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

Call me contrarian but I predict the UCP will support this funding. Rumour is the upcoming budget will be a good news budget. I expect we should see some movement on new hospital and LRT - we should expect nothing less
Agreed! It has been making them crazy not to spend like drunken sailors the past 2 years. Watch the flood gates open with massive capital spending include the hospital, lrt and I bet we see the Psyc Childrens hospital at the Alex take off…..YYC is getting theirs
 
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It was good of the mayor and council to recognize how the northwest was being neglected, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

I think it will be good overall for the city to have an LRT that reaches more parts of the city, rather than have it expand in some parts, while others wait and wait.
 
If density is the issue, the City needs to start acting on that now. Allow lot splitting, garage suites, and other density in more places than just the "Mature Neighbourhoods", focus policy on densifying in and around commercial areas, and areas around future stations (including walkable commercial). The NW is low density because that's all it's allowed to be, but we can start building density now to help justify the line. Uptake will likely be low initially due to the desirability of the area and competition with greenfield and other infill, but having the policy in place for once the line is built could help create the foundation needed for the Cities ridership and community goals.
Agreed on all accounts. To further your point there’s definitely some demand in the Northwest for infill housing already. I watched these two examples rise in Wellington of all places, about as sleepy a mid-century neighbourhood you could find. Of course, Wellington's located on the very edge of the Mature Neighbourhood Overlay — and thus not restricted by the heavy handed zoning of more northern neighbourhoods like Castle Downs — but they’re not necessarily close to the Metro’s planned alignment either — some sixteen to eighteen blocks away give or take — so I think it signals a growing appetite for infill. I can only imagine it’d continue to build as the Metro comes through.

Wellington Infill.jpg
Wellington Infill 2.jpg
 
Yes exactly. Although that neighbourhood is within the Mature Overlay, it's housing typology is closer to that of further out suburbs than it is to the inner suburbs. If infill and lot splitting is appropriate there, then it should be appropriate in all inner ring suburbs in my opinion.

I do admit lot splitting and densification may be trickier in the newer areas that don't have lane access, and where lots aren't quite wide enough to be able to split lots 1:2 (much of Castle Downs). We would need other creative solutions in these areas, as straight lot splits or back/front duplexes would likely not be feasible. (2:3 splits, lot consolidation, stacked duplexes?)
 
In a matter of years, our LRT network will look something like this. It's an exciting time for transit enthusiasts, and a far cry from my childhood when the LRT stopped at University Station!
Future_Edmonton_LRT.png
 
Have the Metro Line LRT train signals installed at the intersections (e.g., 106 Avenue) en route to NAIT ever been utilized?
Are you talking about the 2 head, traffic light style signals mounted alongside the traffic lights at some intersections? If so, no. Never could figure those out, never have seen them lit. As an example, as 111 Ave there is a pair of signals facing south and north for the southbound track, but no corresponding signals for the northbound track. I believe I did determine that they are white bar signals, like along the VLSE LRT.
 
Sometimes I wonder, are developers getting worse than used car salesmen?

Headline writers don't seem much better, but journalists at least don't seem totally out of touch with reality.

Second paragraph of the article ... "...even though there’s no definitive expansion timeline for the LRT system in this quadrant of the city ..."
 

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