Ottawa's Light Rail Transit Confederation Line

Challenge

The first stage in Ottawa’s planned 40 km light rail network saw the construction of a 12.5 km LRT system including 3 km of tunnel under the downtown Ottawa, and 13 stations of which three are in the tunnel portion.

SLR was required to complete studies related to acoustics, air quality, noise, smoke re-entrainment, and vibration for this stage of the $2.1 billion Ottawa Light Rail Transit (OLRT) project.

Solution

SLR's studies included specialist environmental assessment of all proposed infrastructure including both stationary and mobile sources. This included the substantial Maintenance & Storage Facility for the trains, located in proximity to residential neighborhoods.

A scale model of the proposed station developments and surrounding buildings was constructed and evaluated in a wind tunnel. This allowed SLR to predict and compare wind conditions as defined by the City of Ottawa goals for seasonal wind comfort and safety. SLR also performed a detailed wind tunnel study to confirm the anticipated pedestrian wind conditions around the proposed stations.

Impact

We provided the client with wind roses showing 36 directions across 70 locations, helping to position and shape the design of the stations.