Ya, I've heard all that hooie. We need to be honest in that it is mostly a commuter line intended to move people rapidly from far flung destinations to downtown so they don't use their cars. It needs to be fast and efficient. Mixing with traffic and pedestrians is the opposite of that. Centre is what it is, a commuting corridor.
Adding an at grade LRT with one stop isn't going to create a TOD, it's going to make it harder for pedestrians to move through. It's a barrier, and if you've seen the drawings of all the turn lanes and how everything has to squeeze and shuffle about to make it work, it becomes obvious the area will be turned into a parking lot until they maybe decide it is only wide enoguh for buses and the LRT, forcing vehicles to side streets to access all these great businesses that will surly proliferate. Meanwhile, 10th st and Edmonton trial suck up all the extra traffic and make their situations worse. If anyone recalls the years of bridge repair, they'll remember how well that went.
Centre st doesn't need to be re-imagined, it needs to be not mangled with a big moving barrier. Elevate the thing, or put it underground, but please stop pretending the cheapest solution won't be a travesty.
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