West Ottawa residents say they’d rather the city’s planned light-rail system go through commercial rather than residential areas.
Carling Avenue was the choice of those who came to a public meeting on proposed route Thursday evening, saying they didn’t want trains speeding close to their homes.
“We don’t want going 60 to 80 kilometres (an hour) through our neighbourhood, we have children,” said Deb Chapman.
“This is probably one of the areas in Ottawa where you have a lot of young families and also the most vulnerable, our seniors are moving here.”
The National Capital Commission says it doesn’t want light rail along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, with councillor Katherine Hobbs explaining another option would be through the Richmond/Byron corridor.
“We can say no today because maybe we feel we don’t need to use transit, but what happens in the future if you get bypassed?” she said.
“What happens to our great business area here, when people start taking trains they take them to where trains go.”
Hobbs said the plan is to have one primary and one secondary rail line.
The city is weeks away from signing the first phase of their LRT plan.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Katie Griffin
