Mayor wants five-year provincial commitment for Edmonton LRT
Mayor Don Iveson recruited west-end residents and developers to lobby for stable LRT funding Wednesday.
Standing at Lewis Farms Transit Centre, the future west terminus of the Valley Line LRT, Iveson urged the province to make at least a five-year commitment in its spring budget to support more LRT construction in Edmonton.
That would let city officials finalize plans, study raising or lowering the tracks to avoid key intersections, and begin construction on two new projects the moment construction between downtown and Mill Woods is complete.
Iveson wants to extend the Valley Line to Lewis Farms in the west and the Metro Line into Blatchford at the same time.
“We’ve been … chipping away at this in bits and spurts for decades,” he said, arguing now is the time to get serious about completing the LRT network.
The province has said
roughly a fifth of the new carbon levy will go to green infrastructure projects such as public transit in Alberta’s major cities, but it has not given a timeline or budget. It’s been under pressure to step up provincial investment to match federal commitments made during the last election.