MEETING NOTES. 26 Street Station Committee. October 22, Westgate Community Hall

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1 MEETING NOTES 26 Street Station Committee Westgate Community Hall Attendance 26 Street Station Committee There were 11 representatives from the following communities and stakeholder groups: Killarney Sunalta West Shaganappi Shaganappi Men s Club Scarboro 20 Vic City of Calgary Gale Simpson Brian Demers Christian Cormier Howard Kai Chris Jordan William Broome Calgary Transit City of Calgary - Office of John Mar Consultants There were four representatives from the following design consultants: GEC Architecture Focus Group Richard Patching and Associates Bob Keith Community Advocate 26 Street Station Committee 1 Author: Leigh Ritchie

2 Agenda / Meeting Matrix / Meeting Notes / Community Advocate Christian Cormier / Bob Keith Christian went through the Agenda and the October 1 st meeting notes and there were no additions or changes. Motion to adopt the agenda and the meeting notes as presented. Bob gave a brief overview of his qualifications. He is in the office Tuesday and Thursdays and is available evenings for committee meetings. As the Community Advocate, Bob will be playing a liaison role between the community, the Station Committees and the staff on technical and non-technical elements of the project. He will convey questions, answers, comments and suggestions between these groups and provide the community with clarifications and answers to their questions when necessary. Christian presented the colour matrix and explained it to all attendees. Platform Configuration and Functional Elements Brian Demers Brian presented a status report from the last meeting. 1) We heard clearly that the adjacent community wanted a low scale station without large facilities like a pedestrian bridge or the corresponding station head building. Also, we heard that a pedestrian bridge at 26 th street was not viewed as an acceptable replacement for the existing bridge at 24 th street. 2) Our internal transportation engineers within other City departments had a concern as well. In their experience with pedestrian bridges close to traffic signals, they find that pedestrians and cyclists tend not to use them consistently as intended. This is the concern; folks will cross at-grade even though the pedestrian bridge is there. The at-grade conditions, where pedestrian bridges are provided, are not suitable for pedestrians. This would lead to an unsafe situation for anyone who chose not to use the pedestrian bridge. The Team took another look with these two perspectives in mind and is now moving forward with a design that does not include a pedestrian bridge at this location. We are now proceeding with side loaded platforms with at-grade access. Changing from centre to side loading platforms improves the conditions for the atgrade access and crossings. As the existing 24 th street pedestrian bridge will need to be removed to accommodate construction, it makes sense that the will replace this bridge in proximity. May not be at same location but it will be relatively close. Easement larger than what is needed for a pedestrian bridge (Jacques Lodge). Jacques would prefer a bridge that doesn t use a lot of their land. Station Committee Member What is the reason for going to split platform? When you go to a side loaded platform it will bring tracks together. This will improve the at-grade access to the platforms and the at-grade crossings of the LRT tracks. 26 Street Station Committee 2 Author: Leigh Ritchie

3 Do we have a side load station in Calgary? Yes. Sunnyside, Lion s Park, McMahon Stadium and all 7 th Avenue stations to name a few. No formal Kiss N Ride accommodation some bike storage/locker. Station Design - Refer to Station Design Status Report handout. GEC Architecture Going to try to keep scale of station down for people living on golf course. Bring light levels up for security. Trying to contain light to station area itself so that it doesn t cause a lot of glare outwards. Tendency towards more contemporary designs; high visibility for security reasons. What is meant by simple design? Not overly ornate or complex in appearance. What is the curvilinear? Round or round-like. It s not straight. Does everyone agree with curvilinear? No response. (hard to visualize without the benefit of having drawings. We will see drawings and renderings at the next meeting) Trying to maintain use of the golf course as much as possible. Are also looking at the location in the middle of a very busy road and enclosing it so riders don t feel exposed to the buzz of traffic. Any comments on the Station Design Status Report handout? Not the concept per se, but where we re heading. People anxious as to what sketches are going to look like. Everyone feeling time pressure. Going with side load; does that mean we will use canopy to other end? Canopy to cover half of the platform area. Have customers in mind when it is determined where exactly it is placed. Even the areas not covered by canopy will have some other form of shelter. Heated shelters on platform could be considered as station head has been eliminated. Do you see a common language or theme? There will be a link visually between all the stations in appearance. Is the 45 Street Station a side loaded platform? All stations are side loaded except for 69 th Street. Noise and Sound Attenuation Asked to examine the levels according to the City of Calgary Surface Transportation Noise Policy. Richard Patching and Associates/ Howard Kai L EQ (24 hour) is the sound level over an average period of time. The other one is the L 10 Peak Hour which is the loudest 6 minutes over the peak hour. 26 Street Station Committee 3 Author: Leigh Ritchie

4 Done some work on the LRT noise analysis. We now have to convert that to the L 10 and factor in road noise. Have taken some measurements at 11 locations. For 26 th Street, they have used two locations for the model calibration. One of the issues the community raised is that the noise levels were taken during the summer. It was expressed that the community feels winter levels are higher. Bridge construction on Bow Trail slowed down traffic. Alternate routes are being used due to construction. Additional measurements will be taken along Bow Trail to confirm results and also to obtain measurements closure to Crowchild Trail.. Analysis of noise study will be presented to committee early The engagement process involves two stages. We are in the design-build related issues. In January, Stage 2 will kick off and elements such as noise walls, etc will be looked at. The cost of erecting noise walls is already included in the budget. Completion date of the noise analysis in January 2009 to report back. Sound walls to be given as much attention now as possible. Need to have a separate contract for this and therefore has to be completed nearer the end of construction. Can a temporary noise barrier be put in place in the interim? Will look at that further but we have to bear in mind that the presence of noise walls along the alignment would most likely obstruct the construction. Roads Elements Section to be discussed is between Westbrook Mall and Crowchild Trail. FOCUS / Howard Kai Bow Trail at 33 rd Street is going to be realigned - three lanes going westbound and three lanes going eastbound. 12 th Avenue will remain in place as is. The eastbound lanes that are there will stay. Will be adding another lane to make three eastbound. The LRT will be in the median. All of the construction is on the north side. Essentially 12 th Avenue will become one-way with parking. A strip of land will be acquired from the golf course on the north side. A golf course architect has been retained to work on producing a design for an open house. Possibly four to five holes will be affected. Communication between stakeholders and golf course is needed. East of 26 th Street, three lanes will continue from Bow Trail plus one lane from Crowchild Trail making four lanes on the Bridge over CPR. Roads is currently widening the bridge. Will get back regarding completion dates on the bridge. Eastbound on Bow Trail still maintaining left exit to 10 th Avenue. 26 Street Station Committee 4 Author: Leigh Ritchie

5 Westbound - two lanes coming from Bow Trail and one from 10 th Avenue plus one from Crowchild Trail southbound for a total of four which will go up the hill to 26 th Street. The right lane will exit at the top of the hill and only three lanes will proceed onward. Intent was to try to maintain the movements we have today. Are you making visions for future expansion of the Crowchild Trail Bridge? In this plan, nothing to be done with this bridge. It s not part of the TIIPS list at this time. Thought Council had approved three lanes (basic lanes) and not four lanes and this cuts into green space? Concern expressed regarding loss of green space. The fourth lane allows for increasing of speed up the hill before merging between Crowchild Trail and 26 Street only. 24th Street lane should be kept open because you can t get up the hill in the winter. The plans show this access will remain open with the. With removal of the pedestrian overpass into the 26 Street Station, there will be a two-stage pedestrian crossing at-grade instead. Are Opticom systems for Fire and transit vehicle priority going to be installed on the signals at 26 Street / Bow Trail? Will review with Traffic Signals to determine if they are warranted for this location. Will there be electronic bell systems for signals at 26 th Street? Yes, with muffled sound levels. What about gate layouts? There will be gates along 26 th Street. Are there going to be any gate arms at the crossing? Why are they needed? It depends on how the trains are operating. Downtown, they are operating at slower speeds and observing traffic lights. Out of the downtown, they operate more as a train. Basically, it serves as extra protection. Possibly use flapper bells. At other locations, why are the gate arms still down and the bells dinging long after the train has gone by? Could be the system is just ensuring that the train has actually passed. If a train is sitting in the station, should the gate arms be down? No Is Bow Trail going to be continued at 60 kph. Yes. Is there any grade consideration for the LRT coming up the hill? There are no issues (5% grade coming up the hill). Are you responsible for the pathway? Yes. The drawings weren t brought to the meeting. Will be maintaining the sidewalk on the south side of 12 th Avenue. Bike path on 12 th Avenue both 26 Street Station Committee 5 Author: Leigh Ritchie

6 directions. The cyclist route probably won t change. The community would prefer to have the cyclists come across the new bridge. Concerns that Parking on 12 th Avenue will be used by people taking the LRT. Parking will be discussed in Phase 2. Have you taken away one of the Westbrook Mall exits? Yes, but the western access is still there. Comments: Keep the Wal-Mart exit if possible as it is safer than Safeway s. This will be reviewed. Who would be responsible for the design and construction of the Bridge at 24 Street? Community would like input in the design of this bridge While building the bridge to City standards. Still reviewing options at 26 Street and 24 Street, looking at it from a safety point of view to ensure everything works. Detours Howard Kai Closing half of Bow Trail at a time. Would consider this a good idea. Ways to control speed and traffic, specifically around the school. Are planning to implement a measure called lane rental fees where the contractor is charged a certain amount of money for every lane closed. It is also balanced with time constraints. This is to prevent the Contractor from unnecessarily closing lanes and to reopen lanes as quickly as possible. Can you incorporate that kind of mechanism into a Design-Build contract? Yes. Does the community have say after the RFP has been awarded? Detours that are set up for a specific purpose for a specific project sometimes turn into actual routes for traffic when that isn t the intent of the detour. It is required than an alternate route has to be provided for Traffic and according to the Detour Setup guidelines, the Contractors are not permitted to route traffic through the Community from Major Roads. Should 12 th Avenue be closed before construction starts? We could look at that in more detail. Will have to look at that with Transit. Also look at bus traps or bus only access. Next Meeting November 12 th, 2008 at Westgate Community Association. 26 Street Station Committee 6 Author: Leigh Ritchie