04-01-2021, 06:48 AM
(03-31-2021, 08:40 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(03-31-2021, 07:11 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I mean, yes, they do hold up traffic for a short time, and yes, drivers do seem to be offended by that, but it in no way holds up the LRT. Building massive overpass structures in those locations would have cost at least 100 million dollars and created large imposing obstacles in the built environment. And the ONLY beneficiary would be driver, it would be yet another subsidy paid to motordom. Worse, the cost would have been assigned to transit. And all to avoid what is a completely reasonable level of delay.
Before spending money on grade separations, they should start by improving the design of the existing crossings. For example at Erb/Caroline, there is no conflict between southbound LRT traffic and Caroline St. traffic. So why does the entire intersection come to a halt when a southbound LRT goes through? Also, when a northbound LRT goes through the crossing protection starts way too early, while it’s still in station. Vehicle and pedestrian traffic has to stop (which is fine); but for no reason at all other than laziness in designing the crossing protection (which is not fine). As a driver, I don’t mind stopping for pedestrian, cyclists, LRVs, and other motor vehicles; but I do object to stopping for nothing at all.
The grade crossing signals at Erb/Caroline operate like this for a reason, not the least of which is the multiple routing paths that the signal controller has to track. There's also the fact that Northbound and Southbound movements often overlap, especially at specific frequencies. There's heavy pedestrian and cyclist traffic at that intersection which conflicts with all directions of train movement through the intersection. Don't forget about the bus only left turn lane on NB Caroline onto WB Erb. If anything, the only movement in that intersection that has very little conflict is the left turn from SB Caroline to EB Erb (the one where you can legally do a left turn on a red).