04-12-2021, 08:38 PM
I think space for tracks is not a big issue, so long as we're willing to make real changes in our city. The singular feature of most of our regional roads being 4-5 lanes is that we could fit an LRT down the middle of any road, so long as we were willing to make it a priority. No touching any property, or heritage buildings, or anything.
That being said, I'd be curious to see us try and innovate in the transportation space a little bit, fixed guideways help, but the most important feature of a transit system in my mind, is frequency.
We have very significant density nodes near the LRT but just outside of walking distance, we should have very high frequency, but low speed connectors between those nodes and the adjacent LRT stations. That would significantly improve the service provided, without a huge investment.
That being said, if we're talking traditional LRT, I suspect one of the top bang for buck options is to make the north end of the LRT a loop...continue south from Conestoga Mall, split when Regina St. starts and make King and Regina one lane one way for cars, one lane, one way for LRT, and continue south and link up with the existing tracks in Uptown. In addition to linking Laurier up directly, and also linking up a HUGE popuplation node, there is actually an enormous amount of empty land for development and plenty of area for intensification. And the distance isn't very far, it would be a relatively low cost for that return.
(Of course, this is after we fix the mistakes in the original Phase 1, like fixing ped connections at all the stations, and rerouting it under the Block Line Bridge. I mean, we are dreaming after all.)
That being said, I'd be curious to see us try and innovate in the transportation space a little bit, fixed guideways help, but the most important feature of a transit system in my mind, is frequency.
We have very significant density nodes near the LRT but just outside of walking distance, we should have very high frequency, but low speed connectors between those nodes and the adjacent LRT stations. That would significantly improve the service provided, without a huge investment.
That being said, if we're talking traditional LRT, I suspect one of the top bang for buck options is to make the north end of the LRT a loop...continue south from Conestoga Mall, split when Regina St. starts and make King and Regina one lane one way for cars, one lane, one way for LRT, and continue south and link up with the existing tracks in Uptown. In addition to linking Laurier up directly, and also linking up a HUGE popuplation node, there is actually an enormous amount of empty land for development and plenty of area for intensification. And the distance isn't very far, it would be a relatively low cost for that return.
(Of course, this is after we fix the mistakes in the original Phase 1, like fixing ped connections at all the stations, and rerouting it under the Block Line Bridge. I mean, we are dreaming after all.)