A stretch of Rideau Street is shutting down completely until December, as crews scramble to finish LRT work in the same area where a sinkhole opened up this summer.
Rideau will be closed to all traffic between Sussex Drive and Dalhousie Street, starting 8 p.m. on Wednesday until the end of December.
John Manconi, the head of OC Transpo, says the closure is necessary because construction in the area was delayed by this summer's sinkhole.
"They want more time, they need more time, they convinced us of that and we're granting them that," says Manconi.
The City says Rideau Transit Group, the consortium building LRT, requested blocking off the street to all traffic because the previous nightly shutdown wasn't allowing enough time to do work.
"They would get to a certain point of work time and they would have to shut down ... this gives them 24/7 and they can be very productive and keep going with what they've got to do," says Manconi.
Workers at the site are injecting grout into the area where the sinkhole opened up, to stabilize the ground. Manconi notes the tunnel excavation in this area would have been completed by now, if it were not for the sinkhole.
"We need to keep the tunnel on schedule, we need to reduce inconvenience for all users ... and that's exactly what we're trying to do, " says Coun. Stephen Blais, the chair of the city's transit commission.
Several OC Transpo bus routes will be affected.
- Routes 1 and 7 will operate via Daly and stop at the intersections of Rideau and Dalhousie, and Daly and Nicholas.
- Routes 2 and 4 will operate along Albert and Slater, and will end their runs at the corner of Elgin and Sparks. They will not operate east of the canal.
- Route 9 will end its run at Dalhousie and Rideau, and will begin its run at Sussex and Rideau. It will not operate west of the canal.
- Routes 12 and 18 will stop at Rideau and Dalhousie, and will end their runs at Daly and Nicholas, Eastbound trips will begin at Daly and Nicholas. Route 12 will not operate west of the canal.
- Route 14 will operate via the Mackenzie King Bridge.
STO service will stop on Mackenzie Avenue, Sussex, and on Rideau at Dalhousie.
For more information, see http://www.octranspo.com/updates