BASE said:
Before any further extensions happen, I wouldn't mind the next project to be upgrades to lrt crossings at Kingsway/111 and/or University ave.
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Hard to know the right approach. Arguably this is the right one. Fix the problems before you grow ridership and future headaches of upgrades.

But also, the public tolerance for billions in spending with almost 0 direct ROI in the short term is tough. A new line to the NW means tens of thousands of new users to justify the costs. The grade separation means years of construction for drivers, and very few new riders in short term.

Mistakes sure are expensive…

Good thing we learned and made 142 &149st at grade, as well as Ellerslie… but props where it’s due for 170,178st, 23ave, etc. Halfway there.
 
degrandprix said:
I don't understand why construction work at Coliseum would impact the Metro line at all though, since it doesn't go through that station?
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Because they can only run 10 min frequency along entire length of the Capital Line. If the Metro Line wasn't extended and frequency increased, you would only have 10 min frequency from Century Park to Churchill. That would not be enough frequency; the ridership is too high. So they decided to extend Metro Line to Century Park and increase frequency to 10 minutes so that there would be enough capacity.

It's also a convenient way for them to try out 10 minute frequency at 111 Ave/106 St. And actually it seems to be going okay. Granted NAIT is out, but I haven't heard any screaming at least.
 
BASE said:
Before any further extensions happen, I wouldn't mind the next project to be upgrades to lrt crossings at Kingsway/111 and/or University ave.
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Heck, those crossing upgrades should have been done instead of the extension to Blatchford...
 
thommyjo said:
But also, the public tolerance for billions in spending with almost 0 direct ROI in the short term is tough. A new line to the NW means tens of thousands of new users to justify the costs. The grade separation means years of construction for drivers, and very few new riders in short term.
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Our best bet is to expand the scope of the Metro Line Phase 2 extension to include an elevated reconstruction of the LRT at Kingsway and 111th Ave (including the station) concurrent with the extension of the line to Castle Downs. That way, we can fix this intersection before we introduce tens of thousands of daily commuters on the Metro Line. It’ll probably raise the cost of the project to $4 billion by the time we build it in the 2030s, but hopefully, the city will have better finances and fewer major projects on its plate by then.
 
yeggator said:
Our best bet is to expand the scope of the Metro Line Phase 2 extension to include an elevated reconstruction of the LRT at Kingsway and 111th Ave (including the station) concurrent with the extension of the line to Castle Downs. That way, we can fix this intersection before we introduce tens of thousands of daily commuters on the Metro Line. It’ll probably raise the cost of the project to $4 billion by the time we build it in the 2030s, but hopefully, the city will have better finances and fewer major projects on its plate by then.
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This is a smart way to frame this upgrade. I wonder if similar thinking could lead to an upgrade at University Ave for the next (hopeful) south extension as well.
 
thommyjo said:
Good thing we learned and made 142 &149st at grade, as well as Ellerslie… but props where it’s due for 170,178st, 23ave, etc. Halfway there.
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I think people are too harsh on these decisions. 142nd and 149th Streets being at-grade makes sense for the style of LRT and surrounding neighbourhoods on that stretch of the West Line. Grade-separations would have severely disrupted the community (unless we just tunnelled the whole thing). I think the decision to run “urban” LRT that’s tightly integrated into the neighbourhood in that area deserves more credit.

As for Ellerslie Road, people need to remember that the current Capital Line extension DOESN’T ACTUALLY CROSS IT YET. We can still easily grade-separate it when we extend it later, once the city’s finances are better. We were in a bind because of inflation when the project moved forward, and I’m glad we didn’t let this issue delay the Capital Line extension because it is urgently needed to fix the traffic in that area.
 
trevorhayden said:
FYI the University/114 LRT crossing is unfixable. Any change to track grade will require raising or lowering Health Sciences station.
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Do you have a source for that? No t that I don't believe you, I just want to learn more. @EdwardEdm Do you have any insights?
 
trevorhayden said:
FYI the University/114 LRT crossing is unfixable. Any change to track grade will require raising or lowering Health Sciences station.
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Really? 220 meters is enough to bring the LRT from at-grade to below-grade at the 111th Street underpass between South Campus and Southgate. And there’s more than that much distance between University Ave and the stations on either side.
 
yeggator said:
Really? 220 meters is enough to bring the LRT from at-grade to below-grade at the 111th Street underpass between South Campus and Southgate. And there’s more than that much distance between University Ave and the stations on either side.
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Guessing it's due to the track switches south of Health Sciences limiting slope approach distance to closer to 150M, albeit I think that's still reasonable for a below grade crossing. And if frequency isn't limited by University Crossing signaling, do they even need the switches right there? They have a set by South Campus.

If this is an actual opinion of the City and not the usual smug make believe peddled by trevorhayden, it gives off big time "find an excuse to not do it" vibes that gov't administration loves to produce when faced with correcting past errors.
 
northlands said:
Guessing it's due to the track switches south of Health Sciences limiting slope approach distance to closer to 150M, albeit I think that's still reasonable for a below grade crossing. And if frequency isn't limited by University Crossing signaling, do they even need the switches right there? They have a set by South Campus.

If this is an actual opinion of the City and not the usual smug make believe peddled by trevorhayden, it gives off big time "find an excuse to not do it" vibes that gov't administration loves to produce when faced with correcting past errors.
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Obviously the switch would have to be moved to South Campus where they have a centre switch back. Would be less disruptive as the train would not have to cross tracks. This cannot happen until University Avenue is grade separated.
 
Tropical said:
This is a smart way to frame this upgrade. I wonder if similar thinking could lead to an upgrade at University Ave for the next (hopeful) south extension as well.
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Unfortunately, even without extending it past Century Park, the south leg of the Capital Line already contributes so much ridership (going to/from Health Sciences and beyond) that there’s no good way to build the grade-separation without disrupting tens of thousands of daily commutes. Best bet is to get the new OMF set up so we can sever service between Health Sciences and McKernan and try to find a way to bridge the gap temporarily (perhaps by setting up temporary bus lanes and shuttle bus service between McKernan/South Campus and University Stations).
 
Crazy idea but can we just get an underpass under the LRT line and just lower the whole intersection of University Ave and 114 St?
 
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