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Long term plan needed for transit

It can be debated whether there was enough public consultation on the design and scope of the redevelopment of the Craigflower bridge.

It can be debated whether there was enough public consultation on the design and scope of the redevelopment of the Craigflower bridge.

However, there is also the issue if the design and scope of the replacement meets the long term transportation needs of the entire Capital Regional District.

A bigger bridge, if it were designed as part of a bus corridor (a feeder) connecting an eventual Douglas Street-based light rapid transit and an eventual E&N upgrade is one possibility that serves the long term transportation needs of the entire CRD.

Even before amalgamation, the city planners in Toronto ensured there where sufficient feeders connecting the GO commuter trains and TTC subway lines.

However, unfortunately, in most of the CRD, the intent today is still to focus only on individual car travel.

What about the possibility of existing technology and reversible lanes and queue-jumping as well for such routes?

Building in such features now will avoid disruption to service at a later date. More specifically, a third lane where people just sit in traffic on the bus or in their own cars is of diminished value, as you might as well sit in your own vehicle.

These are just the type of questions and brainstorming that cannot take place when each municipality has only their immediate needs as the highest priority.

Ironically, it is the West Shore that looks at the long term trends and needs and plans for them.

This is no different than the Uptown center redevelopment.

When this development was proposed I submitted numerous letters to have a bus exchange underneath, similar to what exists in Canadian and American cities back east (e.g., St. Laurent Mall in Ottawa) or at Metrotown in Burnaby.

Whether we have bus rapid transit or LRT, this would not have been a sunk cost.

Similarly, for this project, was there any forward thinking for bus corridors? We need to plan for transit 20 to 30 years out.

Avi Ickovich

Langford