Photo: Byron cut-and-cover work
O-Train West Extension
Throughout 2020 nearby residents, pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and transit users have witnessed a great deal of construction activity in Ottawa’s west-end. Much of this work is related to the O-Train West extension project from Tunney’s Pasture Station to Baseline Road and Moodie Drive. The west extension will add 15 km of rail and 11 new or converted rapid transit stations to the City’s LRT network.
Tunnel Construction
The west extension includes two cut and cover tunnels that will be constructed from the top down: the 3-kilometre Parkway tunnel will travel between Dominion Station and Lincoln Fields Station travelling underneath the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway and Byron Linear Park, and the 270-metre Connaught tunnel that will link Lincoln Fields Station with Queensview Station by travelling underneath Connaught Avenue.
Before cut and cover tunnel construction can begin traffic needs to be shifted, and underground utilities must be relocated. Of critical importance in 2020, work was completed to shift the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway north between Dominion Avenue and Cleary Avenue to allow for construction to safely occur on the south side.
At Rochester Field, work is underway to install temporary equipment that will produce concrete used to stabilize the excavation and form the tunnel walls. In the fall, an onsite facility was built that will process and dry the excavated material from the tunnel in slurry pits. This dry material can then be hauled away.
Excavation of the Parkway tunnel is well underway: approximately 30,000 cubic metres or 10% of the total quantity has been excavated, 60% of the pile drilling has been completed and 15,000 metres of piles have been drilled along Byron Avenue.