[Chinook Arch]

I know the Eau Market redevelopment is a ways away yet, but I hope they design the Eau Claire station with the option of having it attached to the new development somehow. It's hard to tell from the renderings, but it appears there is no auto traffic on the west side of the station which should make integration easy enough.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

I am just floored by how backward the city has went on this. I'm so angry at those images my eyes might be bleeding. Jesus.

 

[ahuch]

I didn’t look hard enough..., I see there is a station planned for Eau Claire

View attachment 234601

Isn't this literally where Eau Claire market is right now on the right? Are they knocking it down for the green line? There's also a bunch of Parkade entrances on 2 St for those condos, wondering how that works in this configuration.

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[outoftheice]

Attended the open house tonight and picked up some info that might answer some of the questions people have been asking here.

- Yes there will be a station at Eau Claire. The city is in discussion with Harvard about using the eastern portion of the Eau Claire market land for a portion of the Eau Claire station. This would be tied in with the redesign of Harvard's plans for Eau Claire and the demolition of the existing Eau Claire market building.

- It sounds like there is a good chance the River Run condos (the suburban looking condos with the green roofs) will be acquired and demolished as part of Green Line construction. This opens opportunities for further Eau Claire market development or public realm improvements along the river pathway.

- The tunnel portal will be located just north of 3 Ave SW. The open house had some pretty cool concepts for the south side of the tunnel portal that included a grand staircase into the existing +15, a commercial space or a pocket park.

- Regardless of whether or not construction of Stage 1 terminates downtown or at 16th Ave we will be getting a bridge over the river. There appeared to be some confusion at the open house as people believed it was solely a budget issue that caused the tunnel to be dropped from the plans when in reality a tunnel under the river requires a tunnel boring machine and an extremely deep station at Eau Claire and 7th Ave, with both issues having enough technical red flags as to have been completely rejected by the city.

- 9th Ave station at Crescent Heights is a strong maybe. In order to make 9th Ave station work without major property impacts the city would have to build a 'side running' design at that location. Side running essentially means that the station is incorporated into the sidewalk and vehicular traffic occupies the middle two lanes. There are a couple of issues with this they are working through. 1: a side running design requires traffic to turn right, across the tracks which introduces risk or requires right turn movements to be eliminated. 2: Since 16 Ave station will serve as a temporary terminus the optimal design is for a centre running design/platform which requires the train to switch between the two somewhere around 12th Ave. Apparently this is done quite successfully in Waterloo's new LRT system but adds some complexity.

- No decision has been made yet on whether or not 16th Ave will be grade separated as part of a future expansion. This decision may not be made by April.

 

[Silence&Motion]

- 9th Ave station at Crescent Heights is a strong maybe. In order to make 9th Ave station work without major property impacts the city would have to build a 'side running' design at that location. Side running essentially means that the station is incorporated into the sidewalk and vehicular traffic occupies the middle two lanes. There are a couple of issues with this they are working through. 1: a side running design requires traffic to turn right, across the tracks which introduces risk or requires right turn movements to be eliminated. 2: Since 16 Ave station will serve as a temporary terminus the optimal design is for a centre running design/platform which requires the train to switch between the two somewhere around 12th Ave. Apparently this is done quite successfully in Waterloo's new LRT system but adds some complexity.

You can see Waterloo's crossover here:

 

[CH Res]

I love it. Centre Street is going to be a slalom course.

 

[CH Res]

The property at 10th ave and Centre Street, SE corner, was recently purchased. Any thoughts on whether the City purchased the property. The open area seems to have become a dumping ground for traffic and construction items, like barricades.

 

[zagox]

I think the whole plan is great. It looks and feels like the rest of the C-Train system - functional and useful at a reasonable capex. We cannot afford to run underground or aerial on Centre St all the way North, so we might as well do it from 5th St. It will make Crescent Heights better as long as there is a station at 9th St.

I don't get the hate for the bridge, it is a normal thing to have bridges every few blocks in the downtown of a major city. I have no opinion on the type of bridge, whatever allows for bike/ped traffic too gets my vote.

The complaints about Eau Claire mostly seem to be motivated by people who own condos in Waterfront or River Run. So sad too bad, but the city needs this and there is no other technically sound way to do it.

 

[MichaelS]

Attended the open house tonight and picked up some info that might answer some of the questions people have been asking here.

- Yes there will be a station at Eau Claire. The city is in discussion with Harvard about using the eastern portion of the Eau Claire market land for a portion of the Eau Claire station. This would be tied in with the redesign of Harvard's plans for Eau Claire and the demolition of the existing Eau Claire market building.

- It sounds like there is a good chance the River Run condos (the suburban looking condos with the green roofs) will be acquired and demolished as part of Green Line construction. This opens opportunities for further Eau Claire market development or public realm improvements along the river pathway.

- The tunnel portal will be located just north of 3 Ave SW. The open house had some pretty cool concepts for the south side of the tunnel portal that included a grand staircase into the existing +15, a commercial space or a pocket park.

- Regardless of whether or not construction of Stage 1 terminates downtown or at 16th Ave we will be getting a bridge over the river. There appeared to be some confusion at the open house as people believed it was solely a budget issue that caused the tunnel to be dropped from the plans when in reality a tunnel under the river requires a tunnel boring machine and an extremely deep station at Eau Claire and 7th Ave, with both issues having enough technical red flags as to have been completely rejected by the city.

- 9th Ave station at Crescent Heights is a strong maybe. In order to make 9th Ave station work without major property impacts the city would have to build a 'side running' design at that location. Side running essentially means that the station is incorporated into the sidewalk and vehicular traffic occupies the middle two lanes. There are a couple of issues with this they are working through. 1: a side running design requires traffic to turn right, across the tracks which introduces risk or requires right turn movements to be eliminated. 2: Since 16 Ave station will serve as a temporary terminus the optimal design is for a centre running design/platform which requires the train to switch between the two somewhere around 12th Ave. Apparently this is done quite successfully in Waterloo's new LRT system but adds some complexity.

- No decision has been made yet on whether or not 16th Ave will be grade separated as part of a future expansion. This decision may not be made by April.

Thanks for the great summary, but I am confused about something. If the decision is to terminate the train at Eau Claire, why would we build the bridge? Or, do you mean the bridge will be planned, just constructed whenever the train goes to 16th Avenue?

 

[Social Justice]

Thanks for the great summary, but I am confused about something. If the decision is to terminate the train at Eau Claire, why would we build the bridge? Or, do you mean the bridge will be planned, just constructed whenever the train goes to 16th Avenue?

Terminating at Eau Claire would be a massive cost savings for the project. Save money on a bridge and postpone a political battle by running LRTs up Centre Street.

I think it's crucial that we get shovels in the ground ASAP.

 

[darwink]

Terminating at Eau Claire would be a massive cost savings for the project. Save money on a bridge and postpone a political battle by running LRTs up Centre Street.

I think it's crucial that we get shovels in the ground ASAP.

This makes too much sense for it to not be the result in the interim.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I would be happy if they demoed those river Run condos, and re-did the space. They were okay at the time they built them, but the whole river front areas has evolved into something different, and the land those condos are on is totally underutilized.

Attended the open house tonight and picked up some info that might answer some of the questions people have been asking here.

- Yes there will be a station at Eau Claire. The city is in discussion with Harvard about using the eastern portion of the Eau Claire market land for a portion of the Eau Claire station. This would be tied in with the redesign of Harvard's plans for Eau Claire and the demolition of the existing Eau Claire market building.

- It sounds like there is a good chance the River Run condos (the suburban looking condos with the green roofs) will be acquired and demolished as part of Green Line construction. This opens opportunities for further Eau Claire market development or public realm improvements along the river pathway.

- The tunnel portal will be located just north of 3 Ave SW. The open house had some pretty cool concepts for the south side of the tunnel portal that included a grand staircase into the existing +15, a commercial space or a pocket park.

- Regardless of whether or not construction of Stage 1 terminates downtown or at 16th Ave we will be getting a bridge over the river. There appeared to be some confusion at the open house as people believed it was solely a budget issue that caused the tunnel to be dropped from the plans when in reality a tunnel under the river requires a tunnel boring machine and an extremely deep station at Eau Claire and 7th Ave, with both issues having enough technical red flags as to have been completely rejected by the city.

- 9th Ave station at Crescent Heights is a strong maybe. In order to make 9th Ave station work without major property impacts the city would have to build a 'side running' design at that location. Side running essentially means that the station is incorporated into the sidewalk and vehicular traffic occupies the middle two lanes. There are a couple of issues with this they are working through. 1: a side running design requires traffic to turn right, across the tracks which introduces risk or requires right turn movements to be eliminated. 2: Since 16 Ave station will serve as a temporary terminus the optimal design is for a centre running design/platform which requires the train to switch between the two somewhere around 12th Ave. Apparently this is done quite successfully in Waterloo's new LRT system but adds some complexity.

- No decision has been made yet on whether or not 16th Ave will be grade separated as part of a future expansion. This decision may not be made by April.

 

[outoftheice]

Thanks for the great summary, but I am confused about something. If the decision is to terminate the train at Eau Claire, why would we build the bridge? Or, do you mean the bridge will be planned, just constructed whenever the train goes to 16th Avenue?

Correct. There were a bunch of people at the open house who seemed to be under the impression that if the train terminated at Eau Claire in Stage 1 a tunnel underneath the river up to 16th Ave could be built in a future stage 'when there's more money'. Whether the bridge is built now as part of Stage 1 or 20 years from now as part of a future stage the city wanted to make it pretty clear that building any track north of Eau Claire was going to involve a bridge and that the tunnel under the river was killed for reasons other than a lack of money.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

I begrudgingly accept these conclusions. I'm just butthurt about losing the tunnel under the river. I understand the financial and geotechnical constraints. I just really really reeeeally hate how the line will swoop on to Centre Street like that. It should punch into the bluffs and come above ground at 8 or 9 ave. Other than that, I love that 4 SE is underground now, makes more sense. I wish they had kept the 12 Ave alignment so that 4 SE could be fully integrated into the new arena, but whatever 11 is still fine. I'm just happy that decisions are finally being made and we might actually see the clusterfuck under construction relatively close to on time. If 16 Avenue Station isn't underground I may have an aneurysm.

 

[googspecial]

Just for fun - I combined what I liked about the trestle and tied arch options. The "Rocky Mountain Bridge"