Councillors urge consideration of full LRT line extension to city’s south end
Southwest councillors lobbied to get LRT built in one shot all the way to the city’s south boundary Tuesday as officials promised a detailed look at southwest congestion.
Heritage Valley is being planned as a high-density urban village centred on an LRT terminal, but city officials aren’t planning to get LRT there until at least 2039.
Without many transportation alternatives, private commuter traffic in the area is flooding south through Terwillegar-Riverbend, creating long lineups and near gridlock when one accident disrupts the whole network. Edmonton is finalizing details for the south extension to Ellerslie Road, getting design ready for procurement by fall 2018.
But that wouldn’t reach the Heritage Valley town centre, and on Tuesday, city officials said Edmonton could also save $50 million in construction and design costs by ordering the next leg — Ellerslie Road to 41 Avenue — at the same time.
The total extension is estimated at $1 billion.
Built all at once, it could reach the south boundary by 2023, taking advantage of promised federal funding.
City officials warned a full buildout could be risky. Edmonton first needs the province to confirm details for two quarter sections of land it owns. That land is south of Ellerslie Road, west of 127 Street, and could be the location of a new south Edmonton hospital.
Funding toward a new south Edmonton hospital was set aside in the provincial budget.
“We don’t know where the road crossings would be,” said Nat Alampi, director of LRT infrastructure. If the city builds, then needs to change, “the retrofit costs could greatly exceed any shortterm benefit.”
Councillors weren’t buying that argument.
“We can’t have the future of southwest Edmonton held up by the province dawdling,” said Ward 10 Coun. Michael Walters.
“This is the fastest growing quadrant of the fastest growing city in Canada,” he added later.
“There seems to be a lot of nope, no can do,” added Ward 9 Coun. Bryan Anderson, pushing for a detailed study anticipating how residents will move around the southwest for the next 20 years.
“If we don’t get some kind of major transportation boost into the southwest of the city, we’re going to shut half the city down,” he said at council’s executive committee.
The committee passed a motion to jointly examine public transportation, road widening, needed interchanges and expected growth, reporting back next year.
Edmonton’s first LRT priorities are to build the west leg and the extension into the Blatchford neighbourhood. City officials are also doing further design on the northwest leg running toward St. Albert. That will help the city prioritize next steps, said Adam Laughlin, head of infrastructure.
“I wouldn’t want to wait 20 years to see some trains down there,” said Mayor Don Iveson, adding Heritage Valley is an award-winning design that needs express buses quickly with rail to follow. “Far sooner than we lay tracks, we’re going to need to improve bus connections out there and address some of the pinch points in the roadway network.”
If we don’t get some kind of major transportation boost into the southwest … we’re going to shut half the city down.