Navan Road transit link axed

In total, four corridors were assessed for transit ridership between Hurdman Station and St. Laurent Boulevard, including corridors near Browning, Terminal and Industrial avenues, as well as a link to hospital lands from Riverside Drive and Smyth Road.

Aiming to avoid the piece-meal approach prohibited by provincial legislation, however, the city study examining a connection between the southeast Transitway and future transit corridors in the east was expanded to include a section of rapid transit from Browning to Navan Road – the west end of the Cumberland Transitway – and Blair Station.

But the Browning corridor was removed from consideration after initial authorization two years ago to study the spot for future OC Transpo use, with the city’s transit committee notified of the move on Oct. 21.

Behind the decision, in part, was a 2006 Ontario Municipal Board ruling, says Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess, declaring the corridor’s environmental assessment must be completed before the end of this year or otherwise be removed from the city’s Official Plan.

“It’s a process of elimination,” he continues. “It’s a natural process we go through. We try to narrow it down to what’s the best corridor. (Staff) found this one to be the least favourable of all the alternatives.”

Key considerations are cost issues, the corridor’s effectiveness and what will have the least amount of impact on both natural features as well as developed areas, Bloess suggests. And though he admits his original viewpoint was to keep all options open, staff have found over time that better alternatives exist to link Hurdman to St. Laurent without the additional costs of completing an environmental assessment for the Browning corridor, stressing that work on transit from Blair to the Navan Transitway will also be maintained.

“That work is still continuing,” Bloess adds, pointing to future public meetings and further engineering work to come. “(This decision) doesn’t hinder that component of it.”

It’s the high cost and low projected ridership numbers that made the Browning corridor a poor fit for a future transit connection, continues Frank McKinney, program manager for the city’s environmental assessments unit, especially in comparison to two other options up for consideration.

“Definitely both those have higher ridership numbers, and the cost is lower,” he explains. “We’re looking more closely at the Train Yards area to the north. They’ve got the highest ridership potential in terms of future development. Going on Industrial is not out of the question either.”

Though four separate corridors were initially tabled as part of the study, only the two adjacent to Industrial and Terminal avenues remain, he says. Along with the Browning alternative, the link to hospital lands “didn’t have good east-west continuity,” McKinney adds, noting any transit along that route will mean better service to area hospitals.

The next step will be “coming to some sort of final alignment” in the near future and then launching an environmental assessment early next year, he continues, with that process expected to wrap up in June.