If the LRT ever comes through St. Albert, it will run right up St. Albert Trail.
City council approved an LRT corridor on Monday night after being presented with the first phase of the $500,000 LRT functional alignment study.
The report recommended a route starting at the planned Campbell park and ride at 153 Avenue, heading over Anthony Henday Drive and north on St. Albert Trail, terminating in northern St. Albert as the most beneficial, including having the lowest cost and being the most central location.
Cost estimates were not part of the report. Instead track length was used as a proxy for cost estimates.
Hassan Shaheen of ISL Engineering and Land Services was on hand to address council’s numerous questions about the report, and said “it’s highly unreliable” to give money estimates at this point.
The LRT is likely at least 20 years away. Shaheen said track length is a proven way of estimating what route will be the most costly.
Coun. Cam MacKay noted a range of $100-million to $220-million per kilometre in Edmonton and was told St. Albert’s would likely be at the lower end of that scale.
Shaheen fielded questions on a range of topics, from the impact of autonomous cars to the nature of potential redevelopment along St. Albert Trail.
“If you’re going to be siting an LRT corridor in a community … your siting tends to be where you’re going to get the most benefits from the infrastructure,” Shaheen said.
Three other options were seriously considered as part of the report. Two of those other options also incorporated heavy use of St. Albert Trail while the third had a more winding route, touching Campbell Business Park and stopping near the “employment lands” on the western edge of the city.
The economic development department’s executive director Guy Boston and Coun. Cathy Heron both noted the plans for LRT in St. Albert piques the interest of some developers.
“It does catch the attention of national developers,” Boston said.
Coun. Wes Brodhead, a former Edmonton Transit Systems employee and a champion of transit, made the motion to approve the corridor, noting that is all council was making a decision on for the time being.
He and other councillors responded to criticisms levelled at the concept of LRT by MacKay and Coun. Sheena Hughes.
MacKay continues to raise concerns about the financial impacts of LRT. He suggested putting in bus rapid transit for St. Albert and focusing on getting LRT to the south border of the city first.
“Getting it to our borders is a major challenge which we have overlooked,” he said, cautioning against doing planning in a too-long term manner.
Coun. Tim Osborne said getting LRT to the border of St. Albert hasn’t been overlooked and is built into council’s advocacy strategy.
“Getting LRT to the edge of St. Albert I agree would be a huge victory,” Osborne said.
Coun. Sheena Hughes questioned the alignment up St. Albert Trail – which would reduce the six-lane highway to four lanes – and wondered if people would really use transit for shopping and other tasks.
Hughes also took issue with the idea that people might walk a kilometre to the stations.
“It’s not convenient for the majority of St. Albert,” Hughes said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said it is conceivable that some will walk those distances. There would also be buses running to the stations.
Coun. Gilles Prefontaine said he’d be happy to work on getting bus rapid transit, but said that’s not exclusive of planning for an LRT.
“This is about alignment. It’s not about funding … but it is about prudent planning, and prudent planning today means reduced costs,” he said.
Heron said getting some cars off the city’s roads will benefit everyone.
“We cannot waver,” she said.
Council approved the corridor in a 5-2 vote. A second phase of the report will look at alignment alternatives within the approved corridor.
The timing of installing any kind of LRT through St. Albert would depend on the City of Edmonton’s plan to proceed with its proposed Metro Line, which would extend its LRT system to the proposed Campbell park and ride. There has been no budget attached to the northwest line yet.
