Don’t look under surface

Re: “How did Calgary beat us on LRT?” March 22 It’s odd city council ignored the cost savings suggestion of the Save the Footbridge people at the March 19 transportation committee meeting. Following up on the city’s critique of their earlier “tweak” of the river-crossing portion of the LRT’s Valley Line, the group dramatically pared costs. They kept the line on the surface, avoiding seven blocks of very expensive tunnelling, and shortened the route to Mill Woods by 300 metres, saving commuting time and construction dollars.

Now we learn the reason Calgary is ahead of us in the green push to mass transit is because they chose to stay on the surface rather than dig. Despite starting later, Calgary has 2-1/2 times more trackage than Edmonton, and three times the number of stations.

Let’s hope our councillors don’t lose any sleep over this.

Allan Shute , Edmonton