Quote:
Originally Posted by fusili
Huh? That is a massive ROW. You could fit 6 lanes in total for most of that stretch. Between 14th Avenue and 17th Avenue you might need to cut the regular traffic lane down to one each way, but other than that, 52nd has either massive medians or shoulders on either side.
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Massive medians? they are just over a lane wide. The shoulders for the most part aren't wide enough that taking more than half a lane's width on each side would still allow a comfortable sidewalk experience.
Travelling south from Saddletowne circle:
From Saddletowne Circle to 64th Ave - you could probably get two extra lanes in, but would require a narrower median, and not much grass between the curb lane and the sidewalk/bike path on each side.
From 64th to Castleridge Blvd / Falconridge Drive - Similar to the section to the north, but has many houses that have back yards that are directly on the sidewalk beside Falconridge Blvd.
Castleridge Blvd to 44th Ave/Temple Drive - Sound be relatively easy. The right of way is large here due to the future possibility of a interchange at McKnight (which will be built eventually)
44th Ave to Rundlehorn Drive - Should be enough space between 52nd street and the service road to get extra lanes in. Many of the intersections would require house expropriations though, I count around 10 houses that would have to be bulldozed to have enough room for the required lanes, alley access, and so they don’t have a sidewall of the house that’s about 5 feet from the traffic lane.
Rundlehorn Drive to Marbank Drive/Madigan Drive – The large right of way for the interchange means that space isn’t an issue. It would require adding extra lanes to the bridge.
Marbank Drive to Memorial Drive – It looks like there is enough space on the east side of 52nd street to do all of the widening to the east. There’s a whole bunch of houses along the west side that front directly onto 52nd street here. To really upgrade this stretch, something creative should be done with those houses, as they still require their on street parking.
Memorial to 14th Street SE – A similar situation to the falconridge area, would be possible, wouldn’t leave much space between the sidewalk and the driving lane. However, there is a bunch of parkspace beside most of this stretch that could probably be used to widen the ROW a little bit.
14th Ave SE to 17th Ave SE – very narrow, would likely have to expropriate all the houses on both sides of the street. I count 27 houses, plus perhaps a business or two (B&P cycle).
17th Ave SE to Glenmore Trail – Shouldn’t be too much of an issue. Might be a few places were there wouldn’t be much space left between 52nd street and a building for a sidewalk
Looking at it, It might be not quite as hard as I thought, thanks to what looks like a right of way set aside for road widening between Marbank Drive and Memorial. It still would be a shame to lose the grassed/treed medians & shoulders that some of the stretch has. Of course, that could be mitigated.
However, I think if you are looking to do all of that just for a right of way, you start looking at putting more than just a BRT in that right of way – perhaps a streetcar or even a subway line (to be part of a future circle subway/LRT line).
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