Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterG
That definitely true, it would be much more costly by the time this comes up. Perhaps an associated station can be built underneath Westbrook and not link tracks, just transfer passengers. it could face a similar problem with the connection to the SE lrt, depending on what technology was used. I can see something like this being increasingly necessary with the huge east-west traffic flow.
I would prefer this line to link to Chinook station, as it already serves as a bit of a hub, I can only imagine the Chinook area to busier and denser. However, the nightmare of connecting an east-west line to chinook through the mall and lake just seemed too daunting.
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It would be possible to reach Chinook by using elevated track through the parkland that remains north of Glenmore Trail from the GE5 project, the extreme southern portion of the Chinook Mall parcel (a station attached directly to the mall could probably convince them to play ball) and what google maps calls 65e Ave S with an elevated station over the south part of the Chinook station lands. That would allow the line to serve Rockyview Hospital, after veering slightly south west around 14 St, with a transfer station (also served by the 14 St Rapid Transit Line) somewhere just north of the main hospital building. The line would then cross the reservoir and head west along the north edge of the Earl Grey Golf Course, turn north at Crowchild Trail and have a station where the retail area is. It would then continue along Crowchild until Glenmore where it would veer west, transition to tunnel and turn north following Richard Rd until it joined the ROW that you outlined to reach Westbrook Station on the W LRT.
That much elevated track would be expensive but it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the section buried under 37 St. The entire project would probably cost somewhere north of a billion 2012 dollars with two thirds of that cost going towards the ~3 km and four station underground section and one third of that cost going towards the ~6 km (and 4-6 station) elevated section.
I would also continue the line north from Westbrook across the Bow river. It would then be able to service major activity nodes like Foothills Hospital (with a transfer station to the 16 Ave Rapid Transit Line), the UofC (with a station near the Olympic Oval), and the Brentwood TOD with a transfer to the NW LRT. The line could also eventually be expanded east from Chinook to reach the SE LRT and north east from Brentwood to reach the Centre Street Subway (possibly elevated over McKnight Boulevard). It could eventually even from a complete loop linking all of the radial LRT lines and some of the crosstown Rapid Transit Lines (be they Bus or Rail).
I could definitely see such a line being very useful in the 25-50 year horizon. Between Chinook and Brentwood stations it would link together three major TODs, two major hospitals, two universities, and the city's largest retail destination. Just between the schools we are already talking about nearly 50 000 relatively transit dependent people; those numbers will only go up as the CMAs population doubles over the next 30 years.