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LRT Expansion Planning

I'm not sure if the NW peak hour route will go ahead, since it was meant to be a placeholder for the Metro Line extension. Someone else pointed out that we weren't likely to hear about any Metro Line funding in the budget since City Council hasn't officially requested anything yet. You raise a very good point, but since they made the deliberate decision to put it back in the plan, I'm hopeful that the fall budget will include something tangible!

And if the UCP was willing to approve the VLW extension soon after getting into office (even while stonewalling Calgary's Green Line), I think they'd be even more open to this since next year is an election year. I know this is Edmonton and everything, but infrastructure jobs are still pretty darn tempting for governments. Especially when the alternative is getting lambasted by the opposition for torpedoing those jobs.

Fair enough, although I think it's the higher levels of government that declare an open day for funding transit, after which the municipalities put in their specific requests. So far I haven't seen this happen: in the recent budget Sohi was griping about more immediate priorities like COVID recovery and FIFA funding, and I would agree that capital infrastructure is a secondary consideration.

I am also pretty sure that the next Provinicial election is one of survival for the UCP, so Edmonton as an NDP stronghold will probably be passed over for battleground ridings. In any case I think Edmonton has plenty enough transit projects going on, and would rather some ribbons be cut before ground is broken again (looking at Valley line southeast here...)

Pardon my ignorance, but why do we think the NW BRT would be peak only?
Keep in mind that the Terwillegar/ Fox Drive, 97 St, and Whyte Ave bus lanes/ BRT overlap with EMTSC routes. I don't believe at this point that the EMTSC shows a route down 153 Ave, but certainly 97 St they do, and it seems to be an all day route. Surely a LRT precursor service would provide all day service?
Regardless, I figure there's a lot more to come with the EMTSC in relation to these routes.

Because there is a proposed bus lane buildout in the report:

MTP BL 1.25M.png

I don't see the BRT system as a LRT precursor but rather as a secondary network in the mass transit system. Also keep in mind that regional routes are considered elsewhere; this particular diagram is really just to show the City of Edmonton's transit priority corridors.
 
I don't see the BRT system as a LRT precursor but rather as a secondary network in the mass transit system. Also keep in mind that regional routes are considered elsewhere; this particular diagram is really just to show the City of Edmonton's transit priority corridors.
You're right actually, I misremembered what the report said. Here's what it says about the NW BRT route (B1):
B1 Route (BRT): Campbell Road – Castle Downs District Node – Century Park District Node

B1 is a proposed semi-exclusive transit route that will operate north-south from the Castle Downs district node to the Century Park district node in its ultimate configuration. This route will serve the following nodes and corridors: Northgate/Northtown, 97 Street, Centre City, Whyte Avenue, Gateway/Calgary Trail. The route would primarily utilize 97 St, 101 Street and Gateway Boulevard/Calgary Trail.

The B1 service would stop every 1 to 1.5 km along its route and provide connections to numerous other elements of the mass transit network as well as the underlying network of other bus transit services. This adds significant north-south high-capacity frequent service to denser parts of the urban area. In the section north of 118 Avenue, B1 would operate in parallel with another rapid service, E2 (ETS #110X), which would provide additional capacity on this busy section of the transit network. E2 was assumed to connect to Eaux Claires Transit Centre while B1 stopped nearby at 153 Avenue and 97 Street. These assumptions should be revisited to determine the optimal stopping pattern for the services in the 97 Street corridor. In its early stages of implementation, a ‘B1A’ extended service would continue onwards as a rapid bus using the mixed traffic lanes of 153 Avenue, making limited stops until a terminus at Campbell Road. This will provide service in northwest Edmonton and connect to numerous regional routes at the St. Albert transit facility. By the 1.5 Million horizon, once the Metro Line is extended west past Castle Downs, route B1 would be shortened and Castle Downs would become its north terminus.

In its interim state, this route will make use of dedicated bus lanes covering the maximum extent feasible. For 1.25 million, it is proposed that the bus lanes extend:

● North-south on 97 Street during peak periods in the peak direction (as a minimum);
● North-south on Calgary Trail and Gateway Boulevard, once implementation has been
worked out for stop locations and operations at connecting streets and major
commercial driveways;
● East-west on 153 Avenue to connect to Castle Downs hub, during peaks, and similarly
east-west on 23 Avenue to connect to Century Park.

In addition to these areas where bus lanes are proposed, transit priority measures may also be considered where warranted to mitigate speed and reliability issues, in particular for limited-stop buses to avoid long queues and delays at signals with lengthy peak-period cycle lengths. This guidance would apply to all other routes in the semi-exclusive family in addition to transit hotspots identified through travel time performance monitoring by ETS. This route proposes a dedicated river crossing in the long term (by 2065); however, for the 1.25 Million horizon it is assumed that route B1 would repurpose some of the capacity on existing bridges to carry the route between the downtown hub and the Whyte Avenue district. Near-term options include the Low Level and Walterdale Bridges and connecting streets. The details of this section of the route will require more detailed analysis and will also reflect other projects in the vicinity, such as River Crossing.

Also, the Health Sciences station isn't going to be the permanent Metro Line terminus:

To the south the proposed longer-term service will be South Campus station, to provide capacity relief for the Capital Line. However, due to significant challenges in grade separating at University Avenue/114 St, the interim terminus for the Metro Line will be at Health Sciences station. It is anticipated that the implementation of other capacity relief measures (such as route B6) could provide future flexibility (post-1.25 million) to address this location
 
Because there is a proposed bus lane buildout in the report:

View attachment 383727

I don't see the BRT system as a LRT precursor but rather as a secondary network in the mass transit system. Also keep in mind that regional routes are considered elsewhere; this particular diagram is really just to show the City of Edmonton's transit priority corridors.
Ah, so the buses lanes would be directional based upon the particular peak hour. That does not mean the bus route is peak hours only.
 
Ah, so the buses lanes would be directional based upon the particular peak hour. That does not mean the bus route is peak hours only.
Yes, and if you read my original post I said the routes could be further divided according to the types of lanes they ran on.

There are also other routes that have sections with dedicated (peak or all hours) bus lanes, and yet are not considered "semi-exclusive" by this report. Edmonton does not use the term BRT, which I think is a good thing because it creates certain expectations.
 

A mid-year update on the LRT work happening throughout the city. I wonder if there's a map showing what the LRT network will look like once the current projects are complete, right now all the plans show the future build-out from when the lines are originally approved.
 
Could it be that they're not doing much of anything in the winter? I agree it does seem like a long time, though I was encouraged by the fact that track is going in as early as this summer in sections. Could be that they're trying not to get too far ahead of the neighbourhood.
 
Could it be that they're not doing much of anything in the winter? I agree it does seem like a long time, though I was encouraged by the fact that track is going in as early as this summer in sections. Could be that they're trying not to get too far ahead of the neighbourhood.
Maybe they're trying to time it with construction of the south Capital Line extension. Originally, they wanted to build a new LRV facility in Montrose to store the extra fleet, but when they expedited the south extension, they consolidated that facility into the new OMF by the Henday. Perhaps they want some construction to be underway for the new OMF so they have a place to store the extra LRVs when the Blatchford extension opens.
 
They might only be working in Summer on most things. Concrete/masonry is a lot easier (cheaper) to build in summer, working in winter requires heating, which adds costs and complexity. IDK, I don't mind the Blatchford sluggishness tbh, given that the area around it is still a muddy field. going slower, especially assuming it saves costs by doing so, makes sense to me in this particular spot.
On the other hand, I wonder why the Ellerslie extension is going to take so long. it's the same amount of time to build a short (cut-and-cover i'd assume) tunnel, an overpass, and some viaduct as it took to build VLSE (with the delays!) despite being a shorter line in a much more spacious, less built-up area. I feel like that project ought to go quicker than what is being projected.
 
On the other hand, I wonder why the Ellerslie extension is going to take so long. it's the same amount of time to build a short (cut-and-cover i'd assume) tunnel, an overpass, and some viaduct as it took to build VLSE (with the delays!) despite being a shorter line in a much more spacious, less built-up area. I feel like that project ought to go quicker than what is being projected.
Must be accounting for smoke breaks
 
It's about the same reason most buildings other than single family residential takes 2-3 years to build no matter the size. You can only throw so many workers at it before they start climbing over each other. Utilities need to be moved, temporary roads built, rail beds prepped and set, concrete needs a certain amount of prep and set time, etc.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but why do we think the NW BRT would be peak only?
Keep in mind that the Terwillegar/ Fox Drive, 97 St, and Whyte Ave bus lanes/ BRT overlap with EMTSC routes. I don't believe at this point that the EMTSC shows a route down 153 Ave, but certainly 97 St they do, and it seems to be an all day route. Surely a LRT precursor service would provide all day service?
Regardless, I figure there's a lot more to come with the EMTSC in relation to these routes.
The idea that "rapid transit" could only exist in peak hours is nuts
 

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