Plans for LRT to extend its tracks through Edmonton, Kevin Penny

After much debate – and almost 3000 participants involved with promoting the idea – the City of Edmonton has decided to go ahead and study the development of the LRT route to both the west and the southeast side of town.

Both areas have quite a bit of traffic flow running to and from the downtown area, and this plan could help ease the amount of time spent on the road; for instance, it can take

over two hours to get from the Millwoods area to the Macewan Centre for Arts and Communications. If implemented, however, the route from Millwoods to the downtown area would take less than 20 minutes. Many people are thrilled by the idea.

"It is awesome," Steven Wagers said, "I'll finally get where I want to go in a reasonable amount of time."

City council has been studying the expansion plan since the public hearing of December 15, 2009, when they considered to remove the Southeast LRT route from the current plan. No word has been made on their decision yet.

It is estimated that three LRT expansion routes could be completed by 2017, just in time for the Expo 2017 World Fair.

One of four possible routes for the Southeast LRT

Originally, Edmonton's LRT had been distinguished as the first 'new-age' transportation system since the 1970's, with a route that spanned only 7 kilometres. It even inspired city's such as Montreal to design its own system based upon the Edmonton model. Now, with the new expansion to the Southgate Mall and Century Park, the LRT route has increased to over 20 kilometres.

However, the system still lacks behind sister city Calgary, that has more than double the length of track put down across its city (42 km). This was possible because the Calgary LRT runs more track on ground level, instead of attempting a subway system like Edmonton has. Now that tracks are back on the surface, and costs are much lower, the LRT is looking to finally expand across the whole city.

In all honesty, it is time for this city to have reliable transportation all around the city. People begin to lose faith in their city's public transportation when it takes hours to get from the south end to the west end. A quicker ride can also mean a safer route from work and back, rather than having to deal with the hoodlums that loiter around major transit stations. If Edmonton residents have to pay almost three dollars to ride the bus, then they should be provided the comfort of having a safe and speedy ride to where ever they are going.

Image of LRT train from lightrailnow.org

Image of LRT route from City of Edmonton website