Barnaby said:
I just drove the VLW alignment. I'm happy to see the progress on the guideways, this time next year I'm assuming it'll be completed.

I'm not a fan of keeping traffic along the ground level areas of the alignment, though. It seems like the construction delays are largely a result of the insistence on keeping vehicle traffic flowing through a construction zone. What was done along the Glenora SPR area should have been done across the whole alignment. Kick out the cars until construction is completed.

I'd be interested in knowing what portion of the budget goes to traffic control. Seems like a ton of fat that could be cut, along with improved timelines.
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If you owned a business along the line that was struggling to survive the construction period, you wouldn't be so eager to "kick out the cars."
 
TravellingChris said:
If you owned a business along the line that was struggling to survive the construction period, you wouldn't be so eager to "kick out the cars."
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I'm in favour of getting both sides of the alignment repaved and open again, so track work is what's left. Doing the back and forth shuffle, just to keep vehicle traffic open is just making the pain last longer.

And it's not like it's cars that are buying Pies or Coffee from Vies or The Columbian, both of which have been packed. Luckily they'll have their street finished before the rest of the line because the city was so eager to "kick out the cars" in that area.
 
Barnaby said:
Looked like it, but I didn't walk the entire area. Others will have a better idea.

It's going to be very nice. I'm hoping for more density in the area soon.
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It is an uphill battle. Last year the Ritchie riches fought a grocery store proposal that would have been right next to Glenora station.
 
trevorhayden said:
It is an uphill battle. Last year the Ritchie riches fought a grocery store proposal that would have been right next to Glenora station.
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With the new ZBR, it'll will be much harder to fight new developments. I still think that it wasn't close to far enough regarding commercial food services in residential, but I'm optimistic.

Here are some photos from the Lewis Farms OMF and parking lot. The building looks nice, I'm assuming based on the pitch of the roof it will have plenty of solar panels. The parking lot seems to have prep work for bioswales, so that's cool I guess. It's still a very large parking lot that would have been a nice spot for multi family housing.

The connection to the neighbourhood seems to be underway via a MUP on the south west end of the lot.

I can't get over how convenient getting to WEM will be from this area. DT will be a little more of a journey, but this isn't rapid transit. Having a major hub like WEM on the west side of the line is sure to help ridership outside of peak hours.
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Did anyone notice that sometimes the next train displays show different arrival times between screens on the same platform?
 
Barnaby said:
I'm in favour of getting both sides of the alignment repaved and open again, so track work is what's left. Doing the back and forth shuffle, just to keep vehicle traffic open is just making the pain last longer.

And it's not like it's cars that are buying Pies or Coffee from Vies or The Columbian, both of which have been packed. Luckily they'll have their street finished before the rest of the line because the city was so eager to "kick out the cars" in that area.
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The businesses between 151 Street and 156 Street are really hurting. That section of SPR is a virtual ghost town now.
 
whattheheck said:
^ well, considering 4billion plus is being spent for what is essentially a bus on rails, some added expenses in the beginning, for what is generational infrastructure, would seem to be worth the spend.
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Yeah, that's pretty much what it is. A lack of full signal priority at every intersection, "stations" that look and feel a lot like bus stops (except Davies and the future WEM and Misericordia stations), a lack of grade separation, the absence of bollards in many sections--it's basically a railbus.

At least Ottawa, who also went with a low-floor tram, has grade separated their entire line and (very wisely) went underground downtown.
 
The one thing that surprises me about the Valley Line is the absence of green track. Many European cities have them with their trams, so does Eglinton Crosstown.

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TravellingChris said:
The businesses between 151 Street and 156 Street are really hurting. That section of SPR is a virtual ghost town now.
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Sure it is. The vehicle traffic, and longer construction times as a result of it are helping twist the knife. Why aren't the cars spending their dollars at these stores as they drive through, though?
 
Barnaby said:
Sure it is. The vehicle traffic, and longer construction times as a result of it are helping twist the knife. Why aren't the cars spending their dollars at these stores as they drive through, though?
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I think people are just avoiding it. I know businesses at Jasper Gates Square are hurting in terms of traffic as well. Plus I think parking is an issue for businesses further west. It's difficult to get off SPR onto some of the north-south side streets because a previous project--"beautification" or "traffic calming" or whatever--closed off some of the street access onto SPR or made them one way. So you can't park on SPR and it's hard to pull off onto a side street, thus folks just keep on driving.

Look at what happened with Temptations. Their old location was knocked down to become a staging area for LRT construction, so they moved into a basement suite nearby (the old Giovanni Music building), but it's hidden behind all the construction on the south side of the street. IIRC the owner was looking to sell and concentrate on her new(er) location on 174 St.
 
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