Western LRT expansion is up to a year behind schedule: Municipalities

Forked western LRT expansion now delayed by up to a year However, additional hurdles will continue to impact the initial schedule of the Stage 2 project.

This means that the westernmost transit commuter may not be able to improve his access to the Confederation Line until 2026. Evaluation of a project to extend the LRT to Algonquin College and Moody Drive.

"The city is working closely with the East-West Connector (EWC) to maintain the Confederation Line extension schedule," said Michael He Morgan, the city's railroad construction director. We sent an update to the City Council on Friday.

"While the project is on the original timeline in the East for delivery in May 2024, the Western segment has a larger schedule of up to one year." The potential impact of 2022 labor strikes, supply issues and other events is still being investigated.”

Two excavations The western section, including the tunnel, is under contract to be completed by May 2025.

In recent months, the city had predicted that the Western project could be delayed by as much as three months. The staff said he worked with EWC, a partnership between Kiewit and the Vinci Group, to review the schedule.

The western extension could be the most technologically sensitive part of his $4.6 billion three-way Stage 2 project.

Part of the LRT west leg includes a tunnel roughly between Dominion Station (renamed Kiti Shibi Station) and Lincoln Field Station. A short tunnel runs between Connaught Park and Queensview Station.

Although the city says construction of the longer three-kilometer tunnel met the initial challenge of finding deeper clay, it has not been characterized as a technical problem. There was not.

When it comes to labor issues, many construction workers in the city, including crane operators and road builders went on strike earlier this year.

On the other side of the city, EWC has successfully maintained the east extension to Trim Road in line with the November 2024 contract completion target.

SNC-Lavalin has a contract to expand the North-South Trillium line under the project name TransitNEXT. The section was originally contracted to be completed in August 2022, but the city has warned Congress of his delay to 2023.

In an update Morgan submitted to Congress on Friday, Trillium Line said he expects it to be completed in the summer of 2023. , but he noted the same construction variables as the Confederation Line, including labor and supply issues that could affect schedules.

The good news for the Trillium Line project is that all seven of his new Stadler trains have arrived in Ottawa, completing conversions to existing His Alstom LINT trains.

There are still unresolved financial issues in Phase 1, as Phase 2 contractors work on the project and the city pays the companies.

The federal and Ontario governments have each withheld $60 million. Stage 1 is audited by a third party. Each senior government contributes up to $600 million to $2.2 billion Stage 1 projects, which are also subject to state scrutiny.

According to Morgan's update to the council, no funds have been returned from the higher governments for the second phase.

jwilling@postmedia.com

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