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Yesterday, Ottawa, Ontario’s city council approved a plan to advance the Ottawa Light-Rail Transit project at its current budget estimate of $2.1 billion.

The approved plan includes an updated design and implementation strategy for the project. A revised Queen Street alignment calls for a tunnel to be built closer to the surface.

A report approved by the city council recommends a design-build-finance-maintain procurement approach, which will help Ottawa secure a fixed-price contract to construct and maintain an eight-mile, 13-station line from Tunney’s Pasture in the west to Blair Road in the east, city officials said in a prepared statement.

“The LRT will ease congestion on our downtown streets, reinvigorate our city core, create opportunities for smart development and lay the foundation for future expansion of our transit network,” said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.