The Dundurn Bottle Neck is such a buzz kill.
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).
Hopefully, the 403 bridge can be added later, perhaps bundling it into the next round of transit expansion together with some new projects.
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:
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.
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.