Metro Vancouver Transit Discussion - Page 1119

GeeCee · #**22361** Posted **Mar 13, 2021, 7:22 AM**

+1 to Edmonds yard not going anywhere, especially with the new operations centre building.

One aspect to consider as well is that there's a rezoning proposal in the works for the property to the south of the site in question - Sapperton Green: https://www.newwestcity.ca/planning-building-and-development/projects-on-the-go/articles/3519.php

Haven't heard anything about it for the last year, so I imagine that it's at least temporarily on hold given the current circumstances, but that may play a factor in where the switches are located.

officedweller · #**22362** Posted **Mar 13, 2021, 7:36 AM**

Apparently the warehouse there is currently leased to Amazon, so as long as that is profitable, Bentall is probably in no hurry to redevelop.

cganuelas1995 · #**22363** Posted **Mar 13, 2021, 11:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bdawe

If I was translink, between this, and the eventually Surrey-Langley Yard, I would be putting consideration towards selling off the rather transit-accessible Edmonds Yard for development

What about putting a lid over top of them like they did at Hudson Yards in NYC?

s211 · #**22364** Posted **Mar 14, 2021, 6:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

What about putting a lid over top of them like they did at Hudson Yards in NYC?

Let's compare the real estate economics of midtown Manhattan with suburban Vancouver, shall we?

Bring money. Lots and lots of money.

cganuelas1995 · #**22365** Posted **Mar 14, 2021, 8:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

Let's compare the real estate economics of midtown Manhattan with suburban Vancouver, shall we?

Bring money. Lots and lots of money.

The air rights above the facility aren't viable?

aberdeen5698 · #**22366** Posted **Mar 14, 2021, 9:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

The air rights above the facility aren't viable?

They're probably not valuable enough to make it worth the bother of dealing with the construction and other related issues.

If you could sell the air rights above your house for $100 million, you'd be a lot more inclined to do it than if you could only sell them for $1 million.

cganuelas1995 · #**22367** Posted **Mar 14, 2021, 9:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aberdeen5698

They're probably not valuable enough to make it worth the bother of dealing with the construction and other related issues.

If you could sell the air rights above your house for $100 million, you'd be a lot more inclined to do it than if you could only sell them for $1 million.

Well, I live in a 9 storey apartment building. Perhaps we should go futuristic and keep building up over the existing buildings of downtown. Put a concrete lid over a bunch of the shorter buildings and build on that.

Tvisforme · #**22368** Posted **Mar 14, 2021, 11:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by cganuelas1995

The air rights above the facility aren't viable?

I'd suggest that at this point in time, the demand for land in that area is not sufficient to warrant the additional costs invoked in designing and engineering a building to straddle the transit centre. That does not mean that it will never be viable, just not at present.

jollyburger · #**22369** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 4:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

Apparently the warehouse there is currently leased to Amazon, so as long as that is profitable, Bentall is probably in no hurry to redevelop.

The only reason Amazon is probably there is that QuadReal gave them a good deal until the land gets redeveloped. They were still doing community engagement last October which suggests they are moving along in the redevelopment process.

https://www.sappertongreen.com/copy-of-home

Rico · #**22370** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 5:09 AM**

I just read one of the more ignorant transit related articles in a while on the Georgia Straight.
https://www.straight.com/news/translinks...ops-triggers-backlash-from-transit-users
A whole bunch of sobs about eliminating some bus stops and almost no comments about why that is a good idea. Obviously written by someone who has never felt the urge to just get out of the bus and walk because it was so slow with stops on both sides of the light...not sure but I suspect Vancouver must be in the running for most bus stops per km. And then the same people complain the bus is slow, go figure.

VancouverOfTheFuture · #**22371** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 6:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico

I just read one of the more ignorant transit related articles in a while on the Georgia Straight.
https://www.straight.com/news/translinks...ops-triggers-backlash-from-transit-users
A whole bunch of sobs about eliminating some bus stops and almost no comments about why that is a good idea. Obviously written by someone who has never felt the urge to just get out of the bus and walk because it was so slow with stops on both sides of the light...not sure but I suspect Vancouver must be in the running for most bus stops per km. And then the same people complain the bus is slow, go figure.

well the georgia straight is a rag that is pretty much only useful for the lining at the bottom of a bird cage.

Mac Write · #**22372** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 7:41 AM**

I am going to assume Translink is going to shut down Lougheed >< Braid and do a swap out of the beems with ones that have switches and the structure to have the switches. This would all be pre-fab and be a 1-4 week job. If they were really on their game they could do it in a 3 day weekend. I feel this is the best option as it will mean the least amount of downtime, as the current beams are designed to have a switch going to the outside of the beam. a cross switch in the current beam maybe but not a side switch.

Actually they could use the pocket track as an entrance and exit. Have the trains dip down in the pot track area.

Anyone Remember the Lions Gate Bridge decking replacement?

xd_1771 · #**22373** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 9:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico

A whole bunch of sobs about eliminating some bus stops and almost no comments about why that is a good idea. Obviously written by someone who has never felt the urge to just get out of the bus and walk because it was so slow with stops on both sides of the light...not sure but I suspect Vancouver must be in the running for most bus stops per km. And then the same people complain the bus is slow, go figure.

Hmmm. In this case, I feel that the article writer could have definitely done a better job getting a voice from someone (even from TransLink) with a thought on why this is a good idea. I mean, I personally think that 1. consolidating stops is a generally good idea, and 2. that Vancouver's local routes have a lot of bus stops in stupid places (especially where they are on both sides of the intersection).

However, it's also clear to me the backlash is of TransLink's creation. As it stands, stops will be pulled less than a month from now "on a trial basis" (euphemism words for "basically forever unless you get angry enough and we change our minds") and it's unclear how/if any comments asking for stops to retained will be taken seriously. The end result is they've completely upset the very people who were already bound to become very, very upset.

For full disclosure, my own interest in this matter is because of my own efforts right now to try and prevent the removal of a couple stops on the 17; specifically, one of the two slated on Marine Drive (which also serves #100, and is catching all of us 100 riders by surprise) and the one at W 14 Ave (side note I actually make regular use of that stop to access the adjacent Mobi station. That's right! Me!). These two are kind of dumb, for reasons I attempted to explain at great length via email to the guys running the bus stop balancing thing.

But, the rest are actually quite fine. There's the removal of some pesky near-side stops (i.e. where the stops are on both sides of the street), which we probably all want. But, the other targeted stop removals... I'm not really sure will have any effect of speeding up the 17. The TSPR tells me that the 17 suffers from speed/delay issues, but this is likely an attribute of its route on the city's most congested roads: 1. in downtown, 2. Broadway/12th, and 3. Oak Street, which feeds into the 99 Freeway. The peak hour congestion on Oak Street these days is just insane.

I'm basically treating this like any other public consultation and that TL staff will take the comments from me very seriously, but I can imagine that other people don't have the kind of confidence in dealing with TL that I have.

So I guess all I can say about this is... let the people have their say.

officedweller · #**22374** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 6:20 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac Write

I am going to assume Translink is going to shut down Lougheed >< Braid and do a swap out of the beems with ones that have switches and the structure to have the switches. This would all be pre-fab and be a 1-4 week job. If they were really on their game they could do it in a 3 day weekend. I feel this is the best option as it will mean the least amount of downtime, as the current beams are designed to have a switch going to the outside of the beam. a cross switch in the current beam maybe but not a side switch.

Actually they could use the pocket track as an entrance and exit. Have the trains dip down in the pot track area.

Anyone Remember the Lions Gate Bridge decking replacement?

That would be interesting.
If they did exit near the siding, they'd probably have to circumnavigate the rail yard to cross at one of the ends. The pocket track could be used for reversing.
Whether they dip the pocket track down would depend on bent spacing, grade and whether they could clear the next bent at a reasonable grade (doubt it). Then they still have to come up again to cross the rail yard, but it's not as if any passengers are on board so comfort not really a factor.

Mac Write · #**22375** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 6:50 PM**

Looking at the pocket further I see it's all concrete for a space far bigger then the current pocket, with open space between the concrete ends and where the tracks re-join. Using the pocket track which is already poor and flat, they could easily add switches from the main line into the pocket over a weekend closer.

The next question is, how would they use the space on the concrete area to re-configure the tracks to allow for 2 entrances and exits per direction?……

MIPS · #**22376** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 7:25 PM**

My question is how you modify guideway spans that are assembled from multiple smaller precast segments using the gantry then tensioned together. Does the remaining sections between the columns need to remain tensioned while pieces are removed and replaced or is the tensioning removed once the spans are completed?

Alternately, would it be more viable to just truck out and lift single monolithic guideway spans as was done with the Expo line? You would never get it done in a long weekend if you were going to do the gantry method.

Alex Mackinnon · #**22377** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 8:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIPS

My question is how you modify guideway spans that are assembled from multiple smaller precast segments using the gantry then tensioned together. Does the remaining sections between the columns need to remain tensioned while pieces are removed and replaced or is the tensioning removed once the spans are completed?

Alternately, would it be more viable to just truck out and lift single monolithic guideway spans as was done with the Expo line? You would never get it done in a long weekend if you were going to do the gantry method.

It looks like they're bridge and girder segments rather than singular precast sections. That area has a pocket track on it. That might make it an easier connection, but I'm not a civil/structural.

officedweller · #**22378** Posted **Mar 15, 2021, 10:58 PM**

Here's the pocket track west of the Brunette exit.
- adjacent post-tensioned guideway segments, so the pocket track must be over a seam between the two?

For the new switches they could probably abutt a structure and run over a new seam, but they'll have to add 2 switches so a train entering from the east end of the new yard site can access the westbound track without a zig-zag.

https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2359103,-122.8860087,1895m/data=!3m1!1e3

Tvisforme · #**22379** Posted **Mar 16, 2021, 4:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac Write

Anyone Remember the Lions Gate Bridge decking replacement?

Geez, now I feel old...

Yes, it was quite the project. Pretty interesting to watch the sections being lowered and raised. not to mention how successful they were at reopening on time. I think they were only late a handful of times, if that.

Mac Write · #**22380** Posted **Mar 16, 2021, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

Geez, now I feel old...

Yes, it was quite the project. Pretty interesting to watch the sections being lowered and raised. not to mention how successful they were at reopening on time. I think they were only late a handful of times, if that.

Yes and you will feel even older once SkyTrain is fully running to UBC and Langley, and the SFU Gondola is running. Also add in the new Grouse Mountain Gondola.

Do you remember the SkyTrain "Test Ride"