Edmonton to scrub up LRT system with $5M from province

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Seven hundred strengthened doorways and home windows, 25 safety cameras, two new work stations and a complete bunch of cleansing.

The Metropolis of Edmonton plans to make use of $5 million in provincial funding to make repairs, stop additional injury and easily tidy up a bit all through the LRT system.

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Mayor Amarjeet Sohi on Thursday toured the previous Three Bananas Café south of Churchill Sq., which is able to now act as a deployment hub for metropolis peace officers, and a “collaborative area” for transit peace officers to work with Edmonton Police Service (EPS) transit group security groups (TRACS).

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“Security is a shared duty, and this funding is a blueprint for the way we will work collectively,” Sohi mentioned within the launch. “Every of those tasks will make a tangible distinction and displays the collaborative work taking place throughout the transit system.”

There are three such groups of seven cops who work inside LRT stations and different transit hubs, in keeping with a metropolis information launch.

Insp. Angela Kemp of the EPS crime suppression department, mentioned within the launch the groups have been working collectively for seven months.

“We nonetheless have work to do, however our presence is starting to make a constructive impression on transit security, and we’ll proceed to maintain our efforts up.”

In 2024, a group outreach transit staff (COTT) will transfer into one other former café within the Central LRT Station.

“When weak folks flip to transit areas, COTT provides a compassionate strategy centered on options,” mentioned Robbie Kaboni, supervisor of COTT outreach employees for Bent Arrow Conventional Therapeutic Society. “This everlasting station will create an area to construct on established belief, serving to bridge folks to outdoors helps.”

Different enhancements deliberate embody visibility enhancements between the Southgate LRT Station and the encompassing neighbourhood, together with landscaping and a brand new artwork set up, and painted benches, picnic tables, lighting and planters on MacDonald Drive close to the Central LRT Station.

Town launch indicated there are additionally plans to enhance lighting and design components on the Corona and/or MacEwan LRT stations.

The funding comes from the Alberta Transit System Cleanup Grant, a one-time fee directed at Calgary and Edmonton.