Green Line LRT | ?m | ?s | Calgary Transit

It was mostly politics. People remember the attack on Nenshi’s train and like it, and aren’t paying attention when the province gives the thumbs up. Conversely, it was mostly politics when Nenshi was all of a sudden concerned by a pretty standard cancellation clause in the funding agreement.
 
Soil testing for subway? First and 11 sw.


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It was mostly politics. People remember the attack on Nenshi’s train and like it, and aren’t paying attention when the province gives the thumbs up. Conversely, it was mostly politics when Nenshi was all of a sudden concerned by a pretty standard cancellation clause in the funding agreement.
This is definitely par for the course with the province. They also jyst returned a similar assesment in Edmonton for our west valley line ftom downtown to West Edm Mall. The province needed to show they are in control so the hold funding or in another case cut conpletely (Edm and northern AB region superlab)
 
RIP green line. With the recent removal of sensible donation limits on municipal campaigns, they know the amount of money that will flow to conservative councillors and a mayor that will vote down the Green Line so the UCP can pretend they didn’t do everything they could to kill the project. The UCP not giving any answers to the city will continue the delay so they and there pals kill the green line after the next municipal election. https://livewirecalgary.com/2020/11/21/calgary-campaign-finance-it-will-be-an-election-of-the-pacs/
 
In fairness, here is the minister's response (below). As someone with involvement in this project, I think it's a bit rich for the City to deflect blame to the province for the state of the Green Line. The entire thing has been managed atrociously from the start by City staff and they have only themselves to blame for letting the schedule drag to this point. Construction should have been started prior to the NDP leaving office.

 
With the consultant they hired, it is pretty obvious the province is second guessing not going the full P3 route. Which then runs into: can a P3 procurement be successful in 2020 with a high risk tunnel after other P3 consortia have lost hundreds of millions on bad bets on risky tunnels. Which then runs into: a fixed cost P3 is going to have an exorbitant risk premium. Which then comes full circle: a high price due to contracting strategy.

I have a bad feeling the province is stuck in a infinite loop due to not understanding the nuts and bolts of contracting strategy, and then due to that they keep asking questions that we already have answers for.
 
They still have concerns. If they have concerns about the city's ability, take over the entire thing infrastructure ontario or partnerships BC style.
And Quebec. I'm all for a provincial government running transit and transit projects - there's plenty of reasons why a provincial role could benefit the big cities, procurement and delivery if they are done right. Many places do this.

The only difference with Alberta is you have an anti-urban populist government with a strong rural perspective, zero transit project experience and minimal demonstration of effective cost control or procurement procedures of their own. A rational place has transit as a a-political tool to support economic growth and mobility that transcends political dogma or is at least supported cross-spectrum to varying degrees. Haven't seen many examples of that recently on transit or any other file.

With this Provincial bunch I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason for delays is if they either:
  • want a slow death of the project (so they never said no but it just drags and wait for popular support to wane and lose interest)
  • want to change Council and replace with puppets so Council can say no in 2021 (supporter by the Province's open-season election funding changes and plebiscite attempts)
  • want to change the scope/procurement so they can find ways to push construction contracts to their donor's / lobbyist companies
Obviously - if my jaded perspective on a provincial slow play comes true - that's not how you build an effective transit system. Nothing says "moving at the speed of business" like bogging down your biggest city's, biggest infrastructure project with more uncertainty.
 
And Quebec. I'm all for a provincial government running transit and transit projects - there's plenty of reasons why a provincial role could benefit the big cities, procurement and delivery if they are done right. Many places do this.

The only difference with Alberta is you have an anti-urban populist government with a strong rural perspective, zero transit project experience and minimal demonstration of effective cost control or procurement procedures of their own. A rational place has transit as a a-political tool to support economic growth and mobility that transcends political dogma or is at least supported cross-spectrum to varying degrees. Haven't seen many examples of that recently on transit or any other file.

With this Provincial bunch I wouldn't be surprised if the real reason for delays is if they either:
  • want a slow death of the project (so they never said no but it just drags and wait for popular support to wane and lose interest)
  • want to change Council and replace with puppets so Council can say no in 2021 (supporter by the Province's open-season election funding changes and plebiscite attempts)
  • want to change the scope/procurement so they can find ways to push construction contracts to their donor's / lobbyist companies
Obviously - if my jaded perspective on a provincial slow play comes true - that's not how you build an effective transit system. Nothing says "moving at the speed of business" like bogging down your biggest city's, biggest infrastructure project with more uncertainty.
Does the City do this with the Greenline? Given the line we are getting, with the budget we have to spend, that will result in an additional $40 million a year hit to city budgets, should Council still be championing the Greenline? Would we not get much better bang for the buck by extending the Blue Line north? Or, the Red Line south? Or, better building and funding of the MAX network? Just saying, while the Province does seem to be doing some foot dragging, it is not like the City has been going at this with a completely objective lens either.
 
Does the City do this with the Greenline? Given the line we are getting, with the budget we have to spend, that will result in an additional $40 million a year hit to city budgets, should Council still be championing the Greenline? Would we not get much better bang for the buck by extending the Blue Line north? Or, the Red Line south? Or, better building and funding of the MAX network? Just saying, while the Province does seem to be doing some foot dragging, it is not like the City has been going at this with a completely objective lens either.
Oh completely agree - it's politics all the way up and down. The City made plenty of mistakes throughout the process in the same way. Two layers of politics/political processes - both subject to changing whims of politicians.

With the city at least it all started with a prioritization process and options. Route Ahead is a strong approach to start - the challenge is all in that political layer.

Here's a relevant slide from a interesting transportation planner to follow, David Cooper out of Toronto I think, source here:
 

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