Originally Posted by urbancanadian
According to Frances Bula, it sounds like the engineering department essentially has stacks of documents to prove that burying the line is indeed necessary. Remember, there have been a zillion studies undertaken by the city over the last 20+ years, with regards to rapid transit through the corridor.
Here's my take:
I think everyone can agree that the line needs to be extended from the current terminus at VCC-Clark. Building otherwise would necessitate extra transfers, and therefore attract lower ridership, resulting in a higher cost per passenger. Of course this would also mean building a new OMC, etc. So let's assume that option is a no-go.
The first section (VCC-Great Northern Way) is the easiest and wouldn't need to change since it is elevated, and already has a ROW reserved. The next section (GNW-Mount Pleasant) would need to be tunnelled since the change in elevation is far too steep due to the escarpment.
Mount Pleasant Station would still need to be underground since the climb from below grade to above street level would probably also be too steep since the station itself needs to be flat/level.
Of course there is the issue of where to put the elevated guideway and how to construct it.
Do you put it in a laneway or along a street (ie. Broadway or 10th)? The alley on the south side of Broadway is obviously very narrow and would require significant demolition in order to fit the guideway in some areas. For example, large chunks of the buildings at Broadway and Granville would need to be knocked down. Furthermore, the gantry crane required to build the guideway couldn't fit so you would need to demo even more or use a more expensive method as seen in some of the short elevated sections on the Evergreen Line. Then there would be the issue of station locations (below). The alley on the north side of Broadway doesn't even exist for the entire route and would require the demolition of several towers in addition to the constraints listed above.
What about 10th Avenue? There are so many issues with a guideway here. For instance, there isn't even enough space everywhere for cars to pass each other (the street is basically 3 lanes wide). This would mean eliminating most parking and likely making the street one-way for much of it. This is also one of the busiest bike routes in the city - due to to be significantly upgraded (AAA). Also, thousands of fully matured trees would be chopped down, far more than during Canada Line construction. The tree canopy is actually very dense here.
To add to all this, the plethora of affordable rental buildings along the corridor would likely be the hardest hit by the huge amount of demolition, which by the way would require MAJOR expropriation, at a huge expense.
To me, the only place where the guideway could reasonably be located would be along Broadway itself. The problem though, is the chaos that would ensue from building a line along a road far busier than Cambie. The street cannot be widened a-la North Road, so two lanes at a bare minimum would need to be removed during construction. And two lanes would likely be closed permanently. Parking would be permanantly removed as well as many turning movements. The #99 would need to be rerouted. Likely the #9 as well. Other routes that use the street (#14, 16, 17) would be affected. This would mean much long walks for passengers among other issues...
And of course traffic issues would come at a large cost to the economy.
Now comes the toughest part of it all - the stations:
Every station would need to be located high above the street because you would need Brentwood-style mezzanine levels below the tracks/platforms themselves. This is extremely expensive and just about as ugly as it gets-but looks are not the issue here. You would end up with massive monolithic stations forever shadowing some of the busiest - and best - parts of the city.
Stations are quite wide too... Think of each track being more than one lane wide, plus platforms and you have a station that is easily 6 lanes wide. Basically, while you could probably squeeze them in, the stations would be fronting right up against the buildings on either side of the road. And remember these are not Canada Line-sized stations; they will be up to - and sometime more than - a block-long structure.
Conceivably, you could build streetside stations in some locations, in order to avoid building large mazzanine levels. But this would require expropriating and bulldozing entire blocks of land adjacent to the major cross-streets. The only spot where I think you could do this at a reasonable price, would be at the Kingsgate Mall site - but then you run into the challenges noted way above (geez this is getting long, sorry). Of course this would also require a guideway that zig-zags in and out of the street since it could not continue straight.
I could go on and on, and still wouldn't touch the smaller issues such as viewcone infringements, lawsuits, noise issues, etc, etc.
Maybe another day or when this topic comes up again, as it inevitably will.
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