West LRT: Underground?

[kertejud2]

So looking at the paper the $700M for the West LRT seems to be ready to get bidders, and the subject of putting it underground again came up.

So as Calgarians who may or may not be using this (whether you live by or near it or not), would you support the extra $85M+ its believe to cost to put it underground? Its fairly obvious it wont be going to MRU (a whole different issue), but should the 20 year old plans be updated to "build it right"?

The main lines are already fucked, so I think we might as well have at least one that is built properly. The whole thing is going to be a massive pain in the ass for a few years anyway, why not at the end make it so it isn't an annoyance afterwards as well?

[sputnik]

$85 million to put it underground? Where did you get that estimate from?

The SE LRT is slated to go underground and the rough estimates were around $800-900 million for JUST the underground portion downtown.

[JAYMEZ]

I say throw it under ground.. They will be kicking themselves in the future if they dont.

[JfuckinC]

Originally posted by sputnik
$85 million to put it underground? Where did you get that estimate from?

The SE LRT is slated to go underground and the rough estimates were around $800-900 million for JUST the underground portion downtown.

785M, the 700M planned +85M...

[FraserB]

Any underground work downtown would be a massive undertaking since there is an ungodly amount of underground infrastructure already in place in the core. The west LRT would not be completely underground, only small sections of it. West LRT is made up of underground, ground level and elevated track sections.

[kertejud2]

Originally posted by sputnik
$85 million to put it underground? Where did you get that estimate from?

That's what the paper had as the extra cost of putting it underground.

[sputnik]

Originally posted by kertejud2

That's what the paper had as the extra cost of putting it underground.

Ah.

The $85 million is to bury a small portion of line and a station at 17th Ave SW and 45th St SW.

I thought you were talking about burying the line in the downtown core.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/technol...254/story.html

[kenny]

The $85M cost to put "it" underground in the paper is not for the entire line. They are debating if they should put the 45th street station underground. The cost of doing just that one station would add $85M to the total cost of the line.

Dammit. Beat by one minute

[Xtrema]

I see no problem with this. If you want a more dense population, transportation infrastructure must go underground.

[GOnSHO]

anyone have a map of the proposed track configuration?

[sputnik]

Originally posted by GOnSHO
anyone have a map of the proposed track configuration?

http://www.westlrt.ca/

[GOnSHO]

awesome, thank you very much!

[Masked Bandit]

I don't know if the entire thing needs to be underground but it sure would make sense to put the road crossings underground. Shawnessy / Somerset is a great example. The C-Train crosses 162 Ave and makes a total mess of the area during the rush. The arms are always down. If that would've been underground traffic in the area would flow much more smoothly.

[frinkprof]

Some information that might help:

- The portion of the line in question is along 17th Avenue from about 40th Street to near Sarcee Trail SW

- What is being proposed is not that it be underground, but trenched, including the 45th Street Station (i.e., tracks and trains below grade, but not covered)

- The bids are in - a design-build consortium will be chosen from among 3 consortiums.

- The bids were to include a report on the costs of trenching this portion, council was then to make a decision based on these reports

Here's my thread on skyscraperpage.com. With the first couple posts, I've tried to put most of the pertinent information in one place:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=168428

[Artega]

They've chose the winner
it's just not official yet

oooo the suspense

[sexualbanana]

I like the idea of trenching rather then going completely underground

[TKRIS]

Boy have I got a solution for you!!

[cooker99]

^ LOL

I trust City Council will make the worst choice available to them.

[whiskas]

They'll pick the choice that benefits Sunnyside the most.

[nosegrindR]

Seeing as 17th Ave SW is going to become a nightmare (see 36th Street NE) with C-Train lines interfering with vehicle intersections, I was curious to see what the City of Calgary had as a solution for traffic at intersections where C-Trains crossed.

So I wrote them and this was their response:



Transportation Planning conducted Mobility Assessment Plans (MAP) to plan and implement appropriate traffic management tactics at a number of West LRT intersections. These plans look at current traffic volumes and movements, then compare them to forecasted traffic volumes and movements on opening day (2012) including the LRT travelling through the intersections. Based on the results, traffic signal timing is the number one way to mitigate motor vehicle delays at intersections where there is an LRT line. Having said that, single-occupancy vehicle movements are last in priority in terms of facilitating traffic movements at intersections. In order of priority- pedestrians, cyclists, public transit, commercial vehicles, high-occupancy vehicles, and single-occupant vehicles- this is the order in which Calgary's Transportation department gives strategy to keeping Calgary on the move. Each intersection covered within the MAP facilitates pedestrian movement first then cyclists, public transit, and so on.

For more information on Transportation Planning's guiding principles with Calgary transportation infrastructure developments and projects, please click:

http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/...ochure_aug.pdf



Long story short, the city couldn't afford putting the lines underground@intersections in their budget and had to cough up an excuse, so we as drivers will be getting fisted at all intersections down 17th ave where the C train crosses at-grade.