Recent content by lemongrab

I would think that the cheaper station thing is most true when you're actually running the line down a road and effectively upgrading sidewalks into stations. The entire SE leg will be brand new stand-alone stations. Savings have to be pretty marginal when it boils down to a little less...

Which is basically what we've achieved here, minus the 7 Ave stretch. I'll never understand the reluctance/outright opposition to using the GL as a catalyst to achieve that massive upgrade. Building half the 8 Ave subway was actually considered as a negative point FFS!

IMO HFLRT is the optimal compromise for mid-size cities that may never have a metro, but want to strive for efficient transit operation with as much grade separation as possible (which these days should mean striving for automated) . Low floor can also make a ton of sense, but the key...

I don't see why the terms of the "donation" need to be confidential here. Normally individuals/organizations are quite happy to include numbers related to "philanthropy". This whole thing stinks. I suspect "improving" a park is pretty far down the city's list of reasons for doing this. I'd...

For the SE it seems like it shouldn't have been too hard to have the best of both worlds, by sinking the tracks a bit as they approach stations. Perhaps they aren't the fairest examples because they are on hills, but the ramps at 45 St and Sirocco stations are pretty subtle. I don't think I've...

Does it make sense to do separate lines from Calgary to both Lethbridge and Medicine Hat? As the crow flies Calgary to Med is about 250km; going via Lethbridge is 320km Scenario A: 170+250 = 420km of track (crow flies; actual number higher) Captures Brooks and Strathmore (each about 14k) and...

A lot of this project was bass ackwards, but by the 2010s it was clear that some sort of transit project would go through that SE ROW, be it BRT or LRT. So there was little chance that anything from the Elbow River south would turn out to be wasteful or unnecessary. OTOH, the downtown section...

Spot on. Not just the tax-density, but I'd think Manchester is a much more effective recirculator of money in the local economy - more likely local ownership for starters, but I'd also think more local b2b throughout the supply chain. I'd imagine mega-corp mega warehouses are more likely to...

Going back about 15 years when park expansion/redevelopment ideas were a bit different (though 17th ave and BMO expansion were pondered in the long term), the idea was to consolidate to one main gate using the BMO Centre lobby - just as you would for entering a tradeshow right now. I think...

I also meant to link this article - it is a much more succinct summary than I gave! And shows the amendments in better context within the land-use bylaw than the attachments for the council meeting https://livewirecalgary.com/2025/05/31/developers-builders-calgary-city-council-land-use-amendments/

I did a deeper dive on this than it probably warranted, but I find city council meetings oddly entertaining. https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=324004 (pdf) . Mostly little tweaks to clarify/cleanup language in the land-use bylaw. it was a Public Hearing...

Based on that article, it sounds like the Silly Six voted against based on all the recommendations being grouped together instead of individually. Normally it's not hard at all to vote on things individually...a councillor just has to ask for it (and then a quick vote on whether to do that or...

Can't see much when you're scrunched over and cursing the wind! If it follows the train line, the 25 km or so east of Seebe are going to really suck. Barely any trees at all and completely exposed to the wind...slightly uphill going east to west. I'm not sure the ~20km east of there to Cochrane...

Train out with your bike and ride back with a strong tailwind and elevation loss. Magnificent!

I guess this is what it looks like: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/hudson-s-bay-stripes-candian-tire-1.7536366