NC LRT Advocacy Group

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by polishavenger

Firstly, the old purpose of the NC LRT may have been to just service the fringes, but the scope has evolved and the need to provide service for the communities between the fringe and the core is part of the current thinking. Just because you havent been able to let go of 30 year old thinking, doesnt mean others havent moved on and realized there is a lot of benefit to spending more up front and getting much more back in return.

It seems this is ground covered previously, but just to reiterate, taking the LRT up nose creek does not mean the centre street corridor will be ignored. What it does mean is that the wildly successful 301 along with appropriate cross-town routes will continue to serve this important area and provide exceptional access to downtown. Additionally, from a vibrancy perspective, there is a strong argument suggesting that a bus service will be better for that area, which is closer to the core anyway. Currently 40th Ave to 16th Ave is 6 minutes, and another 8 minutes gets to to 5th Ave. Pretty sweet.

So the suggestion that a nose creek alignment ignores needs of the central areas is a red herring and it is a completely flawed arguement.

Originally Posted by polishavenger

Second, if we continue on as business as usual, then this city will grind to a halt because there is no way we can keep up with road and ctrain building to service constant suburban growth. At a given size, low density starts to fail.

The LRT is not commuter rail anymore, it services more than just people on the fringe, so it needs to be developed accordingly. Its a testament to bad planning that the LRT was not developed with express service capability in mind.

While the discussion uses the term commuter rail, fact is, the Northern Hills are not a commuter community. What is being proposed is a different sort of thinking - creative and smart solutions where it is not a "with us or against us" mentality. Deal with the central areas in the best way. Bus / BRT service. Deal with the populous and growing areas with the best way for them, while keeping costs digestible. Nose creek LRT. This two pronged approach will be cheaper, be built out quicker, and serve more people, and serve them better.