City keeps stop names simple on the west LRT extension

City officials announced the new names for stations along the west extension of the Valley Line LRT on Wednesday and they’re as straightforward as you could wish for.

The Alex Decoteau stop will be near Alex Decoteau Park at 105 Street and 102 Avenue in downtown Edmonton. The NorQuest Stop is near NorQuest, and the MacEwan Arts-112 Street stop is exactly where you would expect.

The fanciest name might be The Yards, but even that stop is given the full name The Yards-116 Street stop. It sits next to the Oliver Square shopping centre, which was built on the former CP Rail Yards.

The next stop — Brewery-120 Street — is next to the Brewery District, named after the former Molson Canadian brewery near 104 Avenue and 120 Street.

The west extension will have 14 street-level stops and two elevated stations.

In a news release Wednesday, city officials said they wanted to make the stops geographically easy to navigate. That’s a departure from when they held a public competition to select names for the LRT lines themselves. Names such as Capital Line, Valley Line and Metro Line were intended to reference the city at large and inspire pride in the LRT network.

Provincial and federal governments have promised money for the line. City officials say they are working to make it ready for contractors to bid on work this year. After that, it will take about one year to select a contractor and another five years for construction.

Here is the full list of west LRT station names (listed from east to west on the proposed line):

Alex Decoteau stop

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NorQuest stop

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MacEwan Arts-112 Street stop

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The Yards-116 Street stop

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Brewery-120 Street stop

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124 Street stop

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Glenora stop

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Grovenor-142 Street stop

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Stony Plain Road-149 Street stop

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Jasper Place stop

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Glenwood-Sherwood stop

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Meadowlark stop

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Misericordia Station

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West Edmonton Mall Transit

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stop

Aldergrove-Belmead stop

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Lewis Farms stop

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