Lees station

Not to be confused with Lees (Manchester) railway station or Lees Station, Tennessee.

Lees station is an OC Transpo light rail station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It had previously been a Transitway station, which closed in January 2016 and was converted into an O-Train station.^[2]

Lees
Lees Station LRT platform
General information
Coordinates	45°24′59″N 75°40′13″W
Owned by	OC Transpo
Platforms	2 (O-Train), 2 (Bus)
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Trench (LRT station)
Platform levels	2
Parking	No
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	3022
History
Opened	1983 (Transitway) September 14, 2019 (O-Train)[1]
Closed	December 20, 2015 (Lower/transitway level only)
Rebuilt	2015–2019
Services
Preceding station OC Transpo Following station uOttawa toward Tunney's Pasture Line 1 Hurdman toward Blair
Location

Location

It is located south of the Highway 417 just to the west of the Rideau River. It serves the Lees Avenue and Sandy Hill Heights communities, as well as the Lees Campus of the University of Ottawa.

History

The transitway station has had quite a notorious history for serious incidents. Soon after the station was constructed, coal tar began seeping into the station and it was closed for two months. It was soon discovered that this industrial waste was under much of the Lees Avenue area, necessitating a $6 million cleanup operation.^[3]

The station was also the site of a deadly accident on July 18, 1994, when a 30-tonne transport truck plunged off the exit ramp of Highway 417 onto the transitway, killing two women and leaving a nine-month-old with permanent brain damage. The driver was later found guilty of dangerous driving.^[4]

In July 2003, an eastbound bus approaching the station lost control due to a mechanical breakdown, and slammed into the station. No one was seriously injured, but it took months to repair the station^{[citation needed]}.

In December 2015, the Transitway from Lees station to Blair station was closed; it reopened on September 14, 2019, when Confederation Line service began.^[5]

Layout

Lees station is a side platform station located at grade in a cutting. Above the platforms, the station's entrance building contains the ticket barrier and gives access to a plaza on the north side of Lees Avenue.

The station's artwork, Transparent Passage by Amy Thompson, features a series of forest designs on the station's glass platform walls, backed by sculptures of birds in flight along the retaining walls behind them. ^[6]

Service

See also: OC Transpo routes

The following routes serve Lees as of October 6, 2019:^[7]

Key v t e
	O-Train
E1	Shuttle Express
R1   R2   R4	O-Train replacement bus routes
N75	Night routes
40   11	Frequent routes
99   162	Local routes
275	Connexion routes
303	Shopper routes
405	Event routes
646	School routes
Additional info: Line 1: Confederation Line Line 2: Trillium Line Line 4: Airport Link   Routes 5 to 199: Custom routing that that connects to Line 1 and/or 2 Routes 200 to 299: Connexion (peak-period only routes that connect to the O-Train) Routes 301 to 305: Shopper Routes (limited rural service) Routes 404 to 406: Canadian Tire Centre events Routes 450 to 456: Lansdowne Park events Routes 600 to 699: School Routes   Route R1: replaces Line 1 when it is out of service Route R2: replaces Line 2 when it is out of service Route R4: replaces Line 4 when it is out of service Routes N39 to N98: night service (replaces Line 1 and N98 replaces Line 4) White backgrounds: limited service   Last two digits represent service area: 00s and 10s – Central 20s – Gloucester 30s – Orléans 40s – Ottawa East 50s – Ottawa West 60s – Kanata, Stittsville 70s – Barrhaven 80s – Nepean 90s – South Keys

Stop	Routes
West O-Train
East O-Train
A Lees Avenue, Southwest	10   N39   N45   56   85   N105   R1
B Lees Avenue, Northwest	10   56   85

Notes:

• Routes N39 and N45 heading towards Rideau station do not serve this station.