[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Joborule

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.

I doubt that. You are going to have trains, probably with signal priority, coming from each direction every few minutes. Add in dedicated turn phases(you will need them with the limited traffic lanes N/S to avoid disaster) and 16th ave may get even less green priority. At least during rush hour. If that is at grade it's going to be really ugly.