Expo Line - Surrey Langley Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue

So one from White Rock Centre to Surrey Central, and another one from Surrey Central to Fleetwood via Guildford?

I'm thinking Scott Road-Newton-White Rock, and Guildford-Fleetwood-Scottsdale.

[Waders]

Public engagement for Surrey-Langley SkyTrain to begin in April: report

Based on TransLink’s proposed work plan, the public engagement process will start in April with the preliminary design and costing in May/June.

Then in July, there will be a draft business case presented to the mayor’s council, with finalized reference design, costs and business case in November/December.

The timeline states that the construction would be from 2021 to 2025 and start of service would be in 2025, both pending the approval of the business case from the provincial and federal governments.

[Sheba]

Surrey councillor wants development along SkyTrain route put on hold, for now

Surrey Coun. Brenda Locke would like to see a freeze on development along the SkyTrain route down the Fraser Highway.

She has served a “notice of motion” to council, calling for a hold on development applications along the route, until council reviews and approves a new land-use plan for the corridor, likely for an eight- to 10-month period.

She says this interim hold for development applications would not include social, student or below-market affordable housing.

Locke says the idea is to limit speculation and make the best use of the lands for supporting SkyTrain and residents.

“Well, there are kind of two purposes. One is for the speculation part of it and more importantly to me, is to make sure we have all of the infrastructure in place or at least potentially in place, so we know where we are going with the development along the corridor.”

Meanwhile, public consultation on the Surrey SkyTrain project is to begin later in April.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Surrey councillor wants development along SkyTrain route put on hold, for now

Wait, so is this 'Freeze on Development/Speculation' thing going to become a routine thing? Do any other cities generally do this outside CoV?

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Surrey councillor wants development along SkyTrain route put on hold, for now

So are they going to compensate TransLink for low ridership in the first few years due to the lag in construction starts?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by officedweller

So are they going to compensate TransLink for low ridership in the first few years due to the lag in construction starts?

Remember that the Canada Line's route was 90+ percent infill when it started out, and it met the Year 3 ridership projections in a couple of months.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Wait, so is this 'Freeze on Development/Speculation' thing going to become a routine thing? Do any other cities generally do this outside CoV?

TBF it's "calling for a hold on development applications along the route, until council reviews and approves a new land-use plan for the corridor, likely for an eight- to 10-month period." Last time I checked the Skytrain isn't going to open in that time - hell are they even going to have started construction on it by then? Developers will still have time to build along Fraser Hwy before the new Skytrain stations open.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Sheba

TBF it's "calling for a hold on development applications along the route, until council reviews and approves a new land-use plan for the corridor, likely for an eight- to 10-month period." Last time I checked the Skytrain isn't going to open in that time - hell are they even going to have started construction on it by then? Developers will still have time to build along Fraser Hwy before the new Skytrain stations open.

That didn't answer my question. I mean, they need time to update the zoning, but do other cities usually put these sort of development halts?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by fredinno

That didn't answer my question. I mean, they need time to update the zoning, but do other cities usually put these sort of development halts?

There's Burlington in Ontario: one-year freeze while they rezone the area around the GO station. Indeed, it seems to be an anomaly... then again, so is being second to only Hong Kong in unaffordable housing.

[GMasterAres]

Originally Posted by fredinno

That didn't answer my question. I mean, they need time to update the zoning, but do other cities usually put these sort of development halts?

I can't comment on if other cities do it because I don't know, but honestly they should. If a specific corridor is going to have a major fundamental change to it, I think you absolutely have to immediately look at your current land-use plans and evaluate if they are valid and if not, adjust them accordingly. Also road infrastructure plans.

If the city had no plans to upgrade roads around say 168th over the next 10 years but suddenly with a new SkyTrain station there you will likely see a boost to traffic feeding into it, and more people walking, so maybe the city needs to move up some of the projects into a shorter term time-frame.

I think it is a very good idea. It's only 9-10 months, maybe a year so won't have any major impact on development before SkyTrain is complete.

Right now SkyTrain is anticipated to be complete along Fraser Highway by 2025, that's 6 years from now. Even a 1 year freeze leaves 5 years for the corridor to have projects in progress or near completion.

[jlove390]

https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/05/07/surrey-mayor-state-city-address-skytrain-police/

"If Mayor Doug McCallum has his way, construction on a SkyTrain expansion into Newton and South Surrey could start as early as 2021."

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by jlove390

https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/05/07/surrey-mayor-state-city-address-skytrain-police/

"If Mayor Doug McCallum has his way, construction on a SkyTrain expansion into Newton and South Surrey could start as early as 2021."

That article never says anything of the sort. Doug WANTS to see that- we know that. But that quote (2021 start date) is not stated. It's not even on TransLink's plans yet.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by fredinno

That article never says anything of the sort. Doug WANTS to see that- we know that. But that quote (2021 start date) is not stated. It's not even on TransLink's plans yet.

Hence IF McCallum gets his way. He's kind of an old geezer.

[jlove390]

It did say that as I copy and pasted directly from the article, but I guess they changed it.

[jbrizzy]

Originally Posted by fredinno

That article never says anything of the sort. Doug WANTS to see that- we know that. But that quote (2021 start date) is not stated. It's not even on TransLink's plans yet.

🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️

Either he misspoke, the article was incorrectly transcribed, or he is being ridiculously ambitious with his plans for Skytrain in Surrey (WRT the Newton-South Surrey wording).

(Screenshot from https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/05/07/surrey-mayor-state-city-address-skytrain-police/)

[xd_1771]

NEWS1130's article incorrectly transcribed. (I was watching the speech, and you can rewatch it by the way on YT, he never said that).

McCallum mentioned a wish to see SkyTrain expanded to Newton and South Surrey in a future phase, without pointing to a specific date. When he referred to "2021" he meant it as the start-of-construction year for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain line.

Further SkyTrain expansions are likely a conversation Surrey will have as part of Transport 2050's planning.

[Bdawe]

Originally Posted by xd_1771

NEWS1130's article incorrectly transcribed. (I was watching the speech, and you can rewatch it by the way on YT, he never said that).

McCallum mentioned a wish to see SkyTrain expanded to Newton and South Surrey in a future phase, without pointing to a specific date. When he referred to "2021" he meant it as the start-of-construction year for the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain line.

Further SkyTrain expansions are likely a conversation Surrey will have as part of Transport 2050's planning.

I always wonder just how many junctions you can sustain on the skytrain network while maintaining adequate branch service and overall reliability and frequency levels

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Bdawe

I always wonder just how many junctions you can sustain on the skytrain network while maintaining adequate branch service and overall reliability and frequency levels

Theoretically, two junctions splits SkyTrain service into five-minute frequency on the branches. More switches for a new line (e.g. Production Way to Newton) should bring the frequency back up.

Practically, we've had hours-long switching failures with just one junction, so IMO the fewer the better.

[officedweller]

Green Timbers group worried about Surrey-Langley SkyTrain
https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/05/16/green-timbers-group-worried-about-surrey-langley-skytrain/

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Green Timbers group worried about Surrey-Langley SkyTrain
https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/05/16/green-timbers-group-worried-about-surrey-langley-skytrain/

i wonder if they had concerns about the 2x as much land required for an at-grade LRT line.