Chris R. said:
The two turns barely makes a difference. This is also different then other small city LRT systems in that the line is quite long. 95% of the line is a straight line. These two bends will at most add 30-60 seconds. This is hardly something to hold the entire $4billion project for that has already been delayed, cancelled, restarted.

Anyone arguing a 30 second loss in time should grind the process to a half is I'm just assuming arguing in bad faith and actually just wants to see the project cancelled.

They're also just not going to halt the project for this, so people can say what they like, it's going forward the way it is.
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It'll be more than 30-60 seconds. Also consider that by going this route, we're adding an extra intersection/ red light to the line. Which in turn will add more to the travel time.
 
Bojaxs said:
It'll be more than 30-60 seconds. Also consider that by going this route, we're adding an extra intersection/ red light to the line. Which in turn will add more to the travel time.
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LRT will have signal priority. Non-issue for a line crossing through 36 intersections. Adding one additional intersection to cross is adding 2.7% more intersections.

As I said, it's 30-60 seconds max. The train already has to slow down for the station anyway, so the losses will be minimal.
 
Only 2 stops west of the 403, 15 other stops are east of the 403. Riders travelling between those 15 stops, who do not go to or from McMaster, will not be affected by the quality of the 403 crossing at all.

Yes, it would be ideal to get the bridge included from the beginning. But, delaying the whole thing and letting the cost to escalate is not a good approach.

Hopefully, the 403 bridge can be added later, perhaps bundling it into the next round of transit expansion together with some new projects.
 
More likely highways related, honestly. My guess is announcing tendering of the Highway 5/6 interchange in Waterdown.

There are also rumblings the province will be uploading the RHVP and Linc like they are the Gardiner / DVP and 174 in Ottawa, so it may be related to that.

Hopefully LRT though!
 
innsertnamehere said:
More likely highways related, honestly. My guess is announcing tendering of the Highway 5/6 interchange in Waterdown.

There are also rumblings the province will be uploading the RHVP and Linc like they are the Gardiner / DVP and 174 in Ottawa, so it may be related to that.

Hopefully LRT though!
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The release says roads and driving but I've learned the province doesn't have a transit subject for announcements and they always put roads and driving for transit stuff. Good flags on potential topics!
 
Bojaxs said:
This LRT project shouldn't move forward until they secure funding for the 403 bridge. The two 90° turns on Dundurn is a terrible idea.
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The Dundurn Bottle Neck is such a buzz kill. And will be even more of a buzz kill for those riding the B-Line from Stoney Creek to McMaster.

I’m not saying this plan should be placed on hold until the LRT-403-Bridge is back, but I am saying the HSR needs to implement as much of the Re-Envision Network like next week rather than ‘pending-LRT’.

So much in this city has been held up by this ‘LRT-pending’ nonsense, the City knowing damn well it was decades away.

Hamilton is not a serious city.

Invest some money and effort already!! Stop begging for hand outs!

And for those Gaslighters still pretending this was never about ‘rapid transit’, I’m curious as to why the word ‘Rapid’ is found 359 times in the City’s own Rapid Ready plan?

IMG_6146.jpeg
 
DC83 said:
The Dundurn Bottle Neck is such a buzz kill.
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It's definitely one of my least favorite changes to the Hamilton LRT lines. However, if the line is /finally/ built, it still signals Hamilton is at least /relatively/ a more serious city. I like the optimist glass-half-full view.

I still want the line to happen, obviously!

Agree Rapid Ready needs to be deployed faster.

Hopefully 2024 finally matching 2019 means that we finally will roll out Rapid Ready elements better -- all of this is certainly doing a Super Pac-Man gobble making a large part of decade dissapear in delays. (Hamilton's bureauracy combined with the multiyear transit ridership dip).

Rainforest said:
Hopefully, the 403 bridge can be added later, perhaps bundling it into the next round of transit expansion together with some new projects.
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I secretly hope that some developers will buy Dundurn Mall and redevelop it to a mixed-use complex, welcoming an on-ground LRT station that's moved off Dundurn.

Which might be as simple as a shift of the tracks off Dundurn, and onto what would be formerly the eastmost edge of the Dundurn Mall parking lot (with actual vehicular parking moved underground). This would be yet another change, but at least a simple change (almost an alignment change, plus possibly more gentler turning radius, to keep speeds up a bit better too).

This way with this simple change, the Hamilton LRT goes straight (no turns) through the traffic light, before turning through what was formerly Dundurn Mall parking lot. A transit station integrated into the multiuse transit hub complex.

In theory it comes almost as good as an LRT bridge as long as a left-lane King LRT turns directly onto it, and then turns directly onto a right-lane Main LRT, with a lot less emcumberance from cars. It won't be as fast as the bridge option but, would be much more out of traffic lanes.

Long time ago, I posted an image about a potential theoretical Dundurn Mall redevelopment into a Dundurn Transit Hub:

1714443823146.png


Except instead of this, it turns from the southernmost lane of King INTO the Mobility Hub (at any alignment OFF a road), and then back ONTO the northernmost lane of Main. This would still allow kind of 90-degree turns (maybe at less turning radii), while reducing conflict with cars.

1714443835879.png


Then again, doing yet another change like this may delay starting Hamilton LRT and raising costs.

Unless the Transit Hub is helping subsize some of the cost of the station build.

Or maybe this is the "modification" after this initial construction -- like how Calgary C-Train refactored itself to support 4-car trains by rebuilding all downtown stations.

Either way, regardless, get it built. Hopefully expropriation of a little bit of Dundurn Mall parking lot isn't too onerous or expensive (still cheaper than the Bridge), to keep the lanes at least adjacent to Dundurn but not on the road anymore.

So maybe we'll ultimately see a little of in-between tweaking (e.g. realignment of the Dundurn LRT lanes by about 10-15 meters towards the west, to get it onto Metrolinx-expropriated Dundurn Parking Lot land even before the Dundurn Transit Mall rebuild). Hopefully they do this minor realignment that can halve the speed penalty.

The best case "No Dundurn Transit Mall" scenario would be:
  • Metrolinx expropriates the east edge of Dundurn Mall parking lot (perhaps a 10-15 meter wide slice)
  • No LRT lanes nor LRT station is on Dundurn street, LRT lanes completely to the west of Dundurn street
  • Move the Dundurn LRT lanes onto Metrolinx-expropriated Dundurn Mall parking lot land;
  • Dundurn LRT station is also off-street, completely on Metrolinx-expropriated Dundurn Mall parking lot land;
  • King street LRT are already on southernmost lanes at Dundurn-King intersection
    ...(avoids LRT need to turn through a King St vehicle-traffic lane)
  • Main street LRT are already on northernmost lanes at Dundurn-Main intersection
    ...(avoids LRT need to turn through a Main St vehicle-traffic lane)
  • Transit priority on top of this
This would substantially be the best-case-scenario of a "must turn 90 degrees 2 times" scenario, that could be done within the existing plan.

However, we all know plans are often watered down, and this is almost too /easy/ to water down. Time will see.
 
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Updated Hamilton LRT design coming by end of year
The construction timeline for the long-delayed project remains a mystery.

www.thespec.com

Updated Hamilton LRT design coming by end of year

Updated Hamilton LRT design coming; construction timeline still a mystery
www.thespec.com www.thespec.com

The latest design details for Hamilton’s LRT route should be made public by the end of the year — but there’s still no word on when construction shovels will hit the ground.

Provincial project manager Metrolinx is working on a new “reference concept design” for the 14-kilometre light rail transit line that should be presented to council before the end of 2024, said city LRT director Abdul Shaikh in an update to councillors Thursday.
 
BrenWilson said:
Somewhat worried that means the RFP won't go out until then.
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I suppose it could theoretically go out before then, but it seems likely they'd wait until the final design being done first. It's kind of odd though because often the final design would be done by the company. I also don't know what they mean by f final design.

If Metrolinx is doing all the engineering work in-house, it could mean a very quick RFQ process from what I've heard, like under 6 months.
 
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