|
Rail plan returns
Mayor, Chamber of Commerce,
elated province once again looking at high-speed rail link
reprinted from Red Deer Advocate (Laura Tester) July 6, 2010
A new provincewide
transportation study will hopefully further show the merits of
having high-speed rail stopping in Red Deer, says the president of
the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce.
Alberta Transportation will study the challenges and opportunities
facing roads, rail lines and airports up until 2050 -- a decision
that Don Mancuso supports.
The study is expected to be complete in 2011.
"We would love high-speed rail to stop in Red Deer," said Mancuso.
"That's the key."
Luke Ouellette, minister of transportation and MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan
Lake, said he's not sure what will come out of the strategic plan
when it comes to high-speed rail development.
But it may show the need to develop this industry quicker than
earlier forecasted timelines, Ouellette said.
He had earlier projected it would be at least 15 years before a
bullet train could be operational between Calgary and Edmonton.
"I know Red Deer has huge support for high-speed rail," said
Ouellette. "They think that the connectivity between the two major
cities would be great."
Mancuso said he recognizes that the costs of building a high-speed
rail line is staggering.
"What it comes down to is usage and so maybe those are things that
will be addressed in this study," he said.
By 2050, there could be six million people or nearly 80 per cent of
Alberta's population living in the Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer
regions according to the province's recently released Alberta
Population Projections report.
Last year, a high-speed rail study commissioned by the province
looked at five station stops along the Hwy 2 corridor -- the
airports in Calgary and Edmonton, downtown Calgary and Edmonton, and
an unidentified stop at Red Deer.
Red Deer Mayor Morris Flewwelling said the new study is "very, very
good news."
"It makes it very difficult to plan if we don't know what the bigger
context is," he added.
The city has envisioned what Red Deer could look like in the next 40
years with about 300,000 people. The city has looked at water
supplies, transportation, and land use. With this new provincial
plan, Flewwelling said they'll have knowledge as to where highway
roads may be and now they could connect with city roads.
High-speed rail is also an important topic now because right-of-ways
need to be protected beforehand, he added.
Mancuso said he supports the study's aim overall. He'll be
interested to know what transportation could look like in 40 years.
"The plan is about fact finding and consulting with everybody on
where you think our province should be going," said Ouellette.
His ministry has already issued a request for proposals.
A consultant would be hired, but the cost to do this study isn't yet
known, Ouellette said.
He envisions the plan would be done sometime in 2011.
Ouellette said Premier Ed Stelmach wants to get this strategic plan
underway because he's committed to 'having the most advanced
infrastructure system in North America'.
|
