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Intermodal Transit Hub

Foolworm

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I thought this issue was worthy of discussion in its own right since Edmonton is practically unique in its peers in not having a intermodal transit hub, or even a potential location identified for one. Following on a motion in 2017 by Councillor Knack, the following areas were identified as hub / interchange locations in Edmonton's draft City Plan:

Edmonton Hub Locations.PNG


Ideally, an intermodal transit hub would be situated in the inner city (if not outright downtown) and consolidate operations for multiple services under one roof including (but not limited to):

- Rail: Metro, LRT, Commuter, Intercity, HSR
- Bus: Motorbus, Coach, Trambus, DATS
- Rideshare: Taxi, Carpool, On-demand
- Cycling and Micromobility

There have been previous potential locations that were identified but have since been rendered non-viable, including the site of the new RAM and the Edmonton Via station. This thesis paper in particular is an excellent example proposing the Jasper terminal of the High Level Streetcar, but Procura is now preparing to break ground on that site for the Stables at Mayfair.
 
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Is this actually something that the city is actively working towards? Or was it just an idea that's now on the shelf?

Not really, it was brought up at some point a few years back when some news outlet decided to report on disgruntled German tourists having to haul their baggage from the Via station to Kingsway just to catch a bus. The City was embarrassed into a commitment to researching places for a proper transit hub, which a few years later has culminated in the map I attached.

In the spirit of Kenney's recent video on Edmonton tourism, perhaps Jasper's railway station should be added to the list.
 
That VIA station is pretty embarrassing. They literally couldn't make it more inconvenient if they tried.

truly. they really should just build a new station downtown. or perhaps the cn tower has salvageable space still?

also the transit hub thing is a neat idea but misses some obvious nodes (southgate) and also castle downs is laughable as a connecting hub. northgate clearly makes far more sense (and could be paired with a crosstown 137 ave brt) but the metro line routing is incredibly useless north of blatchford for anything other than funneling people in tract housing into downtown or kingsway/nail/blatchford (but not to services more likely to be on 137 ave which could more easily be densified).
 
Cough, cough, Grandin Station. End of discussion. ;-) Seriously though, my vote would be to build a proper inter-model station at 97 Ave and 109 St opposite the legislature. Build an Edwardian facade to mirror the Bowker Building and the Ledge, a looooong glass canopy over the trainshed and then an iconic mixed use skyscraper above it preferrably a Neo Art Deco Futurism jobbie with an observation deck, a spire, telecom mast, 5 star hotel, flexible office space, luxury apartments... The way that Salesforce Tower in San Francisco and the unbuilt 80-story Miami Central Tower in Florida are designed to be icons of their skyline... Sure I LIKE Stantec, but I want to LOVE a tower in Edmonton one day... ONE DAY MY TOWER WILL COME... ;-)
 
truly. they really should just build a new station downtown. or perhaps the cn tower has salvageable space still?

also the transit hub thing is a neat idea but misses some obvious nodes (southgate) and also castle downs is laughable as a connecting hub. northgate clearly makes far more sense (and could be paired with a crosstown 137 ave brt) but the metro line routing is incredibly useless north of blatchford for anything other than funneling people in tract housing into downtown or kingsway/nail/blatchford (but not to services more likely to be on 137 ave which could more easily be densified).
You mean like an ACTUAL station at STATIONLANDS? WHAAAAAAAAA? ;-)

Seriously though, I fully concur. I was also disappointed one wasn't built when Epcor Tower added their tunnel section since to me it was sitting on a site that 1-Should have a station my any measure (in fact it was included in the early to mid 1970's planning documents) nor was one discussed when Stationlands was still a potentially hot project that had a pin prick vision of being fully completed in my lifetime... I dunno if anyone wants to jump in on this particular issue from a technical or cost perspective. Could one still be built? If so, how complicated/costly would it be to add it now? I.e. would it still be feasible? I know it's only mere minutes walk between Ice District* (MacEwan) Station and Churchill station, however there's a lot of potentially developable prime land in between that could sure use a handy direct subway link... #justsaying
 
A bit of a long thread. With Blatchford being a giant brownfield and slowly developing and the Yellowhead freeway project happening now, I believe Edmonton has a big opportunity. The plan with the Yellowhead project is to close the 121st Street access and build a new interchange at 115th Street where Northpoint Equipment is. https://www.edmonton.ca/sites/defau...ents/YHT_SATto97_Schematics_Final_Concept.pdf With this change the VIA station is going to be isolated even further. But what if we move the train station to just west of the Blatchford Gate station. You could build a train bridge directly east of the future 115th Street interchange and a new rail line towards Blatchford Gate station. Then the land where the VIA track was (118th Avenue north) could be changed into a MUP crossing the Yellowhead and connecting to already existing MUPs south. This could be a cash land and bridge exchange with the city, CN and VIA. City gets the VIA rail line to just across the Yellowhead including the western curving bridge and in exchange a new bridge is built with new line allowing the train station to be connected to an LRT station. This accomplishes many goals. It removes the isolation of the train station and sets it up to be more visible and connected. (Good for local and tourist train users). The city gets a ready made MUP and crosses the Yellowhead. The city could build a road crossing at 120th or 121st Avenue to connect Blatchford to Prince Charles neighborhood. This most importantly will give a shorter route into Prince Charles and areas west for the future fire station that is proposed to be built on 121st Street. But more importantly connects Blatchford to an existing residential area. The current VIA station lands could be residential whereas the potential rail line would be beside the Yellowhead and parallel to the LRT line. Of note, the current VIA station is 25 years old and HVAC is likely near the end of its lifecycle if not already. Prime opportunity to make change.

And if a train station was visible and near public transit it may encourage additional and better timed rail service to Jasper for example. Different levels of government are talking about better use of infrastructure, 15 minute city, bike lanes, better passenger rail service. And really if you look at the Blatchford development map, https://blatchfordedmonton.ca/community/#neighbourhood_plan the NE corner is the least desirable to live in with the freeway to the north and a LRT line going north south. And at the speed of the current development, this is going to take a long time to get to this portion. Moving the current rail line from the western border and effectively putting it parallel to the LRT line would make Blatchford more developable and connected to the one neighborhood (Prince Charles) directly bordering it. It makes the possibility of commuter train service to Spruce Grove and Stony Plain or even Fort Saskatchewan, and further east, north or west. This could become a northern passenger train terminus connected to Edmonton's LRT system. There is still a window of opportunity in the next 2 to 5 years that this could be done very easily. Once Blatchford starts developing in the NE it becomes much harder and more costly.

What does the forum think?

Thought I would put this here from the Blatchford Real estate page. Moving the VIA station to near or beside Blatchford Gate could be an amazing intermodal site. This could be the Northern terminus for potential routes north, northeast and northwest. Then if HSR succeeds you could have a southern station or a downtown station allowing slower speed trains on commuter routes to the south, southeast and south west.
 
If regional transit is resurrected, there might be interest for a transit hub at Blatchford Station, if there's a connection to St. Albert or Spruce Grove/Stony Plain.
 
As much as this idea has merit, I just don't see anyone putting down temporary roads/asphalt to handle bus traffic when NAIT (a destination in itself) and Kingsway are a short distance away
 

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