Should gondolas link downtown Edmonton with Whyte Avenue?

The company behind a project to install cable cars to cross rivers in Edmonton and Red Deer is optimistic about its proposal.

The president of Prairie Sky Gondolas says they have nearly finished negotiating the real estate infrastructure agreements to string cable cars across the North Saskatchewan River between downtown Edmonton and Whyte Avenue.

BACKGROUND: Cities in Western Canada consider gondolas as part of transit, tourism plans

Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson says it was one of their biggest milestones to date on this project.

“As a piece of infrastructure, simply moving people, its day has come,” said Hansen-Carlson about gondolas. “Around the world today, there are about 200 urban ropeways successfully operating.”

The real estate infrastructure agreements will be taken to city council for approval in August.

But not everyone thinks the project is a good idea. City Coun. Michael Janz says he is not on board.

“Personally I can tell you I’m not a fan of the gondola,” said Janz. “I’ve heard a lot of skepticism about it in the community. We need to invest in buses, we need to invest in transit.”

Geotechnical and environmental assessments are being done and public input is being gathered through meetings with Indigenous communities and others interested in the project.

Hansen-Carlson says events like the NHL playoffs, which brought thousands of Oilers fans into downtown Edmonton Monday, are the perfect reason to implement gondolas.

“If you’re going to conferences and events, hockey games, those sorts of things, I think there is such a great opportunity for our project because it satisfies that blatant utility requirement but it provides an experience that increases that value proposition for everybody,” he said.

If the project moves forward, it could be up and running in 2025.

The Edmonton and Red Deer projects are two of many proposed across North America as a way to move people across waterways or get tourists up mountainsides.

Toulouse, Grenoble and Paris in France are fully integrating gondolas into their transit network.

A similar idea is being considered in Burnaby, B.C., where city council in January endorsed a gondola connecting the rapid-transit SkyTrain lines to Simon Fraser University.

—With files from The Canadian Press.