Busy left-turn lane downtown could be removed for LRT: city report
CBC News | Posted: August 27, 2018 1:45 AM | Last Updated: August 27, 2018
Report suggests removing left-turn lane for westbound traffic that wants to head south at 109th Street
A busy intersection along the 104th Avenue corridor near downtown could lose a turning lane for the new LRT line, according to a City of Edmonton administration plan.
There would be minimal impacts on traffic by removing the lane for westbound traffic that wants to head south at 109th Street, states the report on the Valley Line West LRT.
The proposal is meant to mitigate the impact on MacEwan University's boulevard that stretches along the north side of 104th Avenue.
The report will be discussed by the executive committee at city hall Monday.
"I understand there will be concerns from folks who rely on that turning movement today. But all of the traffic patterns will shift when the LRT comes in," Mayor Don Iveson said Sunday.
While some people will make the switch to transit, even drivers could benefit from different configurations at busy intersections, he said.
"My personal opinion is that our obsession as a city with maintaining all of the turning movements actually slows down a lot of our intersections," he said, adding that eliminating turns at specific locations could improve the overall system.
"I will have questions about the traffic impact analysis and what the alternate routes will be."
The report suggests westbound traffic could turn south onto 109th Street from 106th Avenue, 103rd Avenue, or Jasper Avenue.
"With the introduction of LRT on 104th Avenue, administration projects that less than 50 vehicles per hour during both the a.m. and p.m. peak hour would make the westbound left turn," the report states.
Development of the Valley Line West LRT — which will stretch from downtown to the Lewis Farms Transit Centre — is still at the preliminary design phase.
At this point, the designs outline an LRT line running down the centre of the roadway at the stretch of 104th Avenue near MacEwan. Two lanes of traffic will flow on either side of the train.
The report states the top concerns for MacEwan University were campus connectivity and pedestrian safety, retaining green space along the north side of 104th Avenue, and minimizing land impact and acquisition requirements.
"Removing the westbound left-turn lane opens up space to shift the alignment of westbound through-lanes southward, thereby reducing impact to the north boulevard and its southern sidewalk," the report states.