I recently attended the open house for the Surrey LRT (Light Rail Transit) hoping to have a couple of my questions answered but came away disappointed. The two people there couldn’t answer one of my questions about where the maintenance facility would be located since the proposed LRT is not compatible with SkyTrain and would need its own facility for storing and maintaining the LRT trains.
Looking at the maps provided at the open house, I realized that the first phase of the LRT would be from 72 Avenue north along King George Boulevard and turning east along 104 Avenue.
The portion to be built along Fraser Highway, I was told, would be the second phase and would not be built for a few more years down the line.
When looking at the first phase of LRT along 104 Avenue and King George, the land along side these streets is completely built up. As a maintenance yard with storage tracks and maintenance buildings would need to be built with this first phase, where would such a facility be located near either of these streets? When I asked this question, the answer I got was: We haven’t got that far along in the planning.
Calgary has a fairly extensive LRT system, mostly of which is separated from traffic on its own right of way with their maintenance yard located in the northeast sector of the city. That facility encompasses just under 13 hectares.
As an comparison in Surrey, the land bounded by 76 Avenue on the north, 74 Avenue on the south and King George Boulevard on the west where the Superstore and many other commercial enterprises are located is only 9.25 hectares. That should give you an idea of the area of land needed to house the maintenance yard for the proposed Surrey LRT.
Where would enough vacant land be located along King George or 104 Avenue to build such a large storage site?
SkyTrain already has a maintenance yard in Burnaby. Why does Surrey insist on a non-compatible LRT system when the area already has SkyTrain that can be extended without duplicating existing facilities?
Keith Wilson, Surrey