LRT Expansion Planning

[AJo]

My vote is for North to St. Albert for the next big expansion to start up.
Once that hits 90% complete start on the extension all the way to the airport.
The ridership bump from both expansions could be huge and might finally push the outlying communities to want to connect more with the Edmonton network and to expand their own

 

[chrisvazquez7]

So hypothetically, if the political will was there to grade separate the University Avenue intersection, do you think the Metro Line could then be interlined south to South Campus where it then branches off southwest, or would 76 Avenue not being grade-separated be too much of a strain on the nearby traffic?

 

[The_Cat]

I think the challenge with 114 Street could be traffic fed from three directions (University Avenue, East and West, 114 Street, from University). The traffic light (at 76 Avenue) stays red (for eastbound and westbound traffic). I'm sure this backs up traffic at the 114 Street SB light. One (unpopular) remedy could be restricting left turns on 76 Avenue (during peak hours) and not having the separate east and westbound lights.

 

[Airboy]

My vote is for North to St. Albert for the next big expansion to start up.
Once that hits 90% complete start on the extension all the way to the airport.
The ridership bump from both expansions could be huge and might finally push the outlying communities to want to connect more with the Edmonton network and to expand their own

Having used the Skytrain to get to downtown Van I would like our system to go to the airport. But my heart is for the NW expansion to the ST Albert Park and ride. That would be large passenger numbers.

 

[IanO]

YEG is a dream I hope to see realized before i'm a senior, but the NW leg is far more important at this stage.

 

[Tropical]

Out of curiosity, what was/is the proposed routing for a west LRT that uses 87 Ave to travel from the U of A to WEM? The analysis for this is easy to locate here: https://www.edmonton.ca/public-files/assets/document?path=PDF/West_LRT_Route_Selection_Report.pdf

What is clear is that 104 Ave was selected based on densification potential. What isn't clear is the route that an LRT line could take to cross the river near Health Sciences Station (the report shows that this is the logical connection point rather than University Station - "Corridor C1"). Put simply, how does a train get routed from 87 Ave, then east over the river to University Ave? The City clearly believes this is feasible, but would this mean leveling an entire pocket of residential near Sir Wilfred Laurier Park?

I ask because I badly want to see WEM - University - Old Strathcona - Bonnie Doon as our next rapid transit priority.

 

[Didama]

It'll be interesting to see if there is some serious money for public transit in the new federal budget. The operating budget is going to be slashed severely, but there is expected to be a massive investment infrastructure to spur on the economy and productivity. Mass transit would fit nicely into that. We would still need the province to play ball, but if there are billions of federal dollars on the table it makes it a lot harder to say no.

 

[IanO]

87th Avenue was mostly political and to not upset those over there during Mandel's reign.

Not to mention the valley/bridge question and supreme cost, but long-term I certainly foresee a line continuing down 87 to the Zoo/park and then bridge + tunnel up to 114st.

 

[Gronk!]

87th Avenue was mostly political and to not upset those over there during Mandel's reign.

What Daryl Katz wants, Daryl Katz gets.

 

[Tropical]

87th Avenue was mostly political and to not upset those over there during Mandel's reign.

Not to mention the valley/bridge question and supreme cost, but long-term I certainly foresee a line continuing down 87 to the Zoo/park and then bridge + tunnel up to 114st.

Wild. Does that even work?

 

[macblender]

Long term 87 ave bridge would really help traffic lock up and would be awesome if paired with lrt. Don’t think it would happen for a long long time if ever though

 

[The_Cat]

Even if 87 Avenue was built as a bus/MUP bridge, that would help.

 

[Edmcowboy11]

I think with the NW line to St.Albert the LRT system will be essentially connected to most of the city. At that point I think the argument to connect to YEG will be strong enough to have it happen. with luck too the Capital Line will have been expanded to a station close to 41 Ave south.
Additionally, I hope that the next two Capital Line expansions will be two new stations in the Northlands/Coliseum area, and the further expansion out to Gorman.

 

[The_Cat]

I do agree that the NW extension to St. Albert should be the next priority. The LRT extension to Gorman or Desrochers can be done as one-offs.

 

[IanO]

Wild. Does that even work?

Not really, exceptionally technical and prohibitively expensive, but it was an idea. I don't think you could reasonably tie the zoo in and would likely need a stop top of bank with shuttle or something, but hey, why not.