.
The BIA does not appear to be really happy about this either as this will mess up the traffic into the mall and reduce business. They haven’t come out against it but they’re certainly not enthusiastic about it. The bike Ottawa site has a wonderful and detailed explanation of why this is a dumb idea. Just Google bike Ottawa Terry Fox Tunnel and it will pop up. It shows that there are no real delays getting into or out of Centrum through that intersection. There is really no reason for this tunnel. Engaging the temperature of local residents, they are not pleased at all with this and Cathy Curry.
LRT in Kanata? Seriously? Has Kanata South Councillor Alan Hubley actually converted the masses to believing that Moodie Drive is in Kanata?
Ron, people are actually thinking that those long, big, white structures adjacent to Wesley Clover Park means LRT to Kanata is imminent. Like really imminent.
The station at Moodie Drive and the 417 is for what? There isn’t a park and ride anywhere near so its purpose is questionable. Anybody???
Donna, those long sheds are for service/maintenance. An over night station to clean some trains before the start of the morning runs.