Quote:
Originally Posted by Hed Kandi
I'm all in favour of removing the viaducts, but public transportation needs to first be improved. The Skytrain needs to be running more frequently and around the clock.
For commuters who are travelling to North Van via the Lionsgate, a skytrain needs to be built to the north shore.
|
While the transit in the area could be improved it's hardly lacking as is. This project would create a rather big financial black hole in it's wake to replace the peak capacity on the expo line as needed.
The Expo line is almost running at it's maximum frequency during peak hours and is pretty much full. Running around the clock also won't happen unless they spend a lot of money rejigging service and maintenance techniques. To improve the expo line capacity means to add either a 5th car on each and every Mk2 train going downtown during peak hours (for a little bump in Capacity), or to to actually go ahead and build larger stations with increased power capacity at each skytrain substation. Frequency isn't going to get better by any significant margin. Expect $1,000,000,000 to revamp the expo line, additional for the rolling stock.
I was talking to Andy with Bing Thom at the Viaducts or Viadon'ts event, and according to him, the land underneath the viaduct in 1986 was estimated to cost
$180M to rehabilitate due to contamination issues from the coal gas plant that used to occupy the site. CPI adjusted this is
$372M in 2012 dollars.
Add in the need to put in ramps at Georgia, and build a boulevard and this area rehab could end up costing upwards of
$1.5B minus whatever developers could kick in. Just under
$214K for every person expected to live on the site, not the net increase of possible site dwellers with the ducts in place.
While it can definitely be said that the viaducts aren't the only thing forcing the expo line capacity to be expanded, this would be a huge step in bringing the busiest section of the line overcapacity, since the majority of trips on the viaducts start in East Van and end in DT; roughly paralleling the Expo line. The site cleanup costs are also non negotiable unless the site is more or less just capped.
In terms of capital expenses, the city could buy about 35,000 electric vehicles for this price and redevelop the land under the viaducts in to park for this amount of money. Alternatively, this money could roughly pay for a Skytrain line to Langley, all the Evergreen Infrastructure (except rolling stock) or more LRT than even Zweisystem could shake a stick at.
Heck, even an at-grade or elevated Expo line extension from Gastown to North Van over a 2nd narrows routing may be cheaper than rejigging the entirety of the expo line which may be required due to dropping the road capacity into downtown. Assuming it you could build over the existing railway ROW for about $100M/km and still have a little money left for a couple km of tunnels.
I'm so very confused by this.
(/rant)
Prev
And the relevance would be that the more susceptible one is to fall for one lefty cause, the more likely you'll buy into another. Also, there would be a certain irony in one criticizing automobile dependence while at the same time gadding about the globe by jet to "fight the man" wouldn't there? Still, its up to you to admit or deny.
Linear Mode
