How Waterloo, Ontario built the ION LRT at a fraction of the cost of most Canadian and American transit projects

When LRTs are put in along the center of a road these projects generally then morph into a roadway widening project as opposed to a transit project, skyrocketing costs of the transit project.

North American cities in general will try their hardest to maintain all the car lanes in the corridor while adding in the transit lines. This means these projects are masquerading as transit first in nature, while the car still dictates the finished product.

Instead it would be smarter, cheaper, and more efficient to transition two lanes of car traffic to dedicated transit, (where a dedicated LRT rail/line cannot be positioned along side or offset from a particular roadway). While at the same time not diverting funds from the transit project to widening of car only infrastructure.

The ION has done this well as portrayed in this video, and is one of the biggest reasons costs have been kept so low. It was a transit project focused 100% on transit.

Projects where roadway widening costs were absorbed or ate into the transit project costs include but are not limited to projects like the Viva Bus rapid corridors along Younge Street, the Finch West LRT, and Eglinton Crosstown LRT. These projects were laid in the center of existing roadways, while then simultaneously expanding the roadways to maintain the original number of car lanes.

3 comments

Good and educational video, recommend watching, a lot of people don't know what even are the reasons behind the building cost, and it shows a good example of how it can be reduced
Fun fact: You can also follow this channel on Peertube, at !urbanism@video.canadiancivil.com
When LRTs are put in along the center of a road these projects generally then morph into a roadway widening project as opposed to a transit project, skyrocketing costs of the transit project.
North American cities in general will try their hardest to maintain all the car lanes in the corridor while adding in the transit lines. This means these projects are masquerading as transit first in nature, while the car still dictates the finished product.
Instead it would be smarter, cheaper, and more efficient to transition two lanes of car traffic to dedicated transit, (where a dedicated LRT rail/line cannot be positioned along side or offset from a particular roadway). While at the same time not diverting funds from the transit project to widening of car only infrastructure.
The ION has done this well as portrayed in this video, and is one of the biggest reasons costs have been kept so low. It was a transit project focused 100% on transit.
Projects where roadway widening costs were absorbed or ate into the transit project costs include but are not limited to projects like the Viva Bus rapid corridors along Younge Street, the Finch West LRT, and Eglinton Crosstown LRT. These projects were laid in the center of existing roadways, while then simultaneously expanding the roadways to maintain the original number of car lanes.
Unfortunately, phase 2 of the project will be a lot more expensive....