Quote:
Originally Posted by Muta
Love the addition of the 9th Avenue station. Love the public integration.
Still think they should do this properly, though - spend the damn money, and tunnel the thing to 16th Avenue. 1) We're a big (and growing) cold climate city, so underground stations make sense for consistent year-round ridership (see Sapporo, Japan). 2) Keep Centre Street open for redevelopment that involves full potential for all modes of transportation that can effectively respond to density and urbanization.
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I understand the desire for going underground for 16th ave since when the updated plan originally came out, I was of the the opinion that it's a terrible compromise to not have it below ground. But as time went by, I've come around to the idea of keeping it above ground permanently.
Reason being that since it's a low floor LRV, it's suppose to be integrated with the street level in the first place. My primary concern was that it would screw up 16th ave even more so that it has been (which is an impressive feat), but I think with less vehicles traveling on centre street in general, the traffic light signals can be more favourable to 16th ave during rush hour.
Also, with no tunnelling there, it saves money that can make the much needed expansion north occur much faster as a result since it would cost less to do so. After 16th ave, it was gonna be above ground by default anyway. So if keeping it above ground brings back 9th Ave on the table, and make extension occur quicker, above ground is the way to go since the train cars are made for this, rather than the current high floor LRVs.
A tunnel obviously would be the best option, but due to costs, it's alright to scrap in my mind since the tradeoffs aren't too costly. I feel in this case, tunneling for a tiny segment of Centre Street there is moreso to be
cooler and make it look
more urban, rather than it being about more functional.