Valley Line LRT | TransEd/Marigold | City of Edmonton

awstott said:
So it seems like TransEd might have their poop in a group now? Seeing a lot more simulated service the last few days. Along with that simulated service is massive traffic delays at the crossings. On Sunday the line for WB traffic on 82 Ave was almost halfway back to 75 street. This morning I went to the office and I have been cutting over to 83 street on 82 Ave and then going down Connors - we watched 3 trains cross the intersection before we got a green. I was stuck behind a 4 that had to stop at that little strip mall so I couldn't sneak by and turn right to NB 83 street. Might be worth watching to see how bad they get delayed. I think TransEd could alleviate the backlog for the cross traffic if the first green after the train crosses favors the cross traffic - they seem to be favoring left turns right now which doesn't make much sense to me.

Coming home we were backed up a ways on Connors Road as well - Some of that is the crazy they created by eliminating the traffic circle. There was probably 25 cars on 85 Street trying to get onto Connors to go EB 90 Ave, which then screws up people trying to go SB 83 Street from Connors. There is just too much going on in such a small area there.

Time to do some route adjustments for the drive to work I guess.

I did see 1013 in the stop at Bonnie Doon which left before I did. I beat it to 36A Ave, but not by much as it was in the stop at 38 Ave when I went by. It will be interesting to see what they are using for simulated dwell times at the stations while they are testing.

Also to add to my wall of text - saw two trains displaying "Out of Service" today vs the using "Testing Mode". 1013 had a paper taped to each door as well but I couldn't read what it said.
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Sounds like an adjustment issue for Transed to make - it took them a bit to fix the top of Connors and 95 Ave, but they did shorten the light significantly.

Is the 85 Street back up from people taking 98 Ave east and then 85 Street south from the 98 Ave traffic circle? Seems like people need to switch to taking Connors instead for commuting. I imagine locals in Holyrood and Strathearn will adjust over time to avoid 85 Street at that time of day.
 
The costs for elevating the track would have been something like an additional 200 million and honestly I often question those extra costs. The extraordinary costs of modern infrastructure typically come in the massive amount of inefficiences, bureaucracy, bad planning, and then followed up by poor execution. Poor execution having extenuating intangible costs that can last centuries.

I dunno, guess I'm of the ilk that you gotta cut through the bullcrap and just build things right the first time because it'll always end up costing ya if you cheap out and half ass your critical infrastructure projects.
 
Think Bombardier may have been pretty well on schedule too, even allowing for a rail strike and covid. Shipping car 1001 back to the factory and being re-delivered may have put them a wee bit behind schedule though...
 
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Stevey_G said:
The costs for elevating the track would have been something like an additional 200 million and honestly I often question those extra costs. The extraordinary costs of modern infrastructure typically come in the massive amount of inefficiences, bureaucracy, bad planning, and then followed up by poor execution. Poor execution having extenuating intangible costs that can last centuries.

I dunno, guess I'm of the ilk that you gotta cut through the bullcrap and just build things right the first time because it'll always end up costing ya if you cheap out and half ass your critical infrastructure projects.
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I think the biggest issue would've not been the costs, tbh. Considering where we'd want the grade separation, it would've probably need to be elevated all the way from at least Bonnie Doon to Wagner (there's not enough space or stations between Bonnie Doon and where the next elevation starts that would justify the awkward up-and-down). I honestly believe the pushback from residents would've been tremendous (bigger than it already was) and I do think that having an elevated track all the way down 83 St would be terrible, considering the surroundings.
 
There's some existing "no right on red" spots around town even besides the LRT, but at most of them I still see some people ignore the restriction and take a right anyways. Many of these locations are low stakes and they've probably been ignoring the no-right rule for years without issue. I assume this behaviour for these folks is a little too entrenched now, and it's resulting in bad behaviour in a high-stakes situation and thus getting bonked by the train.
I'm not sure what the solution is however, maybe the increased visibility of the trains will encourage better compliance? Or maybe a ticketing blitz for those ignoring no right turn rules could increase awareness. It needs to feel like less of a low stakes risk, and more of a high stakes risk. I don't think adding gates are the only solution, though it would help lol.
 
We plan all the time to prevent against stupidity OR accidents. I think I have said before that gates would just be another part of this. With out them work can be done on education/enforcement to mitigate these situations but they will still come up from time to time causing disruption and unfortunately harm to people and/or property.
 
Saw the trains testing yesterday on the bus ride home from Uni. Looked like they were going at a good clip. No crashes or anything, though I could definitely see how that could be an issue, people are reckless drivers at the best of times and the intersection in question (82 ave and 83rd st) looks somewhat confusing from a driving perspective adding to the potential idiocy that could occur.
 
The_Cat said:
Or someone turned on a red light.
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Building a multi-billion dollar transit system that has to come to a screeching halt every time there's an idiot driver isn't smart design imo and isn't the sort of thing that leads to reliable and timely service which will draw people away from using their cars.
 
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There were problems like this when the South LRT was built. There is learning curve, even if people learn the hard way.

I'm not sure about the number of people that will switch from cars to LRT. It might be more like people switching from buses, to start. The LRT is also convenient, which will gradually win new customers. When you don't have to park downtown, the LRT is quite attractive.
 
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