Part of this is speculation, but I wonder if October (around Thanksgiving) may be the time that the Valley Line SE opens. I'm sure Mayor Don Iveson would be interested in opening the line before his time as Mayor is finished, and the opening of the line would no longer make the Valley Line a political issue before the Fall Election.
TransEd is testing the line south of Davies Station. Also, the signage is up at about half of the stations. With all due respect, how far are they along this process?
Good clip on the idea of induced demand related to transportation infrastructure projects using Toronto as an example.
Whether it's roads for cars, tracks for LRT, or lanes for bikes, whatever you build will ultimately induce demand of that particular mode of transportation if it is done well.
Of those three, there are different consequences of each - cars being the least efficient way to move the most amount of people - at least in terms of a dense city.
So the question really becomes, what type of transportation mode do you want to induce?
I was thinking of the 90 Avenue Transit Centre at WEM. With all the car and pedestrian traffic, I wonder if scramble intersections would work for those lights. You have pedestrians coming and going to West Edmonton Mall, and heavy car and bus traffic. and it may be difficult for buses and cars to see pedestrians, especially on a dark night in January.