Millennium Line - Evergreen Extension | Completed

[smasher000]

Here's the thread to talk about the Evergreen Line! xD
A summary of this line:

In October 2004, the Coquitlam light rail transit line was approved in principle by the TransLink Board. This line will feature 12 stations over 11 kilometers, linking neighbourhoods between Coquitlam, Port Moody and Burnaby and connecting with SkyTrain, West Coast Express and TransLink buses.

[Only The Lonely..]

I'm seeing a big lock, three bannings and a whole lot of pain. Bring it on!

[Dorian G.]

d p

[Dorian G.]

I dunno; they didn't ban anyone the last time they closed it…
Here are the renderings from Oct 2006; they're from PDFs available from Translink if you want to see more detail.

[nname]

Originally Posted by smasher000

Here's the thread to talk about the Evergreen Line! xD
A summary of this line:

This line will feature 10 stations over 11 kilometers

Actually, its 12 stations now.

[smasher000]

K fixed it xD

[hollywoodnorth]

WOW great work on posting up all those images

[smasher000]

seems like there has been no new news on the Evergreen Line lately.

[SpongeG]

last news was even if it goes through it will take a long time due to the labour storage - so it wol be likely it wouldn't be able to start until after 2010 or the Canada line and the gateway and olympic porjects are done since there will be no workers

[twoNeurons]

The Canada Line imported Workers. There's a labour shortage in Vancouver, but it's possible imported workers would be used.

[SpongeG]

Translink "not concerned" about lack of response to funding request
Oct, 25 2006 - 12:30 PM


VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - The head of Translink says he's not concerned with the lack of any real response from Ottawa to its request for nearly half a billion dollars in funding. The funding is to pay for the planned Evergreen light rapid transit line.

Translink needs an additional $400-million by April to pay for the line, which would link Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam.

Chair Malcolm Brodie says despite the fact it's been a week since the request was made, there's been no formal response from the feds.
"There’s only been really informal chats."
However, Brodie says he's not worried by the silence.
"We expect the word back from the federal government to be somewhat slower."

Last week, Translink voted to spend an additional $16-million to move to the next step of the project -- this despite no guarantee the funding will come through to allow the line to actually reach the construction phase.

[SpongeG]

theres a bunch of expired news story but from what i could gather - there was a story saying they don;t need the short $400 million right away but could take it over 20 years or something

thats gotta help

but they have started "studies" at the cost of $16 million

[SpongeG]

TransLink releases the Business Case for the Evergreen LRT Line.
Benefits will ripple across the region from the building of the Evergreen Light Rapid Transit Line to the North East Sector, according to TransLink’s business case for the project.

The Evergreen Line will convert 1.9 million annual car trips to transit soon after it opens, growing to 3.6 million trips per year by 2021. As importantly, by giving the growing population of the North East Sector access to the region’s rapid transit network, it will attract 5 million new riders to transit when Millennium Line and bus improvements are included. As a result, the line will cover 94 per cent of its annual operating costs in 2013 and will more than cover its operating costs by 2021. With transfers at the Lougheed Town Centre, it will also help the Millennium Line live up to its passenger carrying potential.

TransLink Chair Malcolm Brodie noted that among the most powerful arguments for proceeding with the Evergreen Line is the effectiveness of rapid rail transit to convert single occupant vehicle trips to public transit. “In terms of the people-moving capacity that the North East Sector is going to need, the line is the equivalent of eight new lanes of roadway along the corridor. Picture the impact of twelve traffic lanes on businesses and houses along Pinetree in Coquitlam, St. Johns in Port Moody or Clarke Road and North Road, and that’s what the alternative to the Evergreen Line looks like,” he said.

He pointed out that the footprint of the line itself will be little more than two lanes wide in a corridor that is already severely space-constrained by waterfront, protected green zones, existing development and heritage neighbourhoods. The line’s design will maintain the current road capacity for traffic.

The business case factors past and future growth in the North East Sector as well as forthcoming major road investments by senior governments as key reasons for proceeding with the Evergreen Line now. The Livable Region Strategic Plan calls for the area to accept a significant amount of the GVRD’s growth. In fact, from 1991 to 2005, the North East Sector’s population grew by 48 per cent, while the average growth in the GVRD was 35 per cent.

This trend is expected to continue. While the GVRD’s population is expected to reach 2.6 million people by 2021, a 25 per cent increase over 2001, the combined populations of Coquitlam, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam will grow by 46 per cent to 288,000 in the same period. Over 41,000 more jobs are expected in the North East Sector by 2021 and Coquitlam reports that 60 per cent of its future population growth and 50 per cent of its employment expansion will occur along the Evergreen Line corridor.

Without a viable rapid transit alternative, by 2021 there will be almost 50,000 more vehicles in the North East Sector than there are today (134,600), and the competition for road capacity will become even more intense. Chair Brodie said that this fact alone is good cause for senior governments to support rapid transit investments out of concern for the long-term viability of the major road investments they’re currently proposing.

“The provincial and federal governments are poised to make a huge investment in new road infrastructure such as the North Fraser Perimeter Road and the Highway #1 and Port Mann improvements with the intention of improving goods movement for the sake of our regional, provincial and national economies,” Brodie said. “We know that rapid transit investments on or parallel to these corridors will divert car trips and free up road infrastructure that can be more productively used to support international trade to and from our ports,” he said.

TransLink’s analysis of travel patterns to and from the North East Sector illustrates the broader regional benefits from linking it to the rapid transit network. On a daily basis, 67 per cent of the area’s total commuters – over 52,000 people – leave the North East Sector and travel to other parts of the region. Of that total, 38 per cent travel to Burnaby/ New Westminster, 33 per cent head to Vancouver and 12 per to the South of Fraser.

Another 21,000 people commute to the area daily with 32 per cent coming from Vancouver, New Westminster and Burnaby combined and another 26 per cent from the South of Fraser. Chair Brodie said there is no doubt that the Evergreen Line could draw off a good number of those commuters who could make their journeys by rapid transit. “The ripple effect on traffic volumes will be felt across the region,” he said.

The Evergreen Line will provide transit service with quiet, zero-emission electrically powered trains and will reduce automobile trips through conversion to light rail transit. This will reduce both Criteria Air Contaminants (CAC’s) and Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s) preventing almost 11,000 tonnes of emissions per year from entering the GVRD and FVRD air sheds.

In summing up the case for the Evergreen Line, Chair Brodie said the project represented a sound investment for the region and for senior governments. “If we build it now, we will be serving a significant market for transit that exists today and we will be getting out in front of a huge surge in additional demand we know is coming over the next 15 years. Our analysis shows that traffic management in the North East Sector now and in the future will have a significant impact on the economy, the quality of life and air quality in the rest of the region,” he said.

A report to the TransLink Board’s October 18th meeting recommends proceeding to the detailed design phase of the Evergreen Line project and continuing with efforts to close a $400 million gap between funds committed to the project and the total $970 million cost of construction. TransLink has committed $400 million and the provincial government $170 million after 2010. While the line will cover 94 per cent of its operating costs upon start-up and all operating costs within ten years, an annual subsidy will be needed to pay for the capital cost of constructing the line.

Chair Malcolm Brodie will lead discussions with the provincial and federal governments to secure the funding necessary so that construction can begin on time in Fall 2007 for the line to open in September 2011.

from translinks web site

[SpongeG]

Mayors support extending LRT to Maple Ridge



The mayors keep talking transit and trying to finding a place for the homeless.

At a meeting Thursday in Maple Ridge, mayors from northeast Greater Vancouver called on TransLink to start planning next year for an extension of the Evergreen light rail transit line to Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge.

They did so even while TransLink faces a funding shortfall which could jeopardize the whole project – which is supposed to connect Lougheed Town Centre to Coquitlam Centre by 2011.

The mayors covered that in a second resolution, however – urging the provincial government to take the lead and join with the federal government to get the $400 million needed by next April, "so that construction can start as scheduled in September 2007."

Maple Ridge Mayor Gordy Robson didn't know if the resolutions would make a difference in filling the shortfall.

"It's another step," he said.

Maple Ridge is also doing its own study to identify possible LRT corridors. The south side of Lougheed Highway is also being evaluated, to see if there's enough room for a bus lane which eventually could be converted to LRT use.

The new Pitt River Bridge, supposed to be built by 2009, is being designed to accommodate a future LRT line.

The northeast sector mayors in the Greater Vancouver include Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Anmore, Belcarra, Port Moody, New Westminster and Burnaby.

"The resolutions coming from this meeting indicate a strong degree of collaboration on behalf of all our constituents. The result cannot help but be positive when we speak with such a strong voice," Robson said in a release.

The mayors adopted a similar resolution last spring, calling for the B.C. government to chip in $230 million – so that the government funds half of the LRT project.

The mayors pointed to 2004 Ipso Reid survey which showed 90 per cent support by the local population for the LRT line.

The resolution on homelessness said cities are being impacted by lack of transition and supportive housing for people suffering from mental illness and drug addiction.

The mayors then asked for "meaningful funding and programs to provide rehab and treatment centres for addiction which is available on demand …"

They also called for transition housing for recovering addicts and for permanent supportive housing for the mentally ill.

The mayors want to meet Premier Gordon Campbell, "as soon as possible to discuss meaningful funding."

http://www.mapleridgenews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=46&cat=23&id=779689&more=

[SpongeG]

may as well stick this in here:

Bus to SkyTrain starts Monday

The long-awaited bus line to SkyTrain starts next Monday morning at rush hour.

That's when the new No. 791 takes off from Haney Place Mall and goes west to Braid SkyTrain station in New Westminster.

For commuters, it will save changing buses at Coquitlam Centre and mean only one bus to worry about. But they won't break any speed records getting there. Travel time for the rush-hour only service is estimated to take almost an hour. That's partly because the bus will make 16 stops in Maple Ridge, 12 in Pitt Meadows and another five west of the Pitt River Bridge as it travels along Lougheed Highway via the Mary Hill bypass.

Initially, the bus will run just during rush hours, every 30 minutes. The first bus out of Haney Place Mall will be at 4:35 a.m. and the last bus to leave Braid SkyTrain station is 7:20 p.m. The route out of Maple Ridge will follow Dewdney Trunk Road west to Maple Meadows Way, turn south, then go west on Hammond Road to Harris Road and back on to Lougheed Highway.

Maple Ridge Mayor Gordy Robson has criticized the route, saying it should be an express service straight along the highway with limited stops.

http://www.mapleridgenews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=46&cat=23&id=791840&more=

[SpongeG]

YEAR IN REVIEW: Slow progress on LRT


If there was one topic that kept Tri-City residents on the tips of their toes this year, it was the future of the Evergreen light rail transit (LRT) line to Coquitlam.

The 2006 saga started in the spring when 16 Port Moody representatives took a trip to Portland, Ore. to check out its LRT Max system.

The one-day, fact-finding mission cost taxpayers $8,500 (of which TransLink chipped in $5,000) and was touted as a success by Mayor Joe Trasolini, who noted participants were “sold now” on the $800-million concept for the Tri-Cities.

Port Coquitlam, meanwhile, raised the flag about Evergreen’s funding crunch, noting the $230-million shortfall to build the proposed line.

Despite the cash concerns, TransLink scheduled public meetings in June to gauge Tri-City residents’ views about Evergreen.

But, at one meeting, more than 100 Burquitlam residents got the news they didn’t want to hear: Evergreen would go through — not under — the Como Lake intersection at Clarke Road.

The next month, TransLink dropped another bombshell. Board members were asked to either delay Evergreen’s construction end date or face a $107-million addition to the costs.

Citing economic reasons, the Tri-Cities’ three mayors, who are TransLink board members, voted to bump the completion date from 2009 to 2011.

At the same time, TransLink revealed Evergreen’s new price tag — $953 million — and resolved to work with senior governments to close the now $400-million shortfall. A so-called “business case” was compiled for provincial and federal transportation ministers, asking for a response by April 2007.

In August, Coquitlam Coun. Louella Hollington (who has since quit) put a notice of motion forward — which was unanimously supported by city council the next month — to press the provincial government into paying for half the costs for Evergreen, and to return the construction timeline to 2009.

The move was a sign of “sheer frustration,” said Trasolini, who then suggested if senior government funding didn’t come through, he would stop development in his city, thereby holding up the GVRD’s plan to double the population in every city in the Lower Mainland by 2020.

Later in September, TransLink added another $20 million to the Evergreen bill for an underground station at Lougheed Highway/Pinetree Way, bringing the total construction costs to $970 million.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan called the project unaffordable due to TransLink’s move in 2004 to build the $1.9-billion Canada Line first.

Meanwhile, a group of citizens opposing LRT — called the Citizens for Appropriate Evergreen Technology — made the rounds at city councils, the school board and TransLink to call for SkyTrain to be revived, an idea supported by Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Diane Thorne.

And finally, last month, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that any capital project worth more than $20 million — like the Evergreen Line — would have to be considered as a private-public partnership.

Currently, TransLink is “in the process of transitioning from the preliminary design to the detailed design phase,” said Carol Evans, Evergreen’s community relations co-ordinator. “Chair Malcolm Brodie will lead discussions with the provincial and federal governments to secure the funding necessary so that construction can begin on time in fall 2007 for the line to open in September 2011.”

http://www.tricitynews.com/

[queetz@home]

Posting this on behalf of Carol Evans....

Evergreen Line Information Update


You're invited to attend an information session about TransLink's
Evergreen light rail transit line.

Location: Coquitlam City Hall Council Chambers
3000 Guildford Way, Coquitlam
Date: Saturday, January 27, 2007
Time: 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.

The purpose of the session is to update the community on the status of the
Evergreen Line. International experts will start with presentations on 'best
practices' about light rail transit in North America and Europe. A question
and answer period will follow.

For information contact Carol Evans, Community Relations Coordinator, at
604-453-4548, [email protected] or visit our website at
www.translink.bc.ca

[SpongeG]

Would federal Liberals fund LRT?

By Leneen Robb - Staff Repoter

Federal Liberal party leader Stephane Dion hinted Thursday that if elected, his government would help plug the Evergreen Line's $400-million funding gap.

Speaking at a Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce luncheon at a North Road hotel, Dion made the comment after saying local mayors have already approached him about the issue.

"I would be interested to look at that with you to see whether the federal government would be a good partner," he told the crowd of approximately 200 businesspeople and Liberal party supporters.

"I understand the money is there. Where is the political will?"

In a scrum with reporters after the event, Dion questioned why the Conservatives have not helped fill the funding gap, and whether they're waiting to call an election before making such an announcement.

TransLink chair and Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said last fall that if the gap is not filled by April, the line will not be built.

Dion also told chamber members he would support an extension for Vancouver's safe injection site, as well as similar sites for drug addicts in other Lower Mainland and B.C. communities.

He stressed to a reporter during the scrum, however, that he would not force the sites on municipalities that don't want them.

"It's for the mayors to decide," he said, adding that he doesn't favour a "top-down" approach to the issue.

When chamber president Dennis Marsden asked Dion how he would make neighbourhoods safe - in light of the fact that the Tri-Cities are home to many grow ops and meth labs - the Liberal leader said he would be "very strong" on crime, but would not take an American-style approach by building more jails.

"We don't want this kind of model in Canada," he said, adding that he would work with mayors to address both crime and its sources.

The main focus of Dion's speech to chamber members, though, was his signature issue, the environment.

"The issue of the century is that the planet cannot follow us," he said, referring to Earth's ability to keep up with the growing number of people taxing its resources.

He called climate change "the worst ecological threat that we are facing, but not the only one," and said Canada must become a world leader by marketing environmentally friendly technologies to countries around the world - a move that would reduce "megatons" of harmful emissions while earning "megatons" of money.

"If we play our cards right, I believe this could be Canada's greatest economic opportunity in the 21st century," he said.

published on 01/26/2007

http://www.thenownews.com/issues07/014207/news/014207nn1.html

[SpongeG]

Brodie keeps top transit job

By Jeff Nagel
Black Press
Jan 27 2007


TransLink chairman Malcolm Brodie is back by acclamation.

A scheduled vote Wednesday on who will chair the transportation authority board through 2007 saw the Richmond mayor retain the job without a contest.

Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt was acclaimed vice-chair.

Brodie, who earns a $92,025 salary as mayor of Richmond, earns another $40,000 annually as TransLink chair.

But a shakeup of how the board runs may be just days away as the province promises to unveil the results of its review of TransLink governance and funding in early February.

Brodie said it will be a “pivotal year” for TransLink as it ends the third year of its current three-year plan and must draw up a new one.

“There is strong public belief that TransLink has the right plan for the transportation system and that we’re delivering what we’ve promised,” Brodie said.

Major planning work has been frozen while TransLink waits for a decision from Victoria on its future.

The board has already been warned a financial shortfall in the years ahead threatens plans to build a new light rail line to the northeast sector, amid a raft of other future priorities.

“We’re intent on closing the funding gap for the Evergreen LRT line to Coquitlam,” Brodie said.

But he said major projects will take shape in the months ahead, including the Vancouver-to-Richmond Canada Line and major road works.

“We’ll see the towers going up for the Golden Ears Bridge over the Fraser River,” he said. “And the opening of the 204 Street rail overpass in Langley.”

http://www.richmondreview.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=45&cat=23&id=820338&more=

[mr.x]

First we screwed up on the Canada Line platform lengths, now we're gonna screw up on the technology of the Evergreen Line....gah. *SkyTrain*