"Tis the season for nostalgia and crystal ball gazing. As the year and the decade draw to a close – and a fresh one begins – there is almost a human compulsion to take stock.
How can I resist?
If you take the broadest local perspective, both for the year and the decade, and ponder the most significant challenge and achievement locally, you might arrive at a three-letter answer: LRT.
In 2010, only days into the new decade, Jim Watson declared his intention to become mayor of the amalgamated city. His decisive electoral win (he received double the votes of his nearest competitor, Larry O’Brien) in October of that year would set the stage for the biggest infrastructure decision in the city’s history. The official vote to approve the Confederation Line came in December 2012, and, as we all know, the trains started to roll this September as the decade came to an end.
As a new decade takes root, the second stage of LRT is gathering steam, particularly along Hwy. 174 and near EY Centre down by the airport. By the midpoint of the 2020s, the Confederation Line will run from Trim Road in the east to Moodie Drive in the west and Limebank Road in the south. This second stage will realize the full value of the investment and bring much more transit-oriented development."