salsa
Senior Member
Thinking about this more, I think a Skytrain-style elevated guideway would actually 'enhance' the walkability of suburban Eglinton -- a modern guideway provides optional shelter from the sun & rain if you want to walk underneath it -- and I agree there's been a huge increase of pedestrians underneath Skytrain lines, which show that a modern guideway can be integrated well into a suburban landscape, and be an attraction into itself for pedestrians. The Shanghai-style would be too much clutter, but the Skytrain-style would be perfectly fine in low-density suburbania, especially if a nice pedestrian walkway is well-integrated underneath. And the 30-year-old Skytrain guideways have survived pretty well, probably not going to go into true ugliness anytime soon if maintained well. And nowadays, they can put a nice continuous strip of nice LED lighting to brightly illuminate the path at night, too.
One big question I do have, is how wide the guideway needs to be for heavy rail, versus SkyTrain technology. Another big question is I know that way more salt is used in Toronto than Vancouver, so that can age a concrete structure faster. Another big question is the extra noise of heavy rail technology over SkyTrain style technology. They could ban salt from the raised structures, however, and perhaps limit speed past residental areas in the late evenings (with adjusted timetables), so there are solutions.
It would take time to convince Toronto, though. A good marketing campaign is needed, to show the pluses of the slim Skytrain guideway versus ugly-crumbling Gardiner. Also, good 'realistic' concept art is needed, and promises of never using salt on the raised structures, plus pictures of Skytrain at its best.
Chopping the Eglinton spur would be quite fine with me, replacing it with an ECLRT extension to Square One, but if we're essentially installing a new grade-separated line down Eglinton, I see a Skytrain-style slim elevated line actually benefitting suburban Eglinton.
All that doesn't change the fact that the extra cost of elevating the LRT is not justified given the low projected ridership, nor is it a huge improvement in travel time. I can't believe how many times this debate has been rehashed.