Edmonton-style LRT for Winnipeg?
 

Would it be possible to make an Edmonton-style LRT for Winnipeg, lets say... Bison-Harkness (phase I and II surface), elevated or underground for Union Station and Underground at the final station (Winnipeg Square)? I'd say surface for all of it, but commuters might be furious that they cant take their "precious" cars down Main Street.

Just asking

at grade from u of m to just before union station on the current corridor, underground through union then west underground along graham until past Kennedy then slice over to Portage until Broadway where it continues at grade to polo park and possibly the airport? low floor (streetcar) but always on its own ROW.

like this: http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&...c66dcd4f44360f
dark blue is at grade, transparent blue is underground. cut and cover under after Union and under Graham but with connections to the underground/Portage Ave. Tunnel over to Portage Ave after Kennedy and then either cut and cover or tunnel until Broadway where it resurfaces. Run it at grade along the southside of Portage Ave until Polo Park then to the airport. Stations subject to change.

Damn, and here I thought this was some actual news on the confirmation of LRT for Winnipeg.

What a letdown thread.

either A) elevated to union station, which then goes underground on the east side, turning onto graham to winnipeg place (which would be our citys Churchill station in Edmonton LRT terms)

OR

B) completely underground for it

both options would have a spur which would allow an eastern line for construction at somepoint. anyways, it'd continue underground with three stations (cityplace, hudson/the bay, balmoral) and continue at grade on portage or st matthews, to polo and the airport. hell, maybe even RRC

i'm planning routing and the basic LRT route on paper and will elaborate better soon lol

sorry joshy. i wish it was news as well :(

main st should be a lrt line all the way from the north perimiter to the south permiter

portage ave should have a lrt also

I don't live in Winnipeg (or Manitoba) for that matter, but I fully support an LRT in Winnipeg. They're the largest city in the country(there is Quebec, but Winnipeg is the same size) without some sort of rail system for the city.

It worked for Calgary and Edmonton when they were smaller cities. It can and should work for Winnipeg.

It would be wonderful. The only problem is money. And a mayor who says he wants LRT but isn't being proactive enough about, at least not publicly.

PROBLEM SOLVED! Articulated buses on major bus routes. Edmonton has them for some of theirs! Just put articulated buses on the 11, 14, 16, 18, 47 and 65 :)

Plus, 50,000 people in St James isnt enough for LRT. I dont know the statistics for Main Street, but it'd be really hard to find any space to keep it at-grade and to make it cheap (except middle of main and making every car owner furious)

Plan for LRT:
Bison (PH2)
Bishop Grandin (PH2)
McGillivary (PH2)
Fort Rouge (PH1)
Osborne (PH1)
Harkness (PH1) all at-grade.

then it would either bridge over main, or tunnel under main to
Union Station (PH1)

after that, it would tunnel (with a spur added on incase of Eastern expansion) and make a left turn around Graham to Winnipeg Square Station (my idea). Around 15,000 office workers are there, and theres skywalk connections to downtown which can be walked in less than 25 minutes to lets say, Portage Place.

Winnipeg Square Station would be the end line, for now anyways. After that, we can steadily acquire funds and build stations in 5-year increments.

Increment one (5 years after Winnipeg Station): Cityplace Station, Bay/Hudson Station, Balmoral/U of W Station, and then a transfer to at-grade to bring it to Arlington Station (around St. Matthews/Arlington)

Increment Two (10 years after Winnipeg Station): Minto Station, Polo Park Station, Airport Station, Red River College Station

After Increment One, start planning for an eastern line. After Increment two, start building it

...And thats my plan :)

If our mayor would stop the conservative attitude of cutting every single tax, this is a reality. I'd pay an extra $300 a year if that was going towards LRT

I know Hamilton is going through some LRT plans right now for about $1 billion and they are so similar in size to Winnipeg I am wondering if Winnipeg could do something similar.Also if Harper gets a majority this year and it's likely Hugh and the PC'S will form the next provincial govt this fall and Sam Katz being a conservative maybe this will get the ball rolling on LRT because right now Katz and the NDP can't agree on a rapid transit plan.

I'm hoping Liberal. Them scrapping the fighter jet plan might make Winnipeg be able to get cash for LRT, the Convention Centre, etc

I'm not too sure about LRT to the airport for a few reasons. First of all, although there are a lot of jobs there, they are all spread out, and are difficult to access by bus (once you arrive). Secondly, a lot of travellers do not generally want to take public transit to the airport, regardless of how fast it would be: You might have a lot of bulky luggage (so, lets say you needed to first walk 5 minutes to a bus route with luggage, catch that bus, then transfer to LRT - inconvenient to say the least); a lot travellers coming in would be business people, who have expense accounts - they can easily cab it to downtown. Finally, when friends/family are travelling, often they want to say their goodbyes - it's easier for them to just drop off their family member at the airport by car, and then leave (assuming they have a car)... Other than that though, I like your ideas - perhaps Polo Park would be a good place to end for starters.

What I hope eventually happens is that the province grants the city the ability to levy their own 1% sales tax, to be used SPECIFICALLY for large infra structure project. No way could any of this money be cleverly used to cover operating deficits, etc - only large projects like LRT, bridges, etc.. However, the City is going to have to use the tools they have first before the Province would agree to this - i.e. Rasingin property taxes, implement development charges, charge user fees etc. Once the City proves that they have made attempts to finance growth using the tools already at their disposal, only then would the Province considering offering more taxing power.... It's unlikely, but sorely needed in my opinion...

We could use any money we can get!

As for the West LRT, I'd have it go to Red River College. Polo would bring in tonnes of shoppers (they're building more higher-end stores), Airport would bring in the workers and Red River College would be for students and some Maples/Keewatin commuters

Frankly I don't think you need the line serving downtown itself I find transit is good there and it's fairly easy just travelling by foot around downtown. Have the line start at uofw go to polo and maybe in the future to either red river or the airport.Does edmonton's LRT go to their airport

No it doesn't. It doesn't serve West Edmonton Mall either.

There is no point in having a mass transit system if it doesn't serve the core of a city. I challenge anyone to find a city with a mass transit system that only serves suburbs, and if one can even be found, what it's success is.

LOL reminds me. took 125 to west ed from downtown edmonton and it took like, 45 minutes

You realize Edmonton's Airport is like 10 or 15 kms outside of Edmonton right?

It took 30 mins from Edmonton to Nisku/Leduc. However, they got a new bus route up there (590) that got me to the airport when I was there last week :)