Council signals eventual end to left-turn lane from 104th Avenue to 109th Street

Motorists accustomed to turning left onto 109th Street southbound from 104th Avenue westbound will likely have to find an alternative route in coming years, Mayor Don Iveson says.

City councillors agreed Monday at their executive committee meeting to move ahead with the proposed route for the Valley Line West LRT along 104thAvenue.

That plan includes closing the left-turn lane for westbound motorists looking to head south. The left-hand turn lane for eastbound traffic headed north is expected to stay open.

"I understand people are looking at the city through squinty eyes, wondering whether we can do this," Iveson said. "Traffic patterns do change. I think people will adjust."

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Iveson said motorists have several options for heading south from downtown.

The proposed route for the Valley Line west has the train running down the centre of 104th Avenue, and reduces traffic from six lanes to four, with two lanes in each direction.

During afternoon rush-hour traffic, about 65 vehicles an hour turn left from 104th Avenue onto 109th Street, councillorswere told by city staff.

"Compared to a lot of other major intersections, that's a fairly low turning movement," Coun. Andrew Knack said.

Hundreds of cars go through other major intersections in the city, he noted, including Stony Plain Road and 149th Street.

'There surely has to be a better solution'

Bobbie Kruk, who works along 109th Street, said taking away the option to turn left at 104th Avenue will force drivers to find another route either north or south of theintersection.

"I think they need to be looking further ahead and trying to accommodate not just the train, and the people who take the train, but the hundreds of vehicles that do make this turn," Kruk said. "There surely has to be abetter solution than to say, 'Yeah, no left turns.' "

MacEwan University, which occupies most of the nearby property north of the intersection, has an enrolment of more than 20,000 students.

Nicole Hope is an instructor there and uses the intersection daily on her commute home.

"It's going to cause a problem for me, absolutely," Hope said. "Usually after work, so around 4:30 p.m., it's busy, it's really busy,109th Street is crazy. Everyone's trying to get across the river at the end of the day."

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Coun. Tim Cartmell said he hasn't had a lot of input from his south-Edmonton constituents, but he also thinks the change won't cause much of a hindrance to getting south.

"There's a number of different ways you can make a left turn, a right turn, a left turn to find your way onto 109th," Cartmell said. "It's not as if we're cutting access off to the bridge. It's just a bit more complicated."

However, Cartmell questionscouncil's willingness and ability to alter or tweak the LRT route, which council agreed to in 2010.

"A lot has changed in eight years," he said. "I don't think what we're doing in an informed, analytical way is testing those assumptions once we learn more things."

The city will hold a public hearing before the route is finalized, giving people the chance to tell councillors what they think of the project.

But Iveson said most of council seems to be on the same page.

"Council has determined the route a number of times and refined and augmented those decisions," he said. "Council has been fairly resolute in moving forward."

Previously, corridors like 107th were suggested. But Iveson said that route doesn't have the same access to the train that 104th Avenue would have.

The design requires a strip of land between 107th Street and 112th Street from MacEwan University for LRT infrastructure and will include sidewalks and a boulevard.

The report said MacEwan University supports the route, but the city will continue to work with the school to finalize land requirements along 104th Avenue.

Council continues to meet in private to discussthe Valley Line west LRT and has yet to reveal publiclywho the contractor may be.

Ivesonsaid he expects council willdecide on a procurement contract by the end of 2018 or in early 2019.

Construction on the west LRTis not expected to begin until the mid-2020s, Iveson said.

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The west leg will be the second stage of the 27-km Valley Line, which will eventually run between Mill Woods in southeast Edmonton to Lewis Farms in the west end.

The southeast portion is currently being built as a private-public partnership, led by consortium TransEd.

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