Metro Line LRT | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

ChazYEG said:
Reading through St Albert's plan for the LRT, a two things are very clear:

1 ) It does interest them to connect with Edmonton via rail. Mostly, because it will lower their long-term maintenance cost for transportation infrastructure AND because it has the potential to make the city even more attractive for newcomers and migrants (it is delineated in their study), increasing tax base and fomenting developments in the area.

2) They have the cash flow to fund their 5 or 6 stops side of the line, connecting to Edmonton's Metro Line. St. Alberta has the financial firepower equivalent of a city 3x larger. Their plan is to start construction when Edmonton starts the last leg of the Metro Line expansion, so that they'll finish it 1-2 years after the LRT gets done.

Honestly, I believe this new position of prioritizing the south expansion is stupid and, considering St Albert's disposition to extend the line into their boundaries, looking NW is a much safer bet and would yield much more benefits in both the short and long terms.
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Benefits to which City primarily?

Edmonton's LRT plan correlates with the City Plan, which looks at Edmonton proper first and foremost. I would hazard to guess that Edmonton looked at the demographics of each and chose to extend the existing south line further into City limits.

I don't disagree that extending to St. Albert has benefits, but who reaps all the benefits and how? St. Albert's population isn't huge whether they are willing to front the costs or not.
 
I'm assuming the density potential in the SW vs the redevelopment potential of existing neigbourhoods is part of it? I might be wrong...but without some major TOD, I dont see the NW hitting the density possible for the south line.

I wonder if st albert has been consulted on when they also want to build? They might be trying to align?

I do agree with servicing inside the henday first though.

I wonder if the hospital as an employment hub bumps the estimated trips way up though?
 
In terms of this lrt line to the airport eventually, does anyone know how long of a ride that would likely be to get downtown for instance?
What sort of speeds can the lrt reach?

In terms of a lot of money for future transit projects, I wonder how much will be available in this near future. All the major municipal governments are requesting a public transportation bailout- Toronto alone is more than $500million in the hole.just from lost revenue these last two years - and counting. Prior to covid, TO was easily the most successful transit system in Canada in terms of fares collected - it accounted for 70% of operating costs. No other city is near that. Just supporting cities in this way may take up some of the capital dollars for new projects for a little while.
 
TAS said:
In terms of this lrt line to the airport eventually, does anyone know how long of a ride that would likely be to get downtown for instance?
What sort of speeds can the lrt reach?
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80 km/h is maximum for the present LRV's.
Why would we need to consider LRT to the airport when we are only running a bus every 30-60 minutes?
I figure though, that if the need is there, the best option will be once the SLRT is built to the end of the line in Heritage Valley, a single track line to the airport using diesel (or perhaps battery or hydrogen) powered railcars.
 
L
Gronk! said:
I agree - why not build BOTH at the same time?
Both lines are high floor.
Both lines will involve a major bridge crossing - Capital line has a bridge that will cross the Henday, Metro line has a bridge that will cross the Yellowhead and CN Rail.
The Capital line has the new hospital, while the Metro has NW residents and businesses.
Ultimately the Capital line will reach EIA while the Metro could expand further into St. Alberta.
This should not be an either/or situation. Build both.
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The bridge across Ellerslie can hardly be considered major. The bridge across Yellowhead and CN yards is gigantic. Lucky to get much change from $1 billion.
 
ChazYEG said:
Reading through St Albert's plan for the LRT, a two things are very clear:

1 ) It does interest them to connect with Edmonton via rail. Mostly, because it will lower their long-term maintenance cost for transportation infrastructure AND because it has the potential to make the city even more attractive for newcomers and migrants (it is delineated in their study), increasing tax base and fomenting developments in the area.

2) They have the cash flow to fund their 5 or 6 stops side of the line, connecting to Edmonton's Metro Line. St. Alberta has the financial firepower equivalent of a city 3x larger. Their plan is to start construction when Edmonton starts the last leg of the Metro Line expansion, so that they'll finish it 1-2 years after the LRT gets done.

Honestly, I believe this new position of prioritizing the south expansion is stupid and, considering St Albert's disposition to extend the line into their boundaries, looking NW is a much safer bet and would yield much more benefits in both the short and long terms.
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Holy cow, that's a game changer. I figured we would have expansion into St. Albert long term but 1-2 years? We need to get the Northwest expansion started yesterday.

Are you able to link the study here
 
I wouldn't mind seeing both lines built sooner than later. Infrastructure, transit or otherwise should be a spending priority in the years ahead for all three levels of government. It would be a massive kick start to a battered post-pandemic economy.

Big challenges will be supply chain logistics and the sheer volume of material needed for more than one extension simultaneously.
 
is it feasible to only build the Metro line to Castle Downs? Like, build to Castle Downs as priority 1, then decide on either Desrochers or St Albert at that point? can a branch that long be serviced by existing (plus Ellerslie, I guess) facilities? This seems like the best option imho. idk enough about signalling/service needs to feel confident in something like this. has any study been done of just half the Metro Line?
Thinking: Desrochers strikes me as just a commuter-shipper as opposed to actual TOD/urban development, and without St Albert advocating alongside Edmonton for money, extending the line to Campbell Road seems like a suburb-subsidy. LRT to Castle Downs would make the rec centre a transit hub for the area, and once it opens, the other ends of the system, north and South will have had time to present their case as next priority.
idk,
 
cliffapotamus said:
is it feasible to only build the Metro line to Castle Downs? Like, build to Castle Downs as priority 1, then decide on either Desrochers or St Albert at that point?
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That's actually the current plan! Well, as long as council decides to stick with it in spite of this report.

"The Metro Line expansion will occur in 3 phases:
  • Phase 1 – NAIT to Blatchford
  • Phase 2 – Blatchford to Castle Downs
  • Phase 3 – Castle Downs to Campbell Road
Phase 1 of the Metro Line has started construction. City Council has identified extending Phase 2 of the Metro Line to Castle Downs as the next LRT Network priority following the Capital Line South LRT Phase 1 (Century Park to Ellerslie Road) extension."
 

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_Citizen_Dane_ said:
the continued southward expansion of the Capital is only subsidizing suburban growth. For all the City’s platitudes of wanting to “build up, not out,” they seem to be rewarding those in the suburbs with better transit access than those in our Mature Area Overlay.
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Well said Dane, well said.

I'd be speaking at city council against the plan to prioritize the South phase 2 extension whenever it comes up. The Metro Line North extension is long overdue.
 
Glenco said:
The bridge across Ellerslie can hardly be considered major. The bridge across Yellowhead and CN yards is gigantic. Lucky to get much change from $1 billion.
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This is exactly why the Metro Line extension must be built first. The infrastructure requirements for the NW extension are absolutely insane (on top of the bridge, they'll be doing lots of trenching) and the costs for that infrastructure are going to rapidly balloon as more time passes. To add on to that, the Walker Yards will continue to see more freight traffic and the Yellowhead will be a totally free-flowing by then, attracting much more vehicle traffic. If we delay construction, the construction traffic impacts on both vehicles and rail freight will be massive. The Metro Line extension is inevitable, but the more we delay it, the more it will cost everyone in the city.
 
Platinum107 said:
Well said Dane, well said.

I'd be speaking at city council against the plan to prioritize the South phase 2 extension whenever it comes up. The Metro Line North extension is long overdue.
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You'll want to speak at the Feb. 15 urban planning committee meeting then, when this report will be presented.

You can register to speak here.
 
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