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The City has released 90 traffic data tables that present a picture of intersections along the Valley Line LRT after the 13-kilometre southeast corridor of the under-construction project is completed. The detailed predictions show current and projected traffic volumes, wait times and queue lengths at 45 such intersections, from 102nd Avenue and 102nd Street to 28th Avenue and 66th Street.
The road map is bleaker for some neighbourhoods than others. But officials at the Thursday press conference noted that traffic patterns are expected to shift as commuters choose other routes. Adjustments will almost certainly need to be made within the months after the line's opening, with the City monitoring signal timing and potential spillover traffic on residential streets. Officials believe Edmonton's grid system gives motorists reasonable alternatives to avoid any LRT-related congestion.
The Edmonton Journal's extensive analysis of the data gives Edmontonians a simplified understanding of the impacts. It shows that the LRT will have minimal effect on traffic times in the core, especially since the line will tunnel under Jasper Avenue. The data indicates that most drivers will avoid 102 Avenue, which will be turned into a one-way eastbound route, with trains and a two-way cycle track occupying the majority of the width. The biggest traffic headache would come at 102 Street and 102 Avenue in the afternoon rush hour, where the model predicts the average wait time to turn right to go eastbound would be a whopping 18 minutes. After three downtown stops, the line then jogs across the river on a new bridge and hugs Connors Road.
The track will run in front of the Strathearn Heights redevelopment on 95 Avenue, forcing residents north of the corridor to wait longer during the afternoon rush hour. Cars heading eastbound, westbound or southbound at 92 Street and 95 Avenue could be waiting approximately three minutes to continue going straight. Vehicles travelling northbound and southbound at that intersection, and hoping to head straight or make a turn, will be stuck for a few minutes. Anyone going southbound looking to turn left should abandon that idea: the model predicts a wait time of 22 minutes.
The line then heads south along 85 Avenue until the Bonnie Doon traffic circle, where it will negotiate 83 Street. The LRT is only being afforded partial priority at this junction, meaning it will have to hold still at one of the previous stations before it can be synched up with a green light. The coordination will keep any delays at the busy intersection to a minimum.
Anyone on Whyte Avenue turning left at 83 Street to go north faces a seven-minute wait during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Turning right onto 83 Street in the morning elicits a three-minute wait with a potential 500-metre queue. From there, 83 Street is reduced to one lane in each direction. Surprisingly, delays at 76 Avenue are anticipated to be halved from one minute to 30 seconds. The raised section of the line over Argyll Road and the CN Rail crossing at 75 Street won't save commuters from a four-minute average wait time to turn left at Argyll.
Congestion is anticipated to worsen at 75 Street and Wagner Road by the measure of a couple minutes for southbound and eastbound traffic. But the new LRT lights at McIntyre Road will alleviate waiting times to turn left onto 75 Street, a reduction from 13 minutes to one or two minutes.
The train will also have to coexist and coordinate with motorists entering and exiting Whitemud Drive. Motorists going north along 75 Street across Whitemud in the morning may have to sit five minutes, a big bump from the 50 seconds now. The afternoon rush hour is expected to be a more manageable one-minute wait in all directions.
Finally, the LRT snakes down the east side of 66 Street and faces traffic lights at all intersections. The models put most delays along this stretch at one or two minutes, though westbound drivers crossing the track at 36A Avenue could be forced to wait 13 minutes to turn right and ten minutes to turn left. A similar delay of ten minutes will hobble eastbound drivers turning left at 34 Avenue. The LRT then comes to its southern terminus at 28 Avenue just north of the Mill Woods Town Centre Mall.
Adam Laughlin, deputy city manager of integrated infrastructure services, said "there are no silver bullets to traffic issues in a growing city," and pointed out that "there are lots of commuter choices." He added that "we would prefer the individuals not get in their car but on the LRT."
The southeast leg is scheduled to open in 2020, and with construction already underway, the design plan is set in stone. But City officials have been weighing the option of a possible widening of 75 Street north of Wagner Road. The part of the street south of Wagner is already being expanded to six lanes as part of the LRT construction.
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