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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Mayor blames province for lack of progress
THE Selinger government is responsible for the lack of progress on the next phase of Winnipeg's first rapid-transit corridor, Mayor Sam Katz said in the latest salvo in the city-provincial dispute.
Two days after Local Government Minister Ron Lemieux told Katz to "get moving" on the second phase of the Southwest Rapid Transit Corridor, Katz recited a laundry list of complaints about the province's position on the extension of the busway all the way to the University of Manitoba.
Construction on the six-kilometre extension was supposed to begin in 2012, but the city has balked at a federal-provincial offer to fund $126 million.
Speaking to reporters outside his office, Katz said the Selinger government has refused to acknowledge the price tag for the second phase has increased to $220 million from $189 million, which means the other two levels of government should be offering up $146 million on a cost-sharing basis.
Katz said the province has also refused to consider a city wish list for other road and bridge projects that would utilize Ottawa's Building Canada Fund. The mayor wants another source of federal cash to fund rapid transit.
Most significantly, Katz also said the province is trying to force the city to build a busway when he believes light rail -- in the form of flexible streetcars -- will do more to increase ridership, spark development and reduce the impact on the environment.
"This city will get LRT. It's the right thing to do," Katz pledged, repeating his assertion the streetcar version of light rail is only about 30 per cent more expensive than bus rapid transit.
Katz said the city will find a way to pay for a more expensive mode of rapid transit, but refused to say whether that means more borrowing.
Last week, the city released a cost-benefit analysis that ranked bus rapid transit above light rail transit. A separate study released by the city concluded there are no major obstacles in the way of converting busways into light rail corridors.
bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 10, 2010 A3
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