Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterG
It would be interesting to see what ends up happening from a Westbrook - Foothills / U of C connection. I like the idea of the Gondola connection, certainly would be cheaper and easier to build than a train with the steep grade of the valley. However, a train would be ultimately faster and better integrated to the system.
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I agree. I never thought of what a gondola would be like...
Portland's gondola cost $57 million USD(2007) to build, 2 stations, 1 km distance (and 150m up), 3 minute trip.
Westbrook to Foothills is about 3 km as the crow (or gondola) flies
You could:
-Westbrook-3km-Foothills-1.5km-Banff Trail,
-Westbrook-3km-Foothills-2km-Lion's Park,
-Westbrook-3km-Foothills-2km-University station,
-Westbrook-3km-Foothills-1.5km-Somewhere at UofC-1km-Brentwood,
-Westbrook-3km-Foothills-1.5km-ACH-1km-MarketMall-1km-Northland (where you could build a cxn to ctrain)
...or some other combination of these. Thoughts?
Personally, I like the idea of a real ctrain to Foothills, but I also like the idea of UofC linking up its campuses better (I'll even settle for a better, direct, pedestrian route!) and a gondola may achieve this. What a cool gimmick to attract engineering students!
Foothills (incl. FMC, Tom Baker Cancer Centre, UofC Healthsciences Ctr & Vet School, Stadium strip mall, Foothills Professional bldg, Brentwood internal care ctr, etc) employs thousands and continues to develop. Parking is $13, and routes 20, 91, and 40 buses are busy all day. A large portion of visitors are students and seniors, demographics known to use transit. A direct link from UofC and Foothills to MRU via ctrain would be awesome. 2-way, all day traffic.