The_Cat
Senior Member
One thing I liked about Reece Martin’s video last year was more east-west lines. If the line runs on 97 Street, perhaps it would make sense to run one along 153 Avenue in the future from Gorman Station to St. Albert Trail.
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
Tropical
Active Member
Correct. And if the province dictates that an airport link is the priority then I think we know where the federal and provincial money will be directed - south.
Tropical
Active Member
Unfortunately, a station at Derocher is nowhere near the heavy rail alignment on the east side of the QE2.
Avenuer
Senior Member
What did she request?
davcocom
Active Member
Avenuer
Senior Member
I kind of like this motion, as I never liked the route along the middle of the CPR Irvine Yards to begin with. I really hope they realign the Metro Line crossing to a more sensible spot to get north across the rail lines and Yellowhead. If a Councillor did not request this, Admin would never bring it forward themselves.
BrettB
Active Member
Having grown up in Castle Downs, the real problem I see with trying to expand bus service to the north whether it's BRT or whatever is the same problem drivers face: buses will invariably get stuck in congestion at the rail underpasses. There isn't much way around that reality.
A train over the tracks solves the issue.
A train over the tracks solves the issue.
EdwardEdm
Active Member
Presumably you mean CN's Walker Yards. I wouldn't give that much credit to this motion. First, it only requests a memo and not an actual report back to council. I believe Councillor Rutherford even said she didn't want admin to have to spend too much time on this. And the overall context seems more like she's looked at the realities and accepts that it doesn't look like this line is being built anytime soon, so what are other options for transit?
I've always felt LRT should provide a better, faster option than the private car. I feel that has helped the NE:LRT immensely, especially in the earlier years of LRT. I doubt anyone could drive to Downtown from Clareview in 15 minutes, or to the University in 22 minutes. I feel the same should be the case the NLRT up towards Castle Downs and it's current planned alignment as that alignment has the potential to be faster than the private car.
I'm certainly not against some form LRT on 97 St, I just don't think it should be a redirected line from Blatchford, especially if it would require significant elevated section. You'll up spending as much or more on the elevated section just avoid a different elevated section, and you then send it on a circuitous route to reach 97 St.
Even sending an LRT line straight down 97 St, unless you run it within 97 St, any bridge over CN will need to span the Yellowhead corridor as well and would be similar in length to the planned bridge for the existing Metro Line alignment anyways. The only difference is you'll end up having more options for locations for piers to support the bridge, so perhaps you can building a cheaper bridge, but the length itself would be similar to the planned bridge.
I would love to see 97 St get shaved down by a few lanes for true, dedicated BRT or even LRT eventually. Personally, I think low floor LRT, perhaps connected to the Valley Line, could be the way to go long term. Maybe make a loop Downtown via S 97 St, W 104 Ave, S on the Valley Line at 107 St, E 102 Ave, N from the Valley Line at 97 St.
trevorhayden
Active Member
Whether over or under, we need another non-car crossing of the YH and rail yards.
yeggator
Senior Member
The ability to build more piers and shorter spans (thus not having to reinforce the piers and pile them really deep into the ground) makes such a big difference for the cost though. But even better is how much additional ridership you'd get on 97th Street that would spread out the cost per passenger even more. You also save on long-term operational costs by not needing a BRT line parallel to the LRT.
Honestly, it would be nice to see it get its own LRT line. However, I'm worried that with the Metro Line running a mile west of 97th Street, the city will decide to forever relegate 97th to BRT. It actually says that very explicitly in the city plan that they want BRT in corridors that will "never get LRT".
Wax
Active Member
Brt corridors never get LRT? Out of curiosity where does it say that? Honestly thats a super strange statement to make as whyte ave 100% should be upgraded to an LRT or subway later on…. Let alone 97st.
yeggator
Senior Member
CplKlinger
Senior Member
Never say never! The Centre Line LRT was in the books until it suddenly wasn't. With any luck, it can work the other way too.I swear I read it in one of the city plans but I can't find it anymore. The wording of "corridors that will never get LRT" stuck out to me though, which is why I remember it
Tropical
Active Member
Does this all end with the B1 Line (planned BRT) from Century Park to Castle Downs branching into 2 routes to serve 97 Street and the unbuilt Metro Line corridor? I can see this working well if they interline going south.
David A
Senior Member
Yes, if St. Albert really wants or needs it, they can chip in for the cost. If a different alignment is considerably less expensive then that makes sense if only Edmonton is paying for the municipal portion of the cost.