Waterloo Regional committee votes to expand light rail transit into Cambridge

CTV’s Jeff Pickel take a look at the latest decision to keep LRT expansion plans on track in Cambridge.

Plans to expand light rail transit into Cambridge has passed another important hurdle.

A Waterloo Regional committee voted overwhelmingly in favour of expanding the system into Cambridge on Tuesday.

The decision followed years of planning, consultations, an environmental assessment and the preparation of a business case.

Councillors on the committee voted in favour of a plan noted as the recommended option in a report from regional staff. That option would include a light rail transit (LRT) between Fairway Road in Kitchener and Ainslie Street in Galt.

It is the most expensive option, with the estimated cost listed in the staff report as $4.1 billion dollars.

“One of the sticking points for some is cost,” Colleen James, chair of the Sustainability, Infrastructure and Development Committee, said. “As I explained in my remarks, there is a cost to standing still. We invest now for future gain, or we do what’s always been done. We keep things status quo.”

Councillors voted 15 – 1 in favour of Stage Two of the project with Cambridge Mayor Jan Liggett standing as the only dissenting voice. She is not, however, the only Cambridge representative with concerns.

“All you have to do is tell the people of Cambridge that two lanes of Hespeler Road are going to be removed in order to do this and the congestion is going to be brutal,” Adam Cooper, a Cambridge City Councillor, said while delegating to regional council.

Councillors hoped to secure funding for the project through both the federal and provincial governments.

“Sometimes these decisions are fairly political,” said Tom Galloway, who was the regional chair back in 2019 when the first LRT train set off from Fairway Station.

He spoke in support of the expansion at Tuesday’s meeting.

“In the election cycle, for the senior levels of government, sometimes [funding] plays a factor. There are moneys available, but they do have to make some decisions. If they don’t spend the money here, it will get spent somewhere else.”

The LRT decision still needs to be ratified at a regional council meeting.