A new motion to be debated at city council on Thursday suggests keeping the Valley Line LRT at street level at a busy intersection in west Edmonton.
The motion calls for at-grade tracks at 149 Street and Stony Plain Road. Previous recommendations for the line called for an underpass for 149 Street traffic, at a cost of $160 million.
READ MORE: Projected cost of Edmonton’s Valley Line West LRT jumps by $440M
“The feedback for me was not unexpected feedback, particularly around the underpass,” Councillor Andrew Knack said, following a marathon public hearing on LRT on Wednesday. Dozens of Edmontonians spoke at the council meeting, voicing their opinions on the plan for the west LRT extension.
“Obviously, council still has to vote on that but it feels like there’s going to be an appetite to remove that underpass option, go back to the at-grade solution.”
READ MORE: Is Edmonton’s Valley Line LRT designed with growth in mind?
Members of the public who spoke on Wednesday worried about potential loss to business.
“No business impact study, no community impact study. It just seems backwards,” said Peter Doell, with the West Jasper/Sherwood Community League.
“There’s very little discussion in the public presentations about the loss of businesses. We kind of had to find that out later.”
The area community league wants the intersection to stay as-is, with trains going through at street level. The underpass would eliminate some turn options off 149 Street; community members worried nearby neighbourhoods would bear the brunt of traffic cutting through.
“You’re probably not going to be travelling really slowly, because psychologically you’re thinking, ‘This is taking me longer. I have to make up for that lost time,'” Doell said.
READ MORE: Proposal would make part of Stony Plain Road a one-way street to save LRT costs
Knack said if passed, removing the underpass and keeping the trains at street level will allow the city to spend the $160 million on other traffic-calming measures.
“Maybe it’s smart traffic signals, maybe it’s widening of another corridor. There’s other areas and I think, frankly, $160 million can go a long way in helping the overall system-wide network,” he said.
“I think the results have come back and shown it’s not worth spending $160 million for one specific intersection when we can do so much more with that across the city to have a positive impact.”
Watch below: Could the potential for more park and ride help mitigate concerns about west LRT traffic impacts?
The debate goes back to city hall on Thursday morning.
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