Once the Capital Line South extension is completed, will an extension of Capital Line North to Fort Saskatchewan be the next logical extension?
Gorman is on the list, but the Metro Line to at least Castle Downs is ahead of it. It looks like Gorman is likely beyond 15 years.
In 2016 the priorities were:
1. Valley Line West- full line
2. Metro Line- NAIT to Blatchford
3. Capital Line South- Century Park to Ellerslie
4. Downtown Circulator- University to Boonie Doon
5. Metro Line- Blatchford to Castle Downs
6. Valley Line SE- Mill Woods to Ellerslie
7. Capital Line North- Clareview to Gorman
8. Capital Line North- Gorman to Alberta Hospital
9. Capital Line North- Alberta Hospital to Edmonton Energy and Technology Park
10. Metro Line- Castle Downs to Campbell Road
11. Capital Line South- Ellerslie to Heritage Valley Town Center
12. Festival Line- Boonie Doon to Sherwood Park
13. Downtown Circulator- Downtown to University
14. Capital Line South- Heriitage Valley Town Centre to EIA
With the City Plan this was further distilled down to:
Capital Line- Clareview to Heritage Valley Town Centre
Metro Line- Blatchford to Health Sciences
Valley Line- Lewis Farm to Mill Woods
The North side then raised hell that they were not getting any LRT under the City Plan to a population of 1.25 million, so, in February Council voted to include the Metro Line from Blatchford to Castle Downs (and extend the WVLRT to a the new Lewis Farms Rec Centre)
The City Plan also essentially killed LRT as being the mode used on Whyte Ave.
So a revised version of the above priorities now looks like this:
1. Valley Line West- full line
2. Metro Line- NAIT to Blatchford
3. Capital Line South- Century Park to Ellerslie
4/5. Capital Line South- Ellerslie to Heritage Valley Town Center
4/5. Metro Line- Blatchford to Castle Downs
6. Valley Line SE- Mill Woods to Ellerslie
7. Capital Line North- Clareview to Gorman
8. Capital Line North- Gorman to Alberta Hospital
9. Capital Line North- Alberta Hospital to Edmonton Energy and Technology Park
10. Metro Line- Castle Downs to Campbell Road
11. Capital Line South- Heriitage Valley Town Centre to EIA
Of course, who knows where #6 and beyond really fall now. The one thing Gorman has going for it is that is/ was shovel ready and is a relatively easy build given it uses an existing Railway RoW for a good portion of it's length. Hell, it's been shovel ready since 2010... 12 years ago now, but, as I recall the funding was transferred to build the Metro Line to NAIT all in one shot. Of course, while Gorman might have a place in line, there could be a push to get the Metro Line to Campbell Road in order to get it into St. Albert.
Sources:
pub-edmonton.escribemeetings.com