Article: Transport plans put residents in limbo

[ozbob]

From the Courier Mail 27th September 2010 page 8

Transport plans put residents in limbo

[Jonno]

I had a review of Stage 2 of the Northern Busway over the weekend.  It takes out most of the commercial properties on western side of Gympie Road, carves it's way through to the hospital and the back to Chermside shopping Centre.  Surely option such as cut and cover tunneling under Gympie Road would be more cost effective than resuming all these properties.  These businesses provide local services which people will now need to travel further for.

It seems a lot of businesses will go and costs added to the project just so traffic is not disrupted.  Homes and businesses before car!!!!!

[#Metro]

http://www.nearmap.com/?q=gympie%20road@-27.390145,153.031319&ll=-27.390145,153.031319&z=19&t=k&nmd=20100912

Gympie Road- count how many lanes there are there...

[Jonno]

But don't forget t count how many trees there are while you are there!!!!

[#Metro]

But don't forget t count how many trees there are while you are there!!!!

Light rail down the median in exclusive lanes? There is certainly more than enough room
and the centre island looks wide enough for an island platform station. IIRC there was an exclusive tram alignment similar
to that on Old Cleveland Road.

Less houses resumed. A branch could go off to Prince Charles Hospital if required.
Feeder buses could feed mainline stations running on the main corridor or at major interchanges like Chermside.

I wonder how much that would cost to do? $30-50 million per kilometre?
But you would have to convert the busway all the way to the CBD for it to connect.

Although then again, how much is this busway costing per kilometre again?
Probably at least 150 million/km perhaps? (if anyone has the numbers and km, please post them)
Wires are not required if diesel LRT units are used, but the environmental benefits won't be as high.

You could have lines branch off the main line to get coverage in the suburbs too, extenstions which could be
funded by not having to tunnel as much.
If the stations were long enough, the capacity could match as well.

Exclusive lane and traffic light priority would deal with the speed issue too.

[#Metro]

http://www.nearmap.com/?q=@-27.391681,153.031295&ll=-27.391681,153.031295&z=19&t=k&nmd=20100912

Pretty big median there...

[Golliwog]

Trying to say that from an environmental perspective electric powered trams are better than diesel (at this point in time anyway) is crap! We burn COAL for our electricity. The only difference is where the emissions are released.

[mufreight]

Coal burnt in the highly controlled furnaces of a modern power station is considerably less polluting than diesel fuel consumed by an infernal combustion engine relative to the energy produced and consumed.

[somebody]

Coal burnt in the highly controlled furnaces of a modern power station is considerably less polluting than diesel fuel consumed by an infernal combustion engine relative to the energy produced and consumed.

Possibly, but I'm not sure the same would apply to a natural gas bus vs coal.  It would be the other way around for a combined cycle gas power plant vs a diesel engine.  Combined cycle gas can achieve 60% efficiency so reduces even CO2 emissions.

Both diesel and coal emit sulfur, add in particulates vs ash and both are dirty.  Natural gas bus engines are cleaner than diesel in theory but the reality is all this allows is a reduction in the pollution gear on the gas bus as both must comply with the same standard.

It may be a bigger deal is that a tram is heavier than a bus and a train even heavier.