Edmonton councillor calls for Valley LRT park and ride

Coun. Mike Nickel wants Valley LRT passengers to have a place to park their cars at the end of the line.

The Ward 11 councillor plans to ask the city Tuesday to put the call out to private businesses interested in building and operating a park and ride near the Mill Woods Town Centre.

"Anyone who knows that area knows if we don't address some of those parking issues we're going to have a major, major traffic problem," Nickel said Tuesday morning.

He said there's already an issue with "parasitic" parking around the Grey Nuns Hospital and the existing transit centre.

The Valley Line is under constructionand is scheduled to start picking up passengers by the end of 2020.

"We have to start putting this on the table now, not wait until after the thing is built," Nickelsaid. "That would just be a disaster."

He said so far there's been no discussion about building a place for passengers to park at the end of the line.

He wants to put out the call to private developers rather than have the city build it to alleviate the workload for city staff. And, he said, he believes a park and ride at that location could easily turn a profit.

"I've talked to at least one or two developers who've said, 'Yes. Yes, we can make money doing this,' " he said.

It's not clear if a park and ride in Mill Woods would have to follow existing city policies as far as the cost to use the lot.

Nickel also plans to askcity staff to put out a similar request to private developers for a park and ride atthe Clareview LRT station.