archited
Senior Member
No purpose-built surface transit through Old Strathcona -- it will kill the area!!!
Hat @ Old Strathcona | 66.14m | 20s | Cidex Group
- Thread starter Daveography
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Clearshades
Senior Member
Are you refering to trains or buses? There are now trains on wheels identical to the Mill woods line without rails.
dunno
Active Member
To be fair, the ideal is a subway under Whyte similar to Jasper.
Clearshades
Senior Member
That is too costly for us.
archited
Senior Member
Not too costly -- ideal! There are many ways to measure cost and avoiding the upset of an area is another way of looking at the problem.
dunno
Active Member
Why? It isn't too costly for other cities, nor was it previously too costly for Edmonton. If Downtown and the UofA can be justified for having an underground tube, so can Whyte. It is the only place besides Oliver/124 St that is in a similar point in this city where it's so obviously the best option. We don't need to cheap out and compromise with a slow, sluggish transit system that doesn't do as much as it realistically can.
fromyeg
Active Member
I think the plans are pretty set for BRT down Whyte.
This project will be very close to both the B1 and B2 lines.
www.edmonton.ca
www.edmonton.ca
This project will be very close to both the B1 and B2 lines.
Old Strathcona Public Realm Strategy | City of Edmonton
The Old Strathcona Public Realm Strategy envisions a new future for parks, plazas, parking lots, sidewalks, alleys and streets. The draft Strategy incorporates input from Edmontonians, key actions, public realm concept and recommended improvements.
Bus-Based Mass Transit for 1.25 Million People | City of Edmonton
The City is planning and designing for Edmonton’s future city-wide Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and district bus-based mass transit routes.
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Clearshades
Senior Member
That was yesterday's dollars unless our city is that wealthy as cost inflation since the UoA has skyrocketed. I won't complain if it is doable and would support that. The current leg of Millwoods to the West end is on borrowed dollars as is.
EdmTrekker
Senior Member
On another thread you were quick to suggest HSR to Edmonton should stop at Strathcona and not go Downtown. Now you don't want rail or other purpose built system on Whyte Ave. WTF. You can't have it both ways. HSR is going Downtown or will not be built at all. Low floor street rail LRT is perfect for Sherwood Park via Bonnie Doon and Strathcona to the University.
Clearshades
Senior Member
Heh, if the price is reasonable, I'm game. That said, it won't be. There are alternatives now like hybrid train/bus that runs on tires not train tracks. Look it up! They look identical to the Millwoods trains but on wheels.
Seamusmuldrew
Active Member
The thing that made the area what it is will kill it? Ok….
thommyjo
Senior Member
Those get critiques for lots of reasons. Operating costs, scope creep/downgrading, lack of TOD they spur, etc.
I wish valley line was an automated system like skytrain/REM. I think that’s important as labour shortages continue to be a challenge. Buses will need drivers for a long time still. But trains can do without. Sucks we didn’t build for that. I wonder if we’ll regret that in 20 years like Calgary regrets not tunnelling.
archited
Senior Member
There is no confusion here -- I have long advocated a Rail Station at 76th Ave on CP land in Strathcona -- that would not run through the area; rather it would terminate at the southern end of Old Strathcona. The notion of either a high capacity rail or bus system running through Old Strathcona along Whyte, on the other hand, would simply add to congestion not solving any problems at all. Do you really think that someone in the habit of driving from Sherwood Park to U of A would drive part of the distance to then forfeit their car for a transit ride? Presumably in that scenario they would park at Bonnie Doon -- I just don't see it happening. I could see a subway system functioning well that actually runs from Sherwood Park to U of A -- the cost, however, would be prohibitive and the agreement between three separate agencies for cost sharing would be a very difficult document to attain. The best solution in my mind is a tram and a road that crosses CPR land at 76th Avenue (on the periphery of Old Strathcona) -- that provides an alternative route to Whyte running east and west and also provides a non-clustered stop for Edmonton's premier street-scene shopping district.
David A
Senior Member
A HSR that ends in Strathcona would not even cross Whyte Ave, while I believe a LRT from Sherwood Park could entirely be on Whyte Ave, so these really are two completely different things.
erudyk_29
Active Member
How did we get to talking about HSR Downtown vs. Strathcona again in the Hat @ Old Strathcona thread? 
I think most people can agree that it's best to put the HSR station downtown if possible, the issue is I don't see where you can find the space for both a large station and an appropriately sized ROW. I think that for now a station at Strathcona Junction works perfectly as a central station key word "for now". Eventually it should find a place downtown, but that would require either the construction of a new bridge or a replacement of the High Level, both of which will balloon already high costs of such a project to an even higher proportion. First, build it to Strathcona Junction, then allow ridership and support to grow, recover from that initial massive investment. Then 15 years or so down the line, extend it somewhere Downtown.
I do wonder where a Downtown Station could go however, there are plenty of large open parking lots, but I wonder how one would route tracks to get there, maybe the commercial on the northwest corner of Jasper and 109th st could be a potential station site.
Another bonus of this plan is that Edmonton would then have 2 city centre rail transit hubs in both of the "main cores" of the city.
I think most people can agree that it's best to put the HSR station downtown if possible, the issue is I don't see where you can find the space for both a large station and an appropriately sized ROW. I think that for now a station at Strathcona Junction works perfectly as a central station key word "for now". Eventually it should find a place downtown, but that would require either the construction of a new bridge or a replacement of the High Level, both of which will balloon already high costs of such a project to an even higher proportion. First, build it to Strathcona Junction, then allow ridership and support to grow, recover from that initial massive investment. Then 15 years or so down the line, extend it somewhere Downtown.
I do wonder where a Downtown Station could go however, there are plenty of large open parking lots, but I wonder how one would route tracks to get there, maybe the commercial on the northwest corner of Jasper and 109th st could be a potential station site.
Another bonus of this plan is that Edmonton would then have 2 city centre rail transit hubs in both of the "main cores" of the city.
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