The City’s LRT Flooding Follies: GRAY

The great light-rail issue that was never picked up by the media in the planning stages of the project was the LRT-line location.

Not Carling Avenue versus the current route but “isn’t that tunnel a bit close to the Ottawa River,” a few wags were heard to say.

You know, as in flooding … as in high water table.

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But the city no doubt had great engineers who could perform miracles such as keeping water out of an underground tube with holes at either end. Where much of the west end’s water flows downhill, somewhat, through combined sewers and over the surface. Where some of the stations are dug into a cut-and-cover trench with open roofs. What could go wrong? Oh those open roofs … so ecstatically beautiful, so open to the elements. Wait for the next ice storm and see what happens (if the line is open in our lifetime).

Well in the same area that high-rises experienced above- and below-ground flooding on July 1 near McEwen Avenue and Richmond Road … guess what … the light-rail line flooded. Suddenly that Carling Avenue route looks better.

As any homeowner will tell you, when water wants to go to your basement, it will go to your basement. Water is relentless and without empathy. Water tends to abhor a dry place, particularly when it is downhill … like in a basement or a tunnel or a trench or a full combined sewer.

Now the opening of the western light-rail extension, supposedly to be completed two years late in the summer of 2027, will be pushed back some time in the future due to the flooding. What can go wrong usually goes wrong when it comes to Ottawa’s troubled LRT line.

Credit where credit is due. At least light rail is consistent. Will it go right or wrong? The smart smart money is on wrong.

And this is not a broken wire that can be fixed in a day or two. This flooding area is where this line is permanently located, sealed in concrete. It ain’t goin’ nowhere. And it leaks, big time.

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All this flooding can happen again … and again … and again. Each time it damages no end of electric and digital equipment while closing the line for extended periods. Wonky wheel bearings can be fixed, though it certainly takes a long time. Hard to move a light-rail line. Hard enough to move trains along it, periodically.

And of the four major mayoral candidates, who was sitting on Ottawa City Council when the route was chosen? You’re welcome, Your Worship. You get a bye on this one.

Who adamantly supported the current route? Yes, you got it. The man who gave us gas-generated electricity powered electric buses … Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper. The man who held sacred intensification without expanding sewer pipes – hello damp homeowners.

Leiper looks like a bit of an adventure as mayor given his record as councillor.

That said, his follies could be entertaining yet expensive.

Good for news. Lousy for governance.

Ken Gray is the editor of The Bulldog.

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