Millennium Line - Broadway Extension: Planning & Pre-Construction

[deasine]

i think they are referring to the study itself

[vanman]

I think the Evergreen line should be built before the expansion of the Millenium line west. The NE is rapidly densifying and it is crucial for it to have access to rapid transit. At least with the Broadway corridor there is sufficient albeit crowded, existing transit coverage. With the Provincial government's record surplus of 4 billion they should pony up the 400million and get the line built already as promised.

[djh]

Sam supports it...

That just about gives it the death sentence.

[officedweller]

Politics getting in the way of established planning priorities again -
and we want more political representation making these decisions??

[The_Henry_Man]

Originally Posted by vanman

I think the Evergreen line should be built before the expansion of the Millenium line west. The NE is rapidly densifying and it is crucial for it to have access to rapid transit. At least with the Broadway corridor there is sufficient albeit crowded, existing transit coverage. With the Provincial government's record surplus of 4 billion they should pony up the 400million and get the line built already as promised.

I have to disagree. If Evergreen Line is done WAY BEFORE the M-Line westward expansion is even began to be studied, then the 99b capacity will even be more choked than before. The study should definitely should start ASAP in order to relieve the choke point for Broadway-Commercial Station (providing another interchange at Broadway-City Hall), as well as providing more capacity for M-Line to UBC.

[The_Henry_Man]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Politics getting in the way of established planning priorities again -
and we want more political representation making these decisions??

This is EXACTLY the problem that Kelvin Falcon wants to get rid of for his revamped Translink. Actually I hope Translink can be run more like YVR Authority.

[SpongeG]

i live in what would be the evergreen line and i say do the m line extension first

[eduardo88]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i live in what would be the evergreen line and i say do the m line extension first

I agree with you on that one, though if the Evergreen Line was done as SkyTrain I wouldn't mind it being built before the Broadway extension. I really REALLY hope that people wake up from their stupidity and axe the ridiculous LRT proposal before any more taxpayer money is flushed down the drain! It get's me so angry to see this politics/nimbyism/general stupidity influencing our regional transit plans. Man I really do hope TransLink gets reorganized into a YVR type authority...

[mezzanine]

^ if there is any poster child for 'GVRD political meddling' it would have to be the evergreen line. Originally, George Puil's board wanted LRT down the whole of the lougheed corridor, when glen clark changed it to skytrain. They built lougheed station to accomodate it, spending $$ to save on future costs, when the libs stopped planned expansion. In the meantime, Port Moody refused skytrain in a referrendum in their community. Now, it still is technically on the table, but i do not see this moving ahead in a big way, especially if they insist on a P3 and LRT.

It especially aggrivates me to see corrigan grandstanding on this speaking out against his idea of 'politcial interference' demonstrates his political manouvering.

[SpongeG]

i think they change the route and avoid port moody and not offer its residents any access

they could run it a number of ways through coquitlam without having to go anywhere near port moody

[MistyMountainHop]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

Go FALCON Go!

If it weren't for Falcon and his expensive Gateway Project, there would be enough money to build the Evergreen Line, M-Line West and more.

[mr.x]

it would be great to have a Translink operated like YVR - free from any political interference....but the problem is, the new Translink seems to be geared for road expansion rather than transit expansion....not only that but all of the new board members are from big business - none are from the community (except the one mayor's representative) or urban/transit planners.

[The_Henry_Man]

^Maybe the Provincial gov't should just take back the responsibility of road maintenance/expansion projects and have Translink only responsible for public transit.

[renthefinn]

I don't understand the need for the evergreen line at this point. Build the density to justify it and then maybe it might be worthwhile, we've got areas of the region with much higher density 'like m-line west' that can't cope with their current transit options. I've never been to a more empty skytrain station than all of the ones near coquitlam. Love transit first before you tell everyone else in the province to give it too you!

[mezzanine]

I may sound like a broken record, but I really do feel quite cynical about people (like corrigan) saying the new translink board is 'undemocratic' If we has it his way, we'd have the same chaos as what is happening in toronto right now. Mayor miller lost a vote on tax initiatives (modest taxes, IMO) and now is threatening to shut down a whole subway line, among other drastic cuts. And this is old news, but short-sighted special interest groups forced ottawa to cancel an existing LRT contract, and surprise - Siemens is now suing the city.

Although there was a lot of initial controversy, this new board, for all its faults may provide effective longer-range transit solutions.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by renthefinn

I don't understand the need for the evergreen line at this point. Build the density to justify it and then maybe it might be worthwhile ...

SpongeG has posted some pics of the projects going up in Coquitlam Town Centre - its coming along nicely. And it has been zoned for higher density in reliance on the Evergreen Line being built.

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=127933&page=20

[Lee_Haber8]

Why not build both at the same time and use the surrounding development to help pay the costs. Problem solved!

[officedweller]

The Translink probably doesn't have the power to impose a development cost levy on property developers. Plus, municipalities won't impose a hefty levy on projects they are trying to encourage (Surrey lowered its DCLs which finally spurred development at Whalley). Not to mention that municipalities subject to that sort of scheme would complain that they are being unfairly treated as other municpalities got rapid transit without bearing the costs (i.e. DCLs would otherwise go to the municipality).

[Lee_Haber8]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The Translink probably doesn't have the power to impose a development cost levy on property developers. Plus, municipalities won't impose a hefty levy on projects they are trying to encourage (Surrey lowered its DCLs which finally spurred development at Whalley). Not to mention that municipalities subject to that sort of scheme would complain that they are being unfairly treated as other municpalities got rapid transit without bearing the costs (i.e. DCLs would otherwise go to the municipality).

It worked in Portland. It's called tax-incremental-financing and it's a small tax on the increase in property values in properties within the vicinity (say 1 km) of a station. It's not a hefty tax since it operates over a period of 15-20 yrs and covers a larger area than just properties adjacent or on top of stations

[mr.x]

so do we know the results of the vote yet?