Stony Plain Road will remain two-way street with Valley Line West LRT

Stony Plain Road will remain a two-way street between 149th Street and 156th Street when the Valley Line West LRT gets built.

City council's urban planning committee agreed to that option Tuesday, rejecting a design that would have turned the road into a one-waywestbound route.

City staff recommended the two-way for better traffic flow on Stony Plain Road one eastbound and one westbound traffic lane, with theLRTbetween them and a station between150thand151ststreets.

• Mixed reactions to proposal to convert Stony Plain Road to one-way
• Valley Line West LRT expected to have minimal impact on Edmonton's river valley

But Coun. Andrew Knack was concerned that with two-way vehicular traffic,there wouldn't be enough room for wider sidewalks, benches and other pedestrian-friendly amenities.

"If all we're going to do is build really narrow sidewalks and have cars driving through the area, then we've missed the whole mark," Knack said.

Similar to Whyte Avenue and Jasper Avenue, the city has main street guidelines, one of which is a minimum sidewalk width of 1.5 metres.

After Tuesday'smeeting, Knack said he's confident the city's LRTteam will work to incorporate even wider sidewalks into the designby acquiring land along the stretch, such as unused parking lots and business space.

"There's a lot of opportunities for them to acquire that space while we do construction to build in that pedestrian realm, as well as that vehicle movement realm as well as the opportunity for people to get off the LRT."

Mayor Don Iveson agreed with the two-way option and with Knack's desire to see Stony Plain Road turned into a destination avenue.

"I wish it was widerbut it's not worth sacrificing the traffic flow in order to make the sidewalks a little bit wider," he said."In great cities in the world with transit like this, you know, that's still plenty of room."

Knack envisions a Stony Plain Road that's even better than WhyteAvenue. He hadfeedbackfrom a constituent, which he read aloud during the committee meeting to describe what she thinks the road could be like.

"Grocery, pharmacy, amazing coffee, kid-friendly restaurant, kid-friendly activity like green space, interactive art spaces interspersed on the street. Studios like dance, yoga, martial art, anchored by a multi-purpose theatre that could show movies, host bands, and be a destination during festivals like Jazz Fest."

Before the committee voted on two-way traffic for Stony Plain Road, Iveson notedthat the city has earmarked$136 million for Valley Line West LRT design and land acquisition, a prerequisite for the provincial and federal governments to bring their funding online.

• City forges ahead with Valley Line West LRT expropriation plans
• Council hears from residents opposed to design of Valley Line LRT to west Edmonton

The main design is finished but the city still needs to secure funding from the province before choosinga contractor. It's estimated the line would take five years to build after a contract is in place.

"We're third and goal on very productive conversations with the provincial government on funding for this," Ivesonsaid. "Hopefully we'll have something soon."

Valley Line West will be an urban-style 27-kilometre LRT line between 102nd Street downtown and Lewis Farms in the west end.Construction is scheduled to begin by late 2019 or early 2020.

@natashariebe