Regional Councillor has suggestion for LRT in Cambridge

Waterloo Region is staring at a cost of $4.463 billion to extend the ION Light Rail Transit (LRT) system between Fairway Station and downtown Cambridge.

Regional staff informed the Planning and Works Committee Tuesday of the latest estimate.

Councillor Pam Wolf said the cost has forced them to look at other options, including shorter routes for the ION or an electric bus that travels from downtown Galt to Fairway that would cut costs and reduce their carbon footprint.

Wolf also made an interesting suggestion when she joined the Mike Farwell Show. She said that it would be worth considering building Phase 2 of the ION from the south to the north, instead of vice-versa.

The most expensive part is getting from Fairway to Sportsworld Drive, so by starting in south Cambridge and building north towards Fairway instead, residents of Cambridge can get train service sooner and for less money along Hespeler Road, a major transit route in the city.

Either way, the region is going to need help getting anywhere near that $4.5 billion mark.

“I guess the big question here is the $4.463 billion – that’s a lot of money,” said Wolf who then questioned how much of that may be available through outside sources. “Do we think the provincial and federal governments are going to fund this with us?”

Wolf called the LRT “the gold standard of public transit,” and said it needs to come to Cambridge eventually, especially since they’ve been paying for it in their property taxes since day one.

“I don’t want Cambridge residents to continue to have to wait to get some good rapid transit,” said Wolf. “Cambridge has been paying for the ION since day one. We’ve been promised that it would be here, and the fact we have been paying all of the property taxes toward this system, I hope it won’t be in vain.”

Meanwhile, a staff report to Cambridge City Council Tuesday night says a stretch of Hespeler Road between Langs and Eagle can no longer wait for LRT construction to replace the watermains there.

That stretch of Hespeler Road has seen ten watermain breaks in the last three years, six of those in the last six months.