Millennium Line - Broadway Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[TransitJack]

Great to see the mention of a second station either mid campus or perhaps better at 16th Ave to serve the growing development there.

I imagine that after Blanca there is an opportunity to run at grade for a few blocks and then elevate through the campus itself. Though I'm not a "Build a skytrain for the views" type, I imagine an elevated line up there would provide an amazing vista to see from the train.

[nname]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That would be like 90% of the cost. Tunnels and station boxes are probably the most expensive part.

That's what LRT proponents want you to think. There are much more to the system than the stations and guideway. Tracks, vehicle, control system, power and propulsion system, maintenance equipment and facilities, testing and commissioning comes to mind.

Given the stations are not finished and track not laid... I'd say somewhere closer to 35~50% of the cost.

[cganuelas1995]

Originally Posted by nname

That's what LRT proponents want you to think. There are much more to the system than the stations and guideway. Tracks, vehicle, control system, power and propulsion system, maintenance equipment and facilities, testing and commissioning comes to mind.

Given the stations are not finished and track not laid... I'd say somewhere closer to 35~50% of the cost.

It's just concrete. And concrete is cheap as fuck.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I imagine the extra station would be intended to serve Wesbrook Village.

Pretty sure that Wesbrook would get its own station, either then or in a future expansion. For example:

[aberdeen5698]

Originally Posted by TransitJack

Great to see the mention of a second station either mid campus or perhaps better at 16th Ave to serve the growing development there.

The cynic in me says that the second station is there for sacrificial purposes so that they can be seen to economize and compromise in order to win support.

[Waders]

I am curious what caused UBC to change its stance about contributing to the rapid transit extension.

In the report to UBC Board of Governors, it says

There is a narrow window of opportunity over the next 12-18 months to accelerate completion of rapid transit to UBC. The regional and senior governments recently announced unprecedented funding support for the Millennium Line Broadway Extension of rapid transit to Arbutus Street, with procurement proceeding in 2018. And in spring 2018, TransLink will consider its next Regional Transportation Strategy. The risk of not securing a commitment to extend to UBC within this window is likely waiting decades to complete the line.

I get the feeling there is discussion among various parties about this.
May be there is a desire to piggyback the Arbutus to UBC extension to the approved Millennium Line Broadway Extension Project?
It would cost less money and save time to continue the construction to UBC immediately after the VCC-Clark to Arbutus construction is completed.

[jlousa]

Glad to see a change of tune from UBC, I've been pushing for a YVR like contribution for years now. The amount of land under there control can be leveraged to pay for this over a reasonable period of time. Glad they ran the numbers and came to the same conclusion.

[officedweller]

The route of the line will also depend on the impact to labs on campus.
I could see Wesbrook Mall being a better route than either East Mall or Main Mall, even though it's farther out from campus.

For UW and the Sound Transit LRT line, they put the track on dampers
and they paid $43M to move labs away from electromagnetic interference from the line.

$43 million deal to move UW labs for light-rail line
Originally published May 8, 2014 at 3:30 pm | Updated March 24, 2016 at 3:47 pm



At first, the university was concerned primarily with vibrations, but Sound Transit “has done a wonderful job of finding the latest technology” to reduce ground vibrations, said Richard Chapman, the UW’s associate vice president for capital projects.

That technology includes train tracks built on slabs of concrete that sit on big rubber doughnuts at the bottom of the tunnel, a kind of track known as a floating-slab track.

Electromagnetic interference, however, remained a concern.

Four buildings on campus, adjacent to the train line, house a variety of sensitive equipment, including electron microscopes, which are “really, really, really high resolution — so when the trains come by, they generate a magnetic field, and that distorts the imaging, and you get bad results,” Chapman said.
...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/43-million-deal-to-move-uw-labs-for-light-rail-line/

[Tvisforme]

With respect to UBC contributing to the line, I wonder if there would be free travel between campus stations. That would be comparable to what is already in place for the Sea Island stations on the Canada Line.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Waders

I get the feeling there is discussion among various parties about this.
May be there is a desire to piggyback the Arbutus to UBC extension to the approved Millennium Line Broadway Extension Project?
It would cost less money and save time to continue the construction to UBC immediately after the VCC-Clark to Arbutus construction is completed.

Definitely some backroom/sidechannel discussions going on, and not in a bad way. Maybe even from the province, while the NDP and Greens hold some power.

What are the chances of a BC Liberal government footing a future ~$1.5-$2B bill for an Arbutus to UBC extension? Even Translink would probably rather spend the money elsewhere.

[bardak]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Definitely some backroom/sidechannel discussions going on, and not in a bad way. Maybe even from the province, while the NDP and Greens hold some power.

What are the chances of a BC Liberal government footing a future ~$1.5-$2B bill for an Arbutus to UBC extension? Even Translink would probably rather spend the money elsewhere.

I think translink would jump at the chance to finish the line to UBC. The amount of resources that they have to dedicate to UBC is so enormous that the full buildout saves a decent amount of operation costs. I don't think any other Skytrain project has ever lowered the operation costs.

[LeftCoaster]

This is huge news, and I'm sure has been in the works for a while.

Unfortunate they couldn't come to this point sooner and build the line as one but if the can have the work continue seamlessly to phase 2 that will be a huge win.

I wonder how the funding could shake out.

1/3 federal
1/3 provincial
1/6 Translink
1/6 UBC

While that's a ton of money for UBC to shell out, the value of the development lands they hold would increase so drastically that it may be easy to justify.

[svlt]

This is huge, positive news and I didn't think it would happen until the 2030s. Would developers of new residential projects at Wesbrook be able to help chip in some of the funding?

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

I wonder how the funding could shake out.

1/3 federal
1/3 provincial
1/6 Translink
1/6 UBC

While that's a ton of money for UBC to shell out, the value of the development lands they hold would increase so drastically that it may be easy to justify.

The feds and province have already confirmed they'll each pay 40% (up from the previous 33%) towards transit projects. That leaves 20% to be covered locally. Also UBC didn't say they would pay towards all of Phase 2 - I'd suspect they'd base their share on any rail and stations on their land.

From what I remember, the gov numbers were based on an elevated line and the CoV said they would cover the difference to make it a subway.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Sheba

The feds and province have already confirmed they'll each pay 40% (up from the previous 33%) towards transit projects. That leaves 20% to be covered locally. Also UBC didn't say they would pay towards all of Phase 2 - I'd suspect they'd base their share on any rail and stations on their land.

From what I remember, the gov numbers were based on an elevated line and the CoV said they would cover the difference to make it a subway.

Surely there is an upper limit to what the Feds and Province will cover. They can't issue blanket statements that will could cost hundreds of millions.

A YVR-style addfare sounds like a good solution for this.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Surely there is an upper limit to what the Feds and Province will cover. They can't issue blanket statements that will could cost hundreds of millions.

A YVR-style addfare sounds like a good solution for this.

dont forget the fed election in 2019
trudeau seems willing to bust the ottawa piggy-bank again to get votes

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Surely there is an upper limit to what the Feds and Province will cover. They can't issue blanket statements that will could cost hundreds of millions.

A YVR-style addfare sounds like a good solution for this.

the yvr add-fare allows free travel on that segment, no? since YVR chipped in to build this segment
maybe the same idea of free travel on campus for ubc?

[jsbertram]

just was thinking....

is the recent translink / mayors council funding announced for the remaining 20% local funding specific to the projects in the current 10 year plan?

or will this revenue be available afterwards for future projects like UBC extension phase II? and langley RRT?

[jsbertram]

hope there's a station entrance or emerg exit included in the design

http://www.vancourier.com/real-estate/pr...another-vancouver-gas-station-1.23272337

[DKaz]

Fantastic news.