All right.
In the meantime we went on a mass Nether hunt today...full of lag, zombie pig attacks, ghast sieges, and whatnot, but overall fun.
Ended up making a path from Eraiya's portal (or the community area one) to DDR's in a circle pattern..
EDIT: Found a good way for a 3-lane system with booster rails for less common areas.
Lane 1: Minecart track (1-way, stops before main 5-lane tracks)
Lane 2: Torches (+ redstone ones for rails)
Lane 3: Pedestrian traffic
As for minecarts, I'm building an express-based system which will follow the tracks and (unlike the pedestrian ones) do not intersect directly. In its lieu I'm putting up "stations" where one can unload off a minecart, move it down or up to the other track, and then take it again. There's WIPs on the northeast area near the mob grinder.