Let’s stick to approved LRT route

It’s hardly a surprise that squeaky wheels on the downtown LRT would demand the attention of city hall. That’s how politics is played.

Make enough noise, exert enough influence and sooner or later your elected officials will do their best to remain as such, which means they will listen to your complaints, arguments or suggestions.

Responsive government is indeed a positive thing, but Edmonton’s city council has done far too much listening at the expense of decisive action on the LRT file. Councillors approved the current east/west downtown leg along 102nd Avenue in 2010 — yes, two years ago — but on Tuesday the smaller transportation committee voted to recommend a route shift and other changes that could increase the project’s cost by $115 million and delay construction by at least a year to entertain more discussion and allow for further planning.

Their recommendation, opposed only by Coun. Don Iveson, was to move the route a block north to a corridor along 103rd Avenue and 102A Avenue in accordance with the wishes of Chinese groups and central Edmonton community leagues.

It will be brought before the full council for a final vote on Feb. 15.

At least, it ought to be a final vote, but with this file anything is possible.

Council’s frequent delays on the issue of downtown routing amounts to paralysis by analysis and there has been a serious disservice done to the greater good of Edmonton commuters as a result.

The reach of this city’s LRT has long been inadequate. Delaying much-needed extensions to the heavily populated west end and southeast — which are the end points of this line — to satisfy the concerns of a segment of the downtown population will only prolong a situation in which too few residents can take advantage of the service.

The decision was also made in direct opposition to the advice of the city’s own experts, who remain adamant that the route along 102 Avenue will best serve current LRT users and has the most potential for the kind of re-development traditionally spurred by transit. A routing change, on the other hand, will require more public consultation, and who is to say we won’t be repeating this process in a year or two when the proposed 103rd Avenue/102a Avenue route comes under fire in its turn?

After thorough consideration two years ago, this issue should have been closed so that the current schedule could have been maintained and construction on the first southeast leg from downtown to the Whitemud could have begun in 2015, provided funding from higher levels of government to the tune of $1.4 billion was in place.

Instead, transportation committee members who voted in favour of the change — Mayor Stephen Mandel and councillors Jane Batty and Kerry Diotte — have been swayed at a very late date by the unhappy sounds of people who will be inconvenienced during and after construction of the downtown leg.

What those and other councillors have yet to hear is the unhappy sounds of frustrated voters in Edmonton’s west end and southeast whose hopes for LRT service might have been dealt yet another blow.

“I think this is totally, totally the wrong thing to do,” said Coun. Amarjeet Sohi, who is not a member of the transportation committee. “I think this is a mistake and we will pay by delaying the LRT for another two years.”

Indeed, the costs of going round and round on the downtown LRT only increase. It’s time for council to get back on track.