Trim

[Shane]

Discussions on Trim Station

[J.OT13]

Transportation Committee today, the City will ask the Province to build a parking structure at Trim Station to encourage commuters east of the city (Rockland, Clarence...) to park-and-ride instead of using the city's 174. The argument is that the Province I guess "owes" the City for downloading the 174 20-odd years ago. 

Edited April 7 by J.OT13

[Shane]

I am not against this. The Trim park and ride lot is quite large and expansive, however if ridership does increase from those living in Rockland, etc... the lot capacity may not handle it indefinitely. There is nothing worse than arriving at a park and ride lot and not finding a spot to park, or having to circle indefinitely. I have never tried Trim but back in the day, the ones at Place d'Orleans were always full by the time I would arrive to try to use it. In that case, I would eventually give up and drive the rest of the way, unable to properly park my car where I had wanted to take the bus.

A multi-level parking structure would definitely help, and if large enough should provide lots of capacity moving forward. Should such a thing be built, it should be protected to allow it to be expanded further later on as the need grows. This happened at the Airport parkade, which grew from its earlier configuration over the years to its present size.

[J.OT13]

I hope this parking structure could come with redevelopment of part of the Trim lot. I was hoping they would sell the entire parking lot to a developer with a condition that they would build a park-and-ride as part of the project. 

[DBellerive]

Parking structure would be a really smart idea. How about we take the Bank Street Parking lot and just move it over there? Not like anyone uses it! 

Seriously, I'd like to see something along the lines of what GO does in Toronto with Bramaela Station: a nice parking structure, really close to the station entrance and integrated. Of course the middle of the road placement of the station makes it a bit more painful but I'd rather see them build it as "one item" versus two seperate things...

[J.OT13]

I understand why the Bank garage was built (replace some Lansdowne parking), but I guess they never anticipated that people don't like to, you know, walk. 

I like the Bramalea Station concept. Plug the garage to the station using the ped bridge. Honestly, all park and rides should be structures to reduce the amount of surface parking and maximize TOD at each station. 

[Shane]

I would love to see the Trim lot get compacted to a third of it's footprint by replacing it with a parking structure. It would make it easier for people to reach the station (be covered from the elements and a shorter walk even at the farthest corner).

The rest of the land could be then repurposed for other developments.

[DBellerive]

5 minutes ago, Shane said:

I would love to see the Trim lot get compacted to a third of it's footprint by replacing it with a parking structure. It would make it easier for people to reach the station (be covered from the elements and a shorter walk even at the farthest corner).

The rest of the land could be then repurposed for other developments.

Wonder if the zoning would allow for high-density like we see at Blair with Frontier/Lattitude and the other proposals. If so it could be a really nice use of space and make the whole thing more justifiable.

[J.OT13]

Station highlights from the latest Stage 2 east update: https://ottawa.ca/en/planning-development-and-construction/major-projects/stage-2-light-rail-transit-project/project-updates#stage-2-o-train-east-extension-spring-2021-information-session

Note that it says there will be access to an elevated boulevard, which is not the case, but may be if the Trim overpass is built sometime in the future. 

Trim Station

Station excavation starts September 2021 for the future Trim Station. The start of station construction is anticipated in November 2021 with a completion expected in Fall 2023.

The station will be built at-grade with access to an elevated boulevard and will have a 60m pedestrian overpass connecting to the Trim and Park and Ride.

 

This image is an artistic representation of the Trim Station design. The final product may not be exactly as shown.

 

Trim Station
Number of Entrances	2
Fare Gates	6
Elevators	4
Escalator	2
Bike Parking Spaces	60
Washrooms	Yes
Bus Connections	Yes

In order to make space for the future station, Trim Road needs to be realigned. The OR174 and Trim Road intersection will be shifted to the east and wrap around the east side of the park and ride to join the traffic circle and follow the existing alignment. Pedestrian and cycling connectivity is in the process of being finalized.

 

Planned Trim Road realignment.

[DBellerive]

Wait I am confused: where is the second entrance?

[J.OT13]

They make reference to "access to an elevated boulevard". Presumably a future Trim overpass? Maybe they are counting an entrance that won't exist for another two decades. The plan has a green rectangle to the left of the platform where that future overpass entrance might be. 

That said, the 6 fare gates is consistent with a single entrance at this location. 

[DBellerive]

4 minutes ago, J.OT13 said:

They make reference to "access to an elevated boulevard". Presumably a future Trim overpass? Maybe they are counting an entrance that won't exist for another two decades. The plan has a green rectangle to the left of the platform where that future overpass entrance might be. 

Would be a messy setup I think since they would need to reconfigure everything *again* but probably the most logical explanation... They should just get the pedestrian overpass extended and make it accessible even when the trains are not running IMO.