Shift: London's Rapid Transit Initiative

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by inimrepus

The east leg of BRT is starting soon https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/brt-branches-out-21m-project-extends-east-link-from-core

Nice! Here is the link to the project page (with an attached PIC) if anyone is interested.

This may be noteworthy for some commuters, but when looking at the PIC slides, it looks like they are going to permanently close the ramp from York St to northbound Adelaide St. The ramps from southbound Adelaide to York, and York to southbound Adelaide will stay.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

Nice! Here is the link to the project page (with an attached PIC) if anyone is interested.

This may be noteworthy for some commuters, but when looking at the PIC slides, it looks like they are going to permanently close the ramp from York St to northbound Adelaide St. The ramps from southbound Adelaide to York, and York to southbound Adelaide will stay.

I think a few will grumble and then it will be easily forgotten. I never use that ramp anyway because I hate how long the light takes, and I hate that stretch of 3 lights in a short distance generally. I plan ahead to avoid that whole piece going northbound whenever possible

[CanadianTalk]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I think a few will grumble and then it will be easily forgotten. I never use that ramp anyway because I hate how long the light takes, and I hate that stretch of 3 lights in a short distance generally. I plan ahead to avoid that whole piece going northbound whenever possible

Oh yeah, I agree. There are several side streets in the area that connect to King or Dundas, which can easily take you to Adelaide. I also agree regarding that stretch of Adelaide, as most of the times, I hit at least 2 of the 3 red lights (if I'm lucky, I hit all 3 red lights )

[ssiguy]

While there is nothing wrong with spending $40 million on pedestrian & cycling infrastructure as planned that will still leave the city with $120 million unspent on infrastructure funding that must be used or they will lose it. Remember the projects must be COMPLETED by 2027 or they lose the money so there is no time to waste.

What are they going to build in order to use the money? If the city can't get it's act together for the western & northern lines via Wharncliffe then I think the best option {and most politically advantageous} would be to extend the East line past Fanshawe to the airport. Not only would this serve more people and the airport but very importantly would serve the thousands of industrial workers in the area.

Holder has said the money will be spent no matter what, so they are quickly running out of time to make the decision and get building. What do you think will be the best option for the money and what do you think the city will decide upon?

[Djeffery]

Part of me thinks of infrastructure money like car sales used to be (and will be again). There's always another sale, and there is always a new infrastructure program. As long as we keep electing politicians who need re-electing, there will be programs like that. Even if we don't access this entire program, there will be something that comes after it, and maybe it's not in the city's interest to sink even more city funds into things that quickly just to take advantage now.

[jammer139]

People keep forgetting that the majority of this funding goes into the underground replacement of services for sewers and utilities. The actual portion of the funding that directly goes to transit is small. Think of it like a fancy dinner; drinks, appetizers, entree, wine and a slice of desert with a coffee. The actual portion of the bill that is transit is the desert.



You don't need much money to run buses from Fanshawe to the airport district and there isn't much of underground replacement needed going out that way currently.


West and North is where the density is and will grow.

Originally Posted by ssiguy

While there is nothing wrong with spending $40 million on pedestrian & cycling infrastructure as planned that will still leave the city with $120 million unspent on infrastructure funding that must be used or they will lose it. Remember the projects must be COMPLETED by 2027 or they lose the money so there is no time to waste.

What are they going to build in order to use the money? If the city can't get it's act together for the western & northern lines via Wharncliffe then I think the best option {and most politically advantageous} would be to extend the East line past Fanshawe to the airport. Not only would this serve more people and the airport but very importantly would serve the thousands of industrial workers in the area.

Holder has said the money will be spent no matter what, so they are quickly running out of time to make the decision and get building. What do you think will be the best option for the money and what do you think the city will decide upon?

[ssiguy]

I agree that a lot of the money does go to the underground infrastructure which is actually good as most of it has to be redone so might as well do it at the same time and get senior levels of government to pick up most of the tab to boot.

Running "a few buses" past Fanshawe to the airport doesn't really make much difference in spending infrastructure money.

[haljackey]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

While there is nothing wrong with spending $40 million on pedestrian & cycling infrastructure as planned that will still leave the city with $120 million unspent on infrastructure funding that must be used or they will lose it. Remember the projects must be COMPLETED by 2027 or they lose the money so there is no time to waste.

What are they going to build in order to use the money? If the city can't get it's act together for the western & northern lines via Wharncliffe then I think the best option {and most politically advantageous} would be to extend the East line past Fanshawe to the airport. Not only would this serve more people and the airport but very importantly would serve the thousands of industrial workers in the area.

Holder has said the money will be spent no matter what, so they are quickly running out of time to make the decision and get building. What do you think will be the best option for the money and what do you think the city will decide upon?

The west leg BRT was narrowly defeated by the current council. Maybe it will be greenlit by the next council, and that would use up a lot of this funding.

Extensions of the east leg to the airport would be cool, and you could even extend the south leg over the 401 to the edge of town and build a commuter lot. The Wellington 401 overpass would be able to accommodate BRT I think.

[CanadianTalk]

According to the city's construction map, phase 1 of the East London Link will officially start on Monday, March 21.

King Street will be closed between Lyle and Adelaide until June (local traffic permitted), and it looks like the ramp from York St to northbound Adelaide St will be permanently closed that day, as well.

Just as a recap, these are the two rapid transit projects happening this year:

• Downtown Loop Phase 2 - Ridout Street (King St to Queens Ave) and Queens Ave (Ridout St to Wellington St)
• East London Link Phase 1 - King Street (Wellington St to Lyle St)

[jammer139]

CTV story on upcoming road closures.


https://london.ctvnews.ca/road-closures-begin-monday-for-four-months-in-london-ont-1.5825377

[haljackey]

More of a traffic note but Highbury over the CP rail bridge is down to one northbound lane. It's causing backups all the way to Hamilton during the busier times of day.

Looks like they are doing some work to expand the overpass for BRT support- and it's either getting widened to the east or will be a completely new bridge. The old one would move SB traffic, the new NB.

[CanadianTalk]

Project site says that the bridge will be widened. Not sure which direction. I believe there was a major rehab on that bridge about a decade or so ago, so I imagine that it still has some life left lol.

https://london.ca/projects/east-london-link

Though I'm not sure if the work being done now is for BRT (the bridge widening part, at least) as that phase is not scheduled until 2024. The city's construction map does show construction over the bridge now, but it says that its for sewer work.

[CanadianTalk]

Project webpage for the Wellington Gateway has been launched: https://getinvolved.london.ca/wellingtongateway

Construction on this will start next year with the first phase being Wellington from York Street to near the Thames River (which will connect to the Downtown Loop).

There will likely be a public update meeting this summer on it.

Subsequent phases will be constructed from 2024 to 2027 which will include Wellington from the Thames River all the way down to just south of White Oaks Mall.

[haljackey]

Came up in a discussion elsewhere, but way wasn't the parking lot near the Via rail station considered as a BRT transit hub?

The two lines could have connected here and platforms would have made for a easy hop-on-hop off to other bus routes. Plus with the train station right there you could go from a bus to train EZ.

[inimrepus]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Came up in a discussion elsewhere, but way wasn't the parking lot near the Via rail station considered as a BRT transit hub?

The two lines could have connected here and platforms would have made for a easy hop-on-hop off to other bus routes. Plus with the train station right there you could go from a bus to train EZ.

I see 2 issues with that parking lot as an option

1. There isn't enough space in that parking lot for a BRT hub and leaving parking for the train station. As much as I hope BRT will reduce the number of people driving downtown it isn't going to happen right away and we still need to leave parking spots for people who do drive
2. This parking lot isn't on the BRT route, being even a block away would slow down the busses. A hub location needs to be on the route rather than the route changing to incorporate a hub.

[jammer139]

So the project managers and planners thought King St would be closed until June for the Adelaide to Lyle portion??


It's still dirt and not likely to open any time soon.

Originally Posted by CanadianTalk

According to the city's construction map, phase 1 of the East London Link will officially start on Monday, March 21.

King Street will be closed between Lyle and Adelaide until June (local traffic permitted), and it looks like the ramp from York St to northbound Adelaide St will be permanently closed that day, as well.

Just as a recap, these are the two rapid transit projects happening this year:

• Downtown Loop Phase 2 - Ridout Street (King St to Queens Ave) and Queens Ave (Ridout St to Wellington St)
• East London Link Phase 1 - King Street (Wellington St to Lyle St)

[haljackey]

In their defense, supply and worker shortages are likely adding to the delays. Add to that weather, undocumented findings below ground, etc. Can't really fault them for delays this year or next.

Going forward, all construction projects may take much longer to complete. Just the way the world will be.

[haljackey]

East leg progress

https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontario/c...orth_south_corridor_through_downtown_is/

[haljackey]

AMA response from a councilor Shawn Luis who voted against the north and west legs of the BRT plan: https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontario/c...wn_lewis_ward_2_city_councillor/iodra09/

[CanadianTalk]

The public information centres have started for the phases of the three rapid transit projects to be constructed next year. The websites below each have a video called "Design Overview" where you can see renderings of the road.

Third and final phase of the Downtown Loop (Wellington from York to Queens) - https://getinvolved.london.ca/downtownloop

Phase 2 of the East London Link (King from Lyle to Ontario, Ontario from King to Dundas, and Dundas from Ontario to Egerton) - https://getinvolved.london.ca/eastlondonlink
In addition to the bus lanes, left turn lanes will be added along Dundas at Egerton and Quebec, which is nice to see.

Phase 1 of the Wellington Gateway (Wellington from York to Grand) - https://getinvolved.london.ca/wellingtongateway
This also includes the widening of Clark's bridge over the Thames.