Building Our LRT, Building Our City
In 1978, Edmonton’s population was just over 478,000 and – with great fanfare surrounding the Commonwealth Games – we became the first city in North America (with <1 million people) to build light rail transit. With yesterday’s Statistics Canada announcement, our population now sits at 932,546, making us one of the fastest growing cities in Canada. And we still have just that one single LRT line.
Since City Council set the full build out of the LRT network as its number one infrastructure priority, we have made some progress in completing our vision, including breaking ground on phase one of the Valley Line LRT from Millwoods to Downtown. But there is still a lot of work ahead of us. In the lead up to their budgets, we are asking both the federal and provincial governments to give us funding certainty as we plan and complete these city-building projects, starting with next phase of the Valley Line LRT, going west to Lewis Estates.
Building the west LRT line would be transformative on a number of counts:
- First, it would provide a vital connection between west Edmonton and our growing list of downtown attractions like Rogers Place, the new Royal Alberta Museum, and growing post-secondary campuses at Norquest and MacEwan.
- Second, travel routes to and from the west end are some of our city’s most congested, especially during peak hours, so building this line will help give people more options to get downtown and beat the traffic.
- Third, building west LRT will allow us to continue growing our transit-oriented development opportunities along the line, including down Stony Plain road – a critical component of the Urban Shift our council is leading.
I’ve committed to ensuring we build better LRT, including raising or lowering the train over more key intersections to keep pedestrians, commerce, commuters, and buses moving. I also think it’s time to get more sophisticated in looking to incorporate stations into development plans with air rights, especially if we’re taking the train over or under major roads nearby.
The projected cost of our full LRT build-out over the next 25-40 years is estimated at $9.8 billion (in 2016 dollars). For decades, cities like Edmonton have struggled under the old ‘one-third each’ federal/provincial/municipal funding formula. This approach did not recognize the significant contributions municipalities make – far beyond a one-third contribution – when the entire costs of operating and maintaining rapid transit are considered. As a result, our efforts to make a meaningful dent in building our LRT network have stumbled due to sheer fiscal capacity.
No-one is saying municipalities shouldn’t have ‘skin in the game’ in the design and build process, but a model where the provincial and federal governments help with 90% of the capital costs would respect the relative fiscal ability of the three orders of government to get the work done – especially when you figure that local governments only collect around 10 cents of your tax dollar. With sustainable, predictable and significant funding from the orders of government who hold the other 90 cents of your tax dollar, we can afford to build transit right and in a timely manner.
I know that this is a difficult time and both the provincial and federal governments are working to manage large deficits and lower revenues. We want to be part of the solution. Having a high performing transit service supports increased productivity, reduces traffic congestion, achieves our shared environmental goals and stimulates economic activity. For example, we know that building Phase 1 of the Valley Line alone will generate over $3 billion in total economic output.
Every day, Edmontonians take over 400,000 transit trips, and every year ETS provides about two million hours of service. With our city growing at three times the national rate, and an anticipated 170,000 new residents arriving over the next decade, now is the time to start building for the future.
I’m interested in your thoughts on this topic. What are some of the ways we can improve our current system? What would you like to see before, during and after the build out of these projects? I’ll host a Facebook Live event on Wednesday, February 15th at 7:30 p.m. on this topic and invite you to tune in and chat with me about where LRT really can take our city.
57 thoughts on “Building Our LRT, Building Our City”
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Hi. I live in glenora between Stony Plain rd and 102ave.
I was very disappointed when you changed the plan from protected bike lane to wide sidewalk. It is dangerous and as a cyclist it is a huge led down to see change in language sabotage a promise.
I have very real concerns about living between the lrt and this sidewalk; two plans that have not been dealt with transparency.
There’s a right of way on 107 that would not need to kill the neighbourhood, I’m hoping that this map shows that as a new route, because honestly, this neighbourhood is very quickly losing its historical nature, and that is very disappointing.
I wholeheartedly think that transit is some important to the future of our growing city. With that said, after seeing the mess that is NAIT’s line, I believe that we need to go underground. Especially on 104th street there’s just no room for 2 lines and the noise pollution would increase even more. I believe you need to invest in the best long lasting cement – I’ve talked to a few guys that are in that business and they all say what is being currently used will need repairs in 10 years. The contractor uses the cheaper stuff as to make more money. I know it falls into acceptable categories but we live in a cold climate, we need the strongest and best.
And safety needs to be key!!! I ride the bus at night and am more scared here in Edmonton of the other passengers than I was in NYC, a city that was totally new to me. This alone scares me on another level. I think that there needs to be resources from St. Albert, Fort Sask, lexicon, Nisku etc. that contribute a % of their revenue to policing the LRTand buses as those people use them too. A 2% of their tax revenue should be diverted.
I would be happy to help in any way that I can and will continue to support the expansion, I just hope it’s done correctly not just cheap.
Finish the dang Metro line before building new ones. Build the rest of it past NAIT. Also stop building it on the ground where it keeps blocking traffic. Learn from the Capital and Metro lines where they do nothing but slow down traffic.
I appreciate all you do Don for building our LRT and moving out city forward.
One of my main suggestions is to have a line of the LRT surrounding the city like the Anthony Henday does. :)
What are the realities of subterranean building? I understand the long term goal of getting less individual motor vehicles on the road by encouraging an efficient public transit system, but currently the traffic congestion is ludicrous. How long will we have to sow before reaping the rewards?
1. Make the Capital Line extend to the Edmonton International Airport. This will provide effective means for those North of Downtown to make it to the airport in under 2 hours, plus inexpensive means for visitors to enjoy the most of our city without needing auto transport.
2. Rebuild the Metro Line between MacEwan and NAIT to be underground or above. The congestion in the Kingsway area that hampers business, hospital and education access is abysmal. The line as it stands now is ineffective and under-used simply due to the resentment of local residents in how it impedes their lives and local business.
3. The same with the Capital line south of University Station. It can take upwards of 21 minutes for traffic to turn left across this line at peak hours. For businesses this means revenue lost out the tailpipe in fuel and time. Not to mention this does more harm than good for emissions. Not a green solution.
4. Extend the lines to our closest neighbouring cities. St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Sherwood Park, Leduc, Beaumont. You want to see multiple funding streams? Enlist the communities of the region and then approach the Provincial and Federal government for investment. Show them the Capital Region of Alberta stands united in making effective, timely, green mass transportation a reality.
I think eventually it would be useful to have lines to spruce grove, Sherwood park, and St. Albert! I know it can be difficult for those people in these communities who can’t drive to get into the city.
LRT’s should be built into new areas BEFORE housing/commercial construction begins. That way, the line is present/dormant and can become active when the area is settled. Solves the problems of having to demolish roads and create extra construction and delays. Roads can also then be planned away from LRT tracks so there is minimal crossing and delay in traffic flow! ?
Us South side residents really need that stop between Southgate and Century Park. Many of us live walking distance to a train that is unusable to us and only presents a traffic annoyance. Put it at 40th ave, 34th ave, Ainlay even, but right now it is ridiculous to contemplate driving two minutes to Century Park to pay for parking and then rude the train.
All of these plans are grand but they continue to fall short of being a comprehensive and practical commuting solution. The feeder bus system needs vast improvement so that commute times roughly compare between public and private methods. As well, for those who don’t, or perhaps can’t, use feeder transit, convenient and affordable (free) parking MUST be an option.
1. Both the current LRT lines and the new proposed lines HAVE STOPS/STATIONS TOO FAR APART so the Stations do NOT cover substantive residential and shopping areas. Would you walk seven blocks to the train station despite the train track passes right by your home or the shopping centre or your workplace? Would you drive a couple of kilometres to the closest station park&ride even though the actual train track passes only a couple of blocks from your place (or would you drive straight to work or the shop? EXAMPLES: (a) Look at how far apart the LRT Stations are along the Capital Line North to Clairview – You can actually wave at scores of residents along the line as you are passing them at high speed. Same can be said about the Capital Line South from Health Sciences to Century Park. (b) Are you planning to put Stations between Health Sciences Station and Bonnie Doon Station? LEARN FROM THE LONDON UNDERGROUND – the trains stop frequently and for a short duration, thus keeping it a rapid transit.
2. Make it difficult to drive into and park Downtown and make LRT tickets/passes AFFORDABLE so people will opt for the LRT instead of their cars, especially during peak hours. (LRT should be cheaper than driving in order to encourage ridership).
3. Make trains “shorter” but FREQUENT so that people don’t have to wait too long for the next train. Also, make the stations well lighted and SAFE (with walking security officers), adequately heated and have a pleasant ambience with art work instead of grey walls.
I HOPE MY COMMENTS ARE READ BY A SENIOR PLANNER INVOLVED IN THE LRT PLANNING and not by a communications letter person where a nice-sounding generic response is sent and my comments simply “filed” for eternity.
Something that should be looked into is how the future tracks will be built. I am speaking in terms of underground/ground level/above ground.
The LRT extensions to the capital line on the south side and the relatively recent implementation of the metro line are all at ground level and severely interfere with traffic. This is a problem and an inconvenience, but this is a severe problem for rush hour especially. Sure it may be more expensive and take more time, but having the LRT lines at ground level and running through intersections has proven to hinder the flow and functionality of multiple means of transportation in this city.
Is it all going to go as smoothly as the NAIT stop?
The way the lines go looks good to me in terms of being able to get to the work centres from the living centres. And the city needs more lines. We’re too big to keep trying to have the city keep up to population from 10 years ago. Big things I know are that a lot of people want more park’n’ride, since busses are frankly unreliable, or infrequent compared to the lines.
Additionally, we need to competently roll out the lines. Metro line roll out was a disaster and the city needs to learn from their mistakes, since we made similar mistakes on the capital line.
If it’s a matter of funding, I know I’d be willing to pay more in taxes to help pay for this sort of thing since the city needs it to keep up with its population, and reduce traffic.
This is top priority.
Two more comments:
4. CLEAR UP the mess near Royal Alex Hospital on Metro Line by putting the train tracks UNDERGROUND (which should have been done in the first place).
5. The Capital Line South should go all the way to the EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (by soliciting infrastructure funds from the federal and provincial governments, and by charging a bigger surcharge past Century Park Station).
Connect Edmonton to the closest communities, Fort Saskatchewan, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Leduc and Nisku. Reduce all the congestion between Edmonton and each of these locations. So many commute back and forth everyday. The reduction in emissions alone is worth the project. These arteries are just going to get more and more clogged as the population grows. It would certainly be more of a provincial expense then as it would benefit more than the capital. I imagine this is a far fetched concept that would be distant in the future but I believe that the sooner we get this done the more benefit it would be to the heartland of Alberta.
Moving from the west end to the north side, I was appalled at how terrible the transit up here is. Routes are poorly laid out and timing is terrible, making it incredibly time-consuming (and in some cases, impossible) to get around without a car. I’d love to see the LRT system supplemented by a more robust network of express buses travelling between major landmarks / shopping centres and along main thoroughfares, and the less utilized neighbourhood bus routes should be serviced by smaller, more environmentally-friendly mini-buses.
The problem with public transit in the suburbs is that we’re caught in a vicious cycle — we don’t get good transit options because no one takes the bus, but no one takes the bus because transit isn’t a viable option.
The proposed LRT lines look like they’ll be a great addition to the city, but it’s very much centred around moving people between downtown and the suburbs. I hope that city planners don’t get so caught up in the grand vision of the expanded LRT system that other transit options continue to get swept to the side.
Couple things
1) Please any new lines intersecting existing stops like Grandin, please make it on a separate horizontal plane so we don’t have another stop where trains have to stop and wait for another train to pass on thru. People don’t mind getting off grandin and taking some stairs down to another platform.
2) Train to the airport is a no brainer
What about an LRT line to the airport? And possibly Leduc? Considering how busy the qe2 gets it might be an excellent idea
For many of us the LRT from Millwoods to downtown will not be utilized due to the lack of a park and ride. The bus service from out lying areas in Millwoods to Millwoods Town Centre is very poor as well too far for many of us to walk. Personally without a Park and Ride I will not be using the proposed LRT and many of my neighbours are saying the same. Sad as originally I was quite excited with the ideo of the LRT to Millwods.
I support expansion, but not before improvements to our current system are made.
Put it all, ALL, every single rail above or below grade at an intersection. There should be no excuse for this in 2017, 2015, 2011, Hell, even in 1978.
If you want to ease congestion, don’t cause worse congestion by running a train through it. Lift it. Drop it. Do something other than putting it on the road.
I strongly suggest you head to Vancouver, ride the sky train, and see how little it runs along at street level impeding commuters.
I would love to see the LRT run all the way to the airport.
I think that’s a good idea because if I come from Leduc and I want to go to West Edmonton Mall on the lrt then that will be better than taking a Edmonton bus
If people from Leduc Alberta come on Leduc Transit they will probably want to travel more on the lrt to other places instead the metro and capital lines I want to see more lrt lines in Edmonton Alberta
A city loop-express line would definitely be a nice connection to have between all the lines.
Redo the entire Metro Line (the whole section after Rogers Place).
Redo Capital Line (under/over key intersections – University Ave, 51 Ave).
And get the malls to have integrated transit – not off in some far off corner of the parking lot – but attached to the stations so that people can step from train or bus right into the mall without needing to walk through the parkade.. give people a better option than parking next to the doors if you really want them to use transit instead of their cars. *See Tokyo or Hong Kong for examples.
I grew up in Edmonton, and I’m now living in Vancouver. I think the best thing that Translink and the cities in Metro Vancouver have done is extend the SkyTrain down to the airport. Aside from the fact that YEG is 20km south of the city, it would be unbelievably convenient to have regular train service down to the airport, even if the trains were only every half hour (unlike 6 minutes to YVR). Aside from that, having the rains off of ground level would also help with traffic flow and avoid major delays (ie. Princess Elizabeth Ave @ NAIT Station).
I will suggest the obvious. In the spirit of lessening traffic and congestion, and as stated in the new plan. We should ensure at no time LRT and Automobiles intersect. Vancouver is a wonderful system to model ours after.
The current system fails miserably. Between LRT and Trains running throughout our city, we may be one of the least progressive cities in North America when it comes to transit and overall traffic.
Keep up the fantastic work.
Why don’t you lower the price so people actually use it?
I support a new let system in every way our current one is laughable when you look at Vancouver’s SkyTrain system. These expansions all look like good routes but I am worried they will be built in a similar way to the current LRT and will cause more traffic congestion that it would prevent. Areas like between health sciences and McKernan station congestion traffic to ridiculous points because the LRT has first priority over traffic. This causes the potential for cars to be stuck at lights for extended periods of time increasing congestion. This needs to be fixed if expansion is in mind our else all your efforts are for not.
I fully support getting that Capital line further south. Is the arrow indicating plans to reach the airport?
Free parking is – in my opinion – also A critical element of station design.
Finally.
I made life decisions in 1978 about my future when I studied this stuff in school. I thought I’d be living in a futuristic city of progress and innovation but all I’ve seen for 40 years is dragging feet and dragging knuckles where transit is concerned.
I hope this commitment can make it happen as fast as the monstrosity they call an arena went up.
I think this plan is the bare minimum required and way past due, and not a windfall of amazing advancement. More is required, secure -fast -efficient and to serve an aging population as well as cash-strapped youth.
Start replacing the vision of “horseless carriages on every gravel road” with pedestrian -and cyclist-friendly vistas that are ACCESSIBLE by entirely cooperative, public, stroller-, wheelchair-, scooter-, cycle-, student- and senior- FRIENDLY services. That would be the minimum obligation of a plan for 2030. Ease of travel seducing people away from cars.
How much would it cost to extend the High Level Bridge streetcar to the north side of 104 Ave (over 104 Ave) and make a nice terminal at 104 St.
This could be implemented presumably in the short-term and serve as a temporary Festival Line for cheap.
How about fixing the Metro Line first?
A well built LRT system is at the core of every great city I have ever been too or lived in. As you said, this should certainly be our number 1 infrastructure priority. I’d suggest that it should have been 20 years ago, but the 2nd best time to plant a tree is today. I also agree that the line West should be the phase started next for the reasons stated above.
That being said, I’m not sure why the line heading west needs a stop every ~4 blocks on the way out of downtown. It seems a bit counter intuitive to have our rapid-transit option to be stopping at the high frequency of a downtown bus. Even later down when it expands to every ~7 blocks seems pretty tight but a bit more in line with the rest of the system. Perhaps dropping every other, or even 2 out of 3 stations at the highest density could be a cost savings we could place back into directly solving the most common headaches we face with our LRT.
According to VanCityBuzz the average spacing between SkyTrain stations is approx. 1km across all three existing lines (this includes the higher density downtown stations). According to Google Maps, the distance between the stations of 107st /112st /116st /120st / stations is ~450m, with a 5m walk time. That is more dense than even Vancouver’s downtown core which averages 7m walk time, and obviously way more dense than their average.
I expect each station costs 10’s of millions of dollars, dropping 4-7 stations would go a very long way towards elevated or buried crossings, larger park and rides, better transit hubs at each station to allow comprehensive bus service between the now larger gap in stations, etc…. In my opinion this would result in much better line that still services the same number of people over the same distance, while reducing the travel time, for no additional cost.
Great ideas on the plan, but please please choose the building team wisely. I mean our city might have the slowest builders ever, look at other cities or other countries…please don’t plan to build this for 25 to 40 years just to make sure the planners’ positions can be ensure and not putting efforts to plan other useful stuff for the next 25 to 40 years until they are retired and left the mess to the next person got the job… Do something right for the people when you are in that position….
As someone who can’t drive due to eyesight, this plan excites me. It would make the city so much more accessible by LRT than it is now. My only wish is that it was done already!
Is the city going to make the foolish mistake of running the new rail lines at ground level? Or has the city seen what a mistake and waste of funds it was and are going to either put them above or below ground
Bonnie Doon! Bonnie Doon! Bonnie Doon! :D
If the Roger Centre can be built in a year then surely LRT can be made a priority and made faster!
I am a supporter of LRT expansion but feel that much more can be done to make the system more user friendly and incentivise use. Edmonton is a cold-weather town and yet the new surface stations and stops have integrated very little in terms of design to mitigate the cold. Some of the stops have little more than small bus-shelters, unheated and with no barriers from the wind. Larger stations, like Southgate, are situated away from the mall so you have to walk outdoors first before reaching the mall. Take a look at the true transit oriented development in Asia and you see mass transit stations integrated directly into malls, residential and other commercial developments ensuring seamless connectivity. At Southgate you have to walk through an outdoor parking lot to reach the mall from the LRT station. If you want people to ditch their cars in favour of LRT, you have to do something to narrow the comfort gap between driving and riding the train. This means thinking about small design details and uniquely Edmonton solutions instead of plopping down a low-floor LRT system model from warmer climate US cities into our city.
Raised track is a definite option. People bear the track aren’t going to like it but it better than on the ground and cheaper than below. I’ve been in cities where this is done, it’s not bad. I’d suggest it for the energy line so that it doesn’t cause more traffic headaches in places like 75 street.
The city should start buying up homes in bad spots along commuter lines so that they own land when they eventually want to build there and will have to force fewer people from their homes.
More park and rides, big ones, like garage style so that it’s not one spot per ground area. Frankly busses suck especially if you have to be on one for 40 min just to get to the LRT.
The case for building the Ellerslie Road Park and Ride along with the Capital Line southern expansion asap.
1. The city planners are already at the concept phase
2. The traffic along 111st will only get worst as the SW corridor population increases
3. The Anthony Henday Drive in the SW corridor needs to be widened
4. Ellerslie Road will need to be widened up to 4 lanes or more each way to accommodate traffic
5. Anthony Henday Drive would need to build a new exit/entrance between Rabbit Hill Road and 111 st.
6. The Parking Ride at Ellerslie should include a parking structure; this would increase the capacity for up to 5000. Instead of the planned 1200. Building for today and tomorrow.
The Capital Lines south expansion would to Ellerslie would create a construction boom in area but also play a huge role in the cities 2040 Transit Vision
When building lrt station busy area NAIT MACEWAN it should be underground or above ground. And outside the downtown area must have parking. Southgate has no parking. And parking should be free. $50 for parking plus 91.50 Monthly pass. And I can get parking downtown for $150. Where is the savings
Why, if LRT is the number one priority, did Edmonton lobby so hard to waste another billion on yet more freeways, instead of focusing on getting the money for Valley Line west? This council has a serious problem with putting its money where its mouth is.
I was born and lived most of my life in Edmonton but the public transportation system has never been overly efficient. Taking a bus from the south-eastern points of Mill Woods often took over an hour to just get downtown. When I was a single mom, poor bus scheduling literally forced me to have to drive my car to work everyday. I worked in the downtown (124 St./102 Ave.) from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM and my day cares were open from 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM. I simply could not drop off my four kids at two different day cares before getting downtown in time for work and return after work in time to pick them up. When I moved to Sherwood Park the bus system was somewhat better but commuter service to the city would be much more efficient via an LRT line. The city should be looking at extending its LRT lines to its closest neighbouring communities: Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Leduc and Beaumont. An extension to the airport and Leduc is critical. And the first extension should be the south line all the way to the airport. I love travelling to cities where I can simply use their public transit system to get to my hotel. Why have we not made this a convenience and reality for visitors to our city? Let’s make mass transportation a “go-green” reality. It is long overdue!
Please don’t. This plan makes no sense, two lines should never run parallel, and four lines should never meet. That defeats the purpose of a metro system. The proposed yellow line is one hundred percent useless, and it practically loops onto itself. PLUS the 10+ years of construction will be a nightmare, especially in the proposed university/health sciences area. The Nait/Kingsway line is a mistake we should learn from, from construction to application it has been a nightmare. We should try to avoid the valley and downtown as much as possible. Intersection points should have no more than 2 lines at any given location and should be away from dense neighbourhoods. Millwoods needs immediate access, as does the west end. In my mind, two lines that intersect downtown and one that rings the city would be most effective, allowing buses to fill the gaps, and saving budget to invest in electric/trolley technology. Imagine one line that connects WEM Castledowns Clareview Millbourne and Century Park. This ring line would also make future connections from neighbouring cities much easier, St. Albert, Sherwood Park, Stony Plain would all have easier access to the city if a train was closer and could potentially build their own lines at a later date. Theoretically, it could even make a “C” not connecting Clareview to Millbourne right away. Eliminate purple and yellow, make green cross the river a tad more northeast rather than smack dab in the middle of one of the nicer parts of the Valley. Whyte ave does not need a line passing through, let alone two.. it’s only going to cause more stress. Red stops at Stadium, where it could connect to Green and Blue, making it the only 3 line intersection. Anyway, I’m no civil engineer, but these are my ideas on how to improve the city’s infrastructure.
The LRT NEEDS TO BE UNDERGROUND in some areas if not MOST especially in very congested areas in the city SUCH AS Kingsway and Nait. It’s way to congested. Can you imagine the traffic it will produce if you make it above ground going to west ed? It’s already congested enough.
Why don’t you look at other cities in canada such as Montreal and see how there metro system works. I don’t know where you guys are getting these bright ideas of making it above ground but it’s stupid.
Making the system better right now: air conditioning in summer, CLEAN THE CARS in the winter…they are filthy. More transit police on the trains during rush hours (haven’t seen one in years). Could have used one on my car this morning when a very dirty man crawled on, and proceeded to lie down across all three “courtesy” seats during rush hour. As for future, the West leg MUST be built soon to reduce traffic congestion. Would also like to see a leg into St. Albert.
I think maybe the design of the current LRT system and the proposed system are wrong for Edmonton. They really should follow a system more like NY where trains go one direction, say north/south and buses go the other, say east/west. I feel their system is WAY more efficient. The more trains share tracks, the worse things run, ie the spectacular screw up of the Metro line.
The city should definitely follow systems used in other cities. Underground or above ground in a fast growing city is a must. The city needs to think about long term growth and not actual needs. Cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal were at some point the size of Edmonton and look today, they have 18 cars train every 3-4 minutes and it is not enough at peak hours. Think about how you can also expand existing station in the future to accommodate the growth.
If Edmonton is to make it at ground level, which is a huge mistake when looking at the existing lrt system in the city, maybe follow the Calgary example along Crowchild Trail or McLeod Trail, the train run at ground level but along trails or freeways, no intersections. Look also at the new lines that will be built in Calgary, SE to North Central. It will be underground in downtown. The best option to help trafic flow in busy areas.
The point of having a lrt is to decrease the time between A and B, and a cheaper cost. Okay, also to decrease emissions. But if driving in the comfort of your car is the same price and even faster, why will people use the lrt?
The lrt to the airport is a very big asset for every nice métropolitain area. So it should be one of the priority. I would agree with a higher fare after a certain station in the south, but not after Century park. The population is growing so fast outside the Henday in the SW and I am waiting like many other to have access to this lrt system here, especially that it takes me over 2 hours after school to get home. Also, roads are so poorly design in new communities, they don’t even meet the current traffic flow. But this is another problem.
Priorities for the city should not be the Blachford neighborhood after the West leg, but the south side. This is where you see the biggest growth in population, and the poorest road system in the city with 1-2 lanes to download town. In my opinion, it does not make sense and the lrt should be priorité in those communities.
The city should look at the plan the city of Montréal has for its new light rail to the airport and elsewhere in the city. The construction should be completed in 2020. The distance is quite different and I am sure the result will be positive.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-light-rail-stations-caisse-depot-west-island-airport-train-1.3548339
Chicago has winter – REAL WINTER, like Edmonton.
Chicago has TWO LRT’s running thru it’s downtown, one underground and one ELEVATED!! And, gosh, wouldn’t you know it, they both use the SAME TRAINS!
The Red Line train goes from downtown Chicago to Howard. It takes 30 minutes to get to Wrigley Field.
Why learn from a successful implementation when you can do it the “made in Edmonton way”???
It takes 25 minutes to drive from Callingwood to Commerce Place. $10 for heated underground parking.
ETS takes 1:15 and one transfer at WEM. Two Adults round trip – $15.
We cannot afford a $9.8 billion project. As the ETS Advisory Board has stated, “BRT provides the ability to deliver mass transit, comparable to LRT in both speed and capacity, at a fraction of the cost, infrastructure, time and operating costs necessary to build LRT. Bus Rapid Transit can be developed much quicker than LRT, and would be able to serve the transit needs of citizens today.” It would enable continued support of community buses so that everyone–including the elderly and the mobility impaired–have access to public transit. I want a city that is inclusive, affordable, and livable.
LRT is only the best option if a city is dense enough that it can afford to put it underground. This means you must build the density FIRST, and you do that through fixed outer boundaries and excellent bus public transit. Then when you have the density, you can actually afford to do LRT right. In attempting to do this backward, you gut the city. Transit-oriented development is an outdated term that good urban planners say we need to reject. We need people-oriented development. LRT based on TOD nodes around the periphery of the city is only going to encourage further sprawl–which means more loss of farmland, and more debt. We cannot afford this environmentally, socially, or economically.
The only ones who benefit from sprawl are the multinational companies building the transit lines and the developers.
I am appalled at how you ignore sound thinking and are destroying the livability of Edmonton. It is not as if Jane Jacobs never lived, or as cities elsewhere weren’t already leading the way in smart planning. More and more Edmontonians are awakening to these better ideas even if you are not leading the way.