City mulls new LRT plans
EDMONTON - Edmonton city councillors are considering a new roadmap for expansion of the city’s LRT service from Mill Woods Town Centre in the southeast to Lewis Farms in the west.
A city report, entitled “Southwest and West LRT Line — Source of Funding and Phasing Schedule,” outlines a six-phase plan for the expansion, and will go to the Transportation and Public Works committee for consideration on Tuesday.
Committee chair Ben Henderson said the report lays-out the next steps in the major LRT project.
“There is a great deal of interest in continuing to push forward, and we needed a way to do that,” he said.
The city was originally hoping to have the new lines built by 2016, but has had to rejig its plans after the federal government decided not to fund its bid for Expo 2017.
The new report recommends that the first phase of the project be the line from Whitemud Drive/ 75 Street Transit Centre to either Churchill or Central station downtown, at an estimated total cost of $1.4 billion.
The second phase, which would cost an estimated $275 million, would be an expansion south to Mill Woods Town Centre.
In making the recommendation to continue in the southeast area as Phase 2, the report notes that Mill Woods has some of the highest transit ridership in Edmonton, “and would generate greater LRT ridership than by extending through downtown.”
The third phase would cost $175 million and take the new LRT line west from Central Station to Grant MacEwan/NorQuest College (107 Street). Phase 4 would continue west to Jasper Place Transit Centre and cost $375 million. The line would then be extended to West Edmonton Mall for the $475 million Phase 5.
The sixth and final leg would cost $300 million and expand LRT service from West Edmonton Mall to Lewis Farms Transit Centre.
Henderson said knowing “what comes next” will help when applying for grants and funding for various phases of the plan, but is also important to prevent the project from stalling.
“We got stuck for a decade on doing LRT and it cost us,” he said. “Hopefully we can do some catch-up on the decade we lost.”
He said one of the report’s most significant aspects is the recommendation that the city do all preliminary engineering on the line at once, rather than in stages, so that there are no delays once the project gets rolling.
The report also outlines financing available from the city and provincial and federal governments for Phase 1 of the project, which Henderson says could realistically be completed by 2017.
If approved by the Transportation and Public Works Committee, the report will go on to city council for further consideration.
“It’s encouraging to have a way of moving forward, and I think we have to keep moving forward,” Henderson said.
