Image via Flickr user Chealion

During a city council meeting in Calgary today, Calgary Transit presented its vision for the city’s transit future. The plan, called RouteAhead, is expected to take 30 years to bring to fruition, and initial estimates put the cost at almost $9 billion dollars. RouteAhead plans to connect the city’s inhabitants with their workplaces, and major destinations like the University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, and Foothills Hospital using a variety of LRT lines. However, a very real obstacle to the proposal could stem from the fact that the city has yet to secure funding for the project.

Still, the city’s mayor, Naheed Nenshi, seemed pleased with the ambitious plan, and called it a “much more coherent way to fund transit in the city than what’s been done in the past.” He also went on to say that he thought the city’s past planning had been “too reactive,” and that this was Calgary’s chance “to be more thoughtful” with its urban planning.   

$9 billion dollars is a steep price to pay, but from the look of things, it seems as if the plan takes into account Calgary’s current needs as well as its future ones. In Toronto, we’re still waiting on council to decide the transit future for Canada’s largest city. [Calgary Herald]

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Igor Bonifacic is a simple intern working for the Toronto Standard. You can follow him on twitter at @igorbonifacic.