West LRT may go underground
Tunnel from 142nd Street best route for river crossing and link to U of A line: report
Gordon Kent, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:01 am
EDMONTON - The city's transportation department supports a $1.6-billion west-end LRT line that would tunnel under houses near the North Saskatchewan River to reduce neighbourhood disruption and visual impact.
The proposed route from Lewis Estates follows 87th Avenue, travels underground through part of Parkview near the 142nd Street traffic circle, and comes out of the riverbank near the Valley Zoo, according to a consultant's report.
The 10-kilometre line crosses the river on a "mid-level" bridge, goes under the opposite bank and reaches ground-level near the Cross Cancer Institute, before joining the existing south LRT at the Health Sciences station.
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Font:****"The recommendation to council will be to approve this route for more detailed planning," transportation planning manager Brice Stephenson said Tuesday.
Further work would show where houses may need to be demolished and the best locations for stations, he said.
Open houses to gather public feedback are scheduled to be held in April.
The report rejects an alternative route that would use Whitemud Drive over the Quesnell Bridge, then follow Fox Drive and connect with the new South Campus station.
It determined the 87th Avenue alignment would carry up 13,500 more passengers a day, taking them downtown and to the University of Alberta campus from Lewis Estates up to 10 minutes faster.
As well, the cost to build the Whitemud line and buy LRT equipment would be almost $70 million higher. It would cost an extra $4 million a year to operate, with much of that money needed to run the larger number of LRT cars.
Coun. Bryan Anderson, who said the consultant's report is a valid recommendation, doesn't think building the project would be too expensive.
"Establish the most cost-effective routes, and then go to the federal and provincial governments ... and say 'We're heading into a 50-year mass transit plan, here it is, we need your assistance,' " he said.
"That is a considerable distance. It feeds a whole new side of the city ... now you need to go after the funding."
But Mayor Stephen Mandel has called the 87th Avenue route "a huge mistake." He says the large number of single-family houses west of 156th Street make it unsuitable for the high-density development that makes public transit more efficient.
Coun. Karen Leibovici supports the Whitemud-South Campus line, saying it would take west-end residents more directly to their destinations in the south.
If the city can entice drivers to take transit it would also help reduce traffic on the Quesnell Bridge, which will be jammed in 15 to 20 years despite a major overhaul due to start next year, she said.
"Why are we building something which isn't meeting the needs of commuters right now? The rationale keeps being everyone's going downtown. Well, you know what? We have significant employment centres at West Edmonton Mall ... and the northwest, southwest and southeast. That's where people are travelling."
Some residents on the west side of the river aren't enthusiastic about the proposed 87th Avenue route, which city planners have been studying since at least 2005.
Ray Jacobson, president of the Laurier Heights Community League, said the doubts in his area include the possibility that tunneling could one day be scrapped in favour of a long, unsightly bridge across the top of the valley.
"It's very much an overview recommendation. Our concern would be sometime in the future ... those parameters could change and we could see more dramatic changes to the neighbourhood."
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© The Edmonton Journal 2008
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