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

[kempes_78]

Finally some more information on the AECOM work

"For now, the province is paying $2.5 million to a private consultant to develop a new LRT alignment. That report is expected in December."

Very high level with outline routes. Expect issues with getting accurate geotechnical information (a big problem with the recent Contractor) and cost: far too soon to be specific, even high level. C$ 2.5M equates to some 10,000 - 15,000 manhours!

 

[O-tac]

Crickets from my MLA Matt Jones. Very telling that the guy covering the ward most affected by the Greenline cancellation has nothing to say when I responded with questions to the generic e-mail promising a new design some time in the future.

I stand corrected lol! Does Matt Jones visit this site? He called me around lunch time and I made all of my points. I said the province should use as much of the previous legwork for the SE as it could and that 7th ave wouldn’t work. I said if nothing else they should at least go EV to Seton which he said was fair. Hopefully he takes his constituents’ feedback to the Premier.

 

[lemongrab]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-green-line-lrt-myths-vs-facts-1.7330332

Picking the facts from the myths in the Green Line LRT saga​

I was really curious about more details behind the 2015 GL Funding Staging and Delivery report (that has been quoted a few times recently I think), so I've been listening to the meeting where it was presented. There is a [mostly] smoking gun on what the city thought the 4.5B would buy

Chris Jordan from city admin in the Dec 11 2015 SPC on Transpo and Transit meeting in his opening presentation:

“We have estimated the capital costs at this point is between $4.5B-$5B for the segment between North Pointe and Seton…of course this is dependent on alignment through downtown which is unknown at this point.”

exactly 3 hours in:
https://pub-calgary.escribemeetings....aspx?Id=e5a65b64-568c-402a-9083-c2d307724498

 

[darwink]

^ If they had clearly said, $4.0 billion, 2014 dollars, PLUS the tunnel, they would have been right on the money IMO.

A few words would have changed the discussion entirely.

 

[lemongrab]

^ If they had clearly said, $4.0 billion, 2014 dollars, PLUS the tunnel, they would have been right on the money IMO.

A few words would have changed the discussion entirely.

He goes on to say later that the SE is a class 3 estimate; North is a class 5 (and I believe the core had gotten lumped in with the north earlier in the process)

The uncertainties weren't really hidden or obfuscated...it just seems like nobody wanted to focus on them

Another important point here is that fed funding was always contingent on matching dollars from the city/prov (city had figured it out over 30 years, no firm commitment from prov but they were talking). I wonder if there was concern that doing just the SE (even though that would require the core) wouldn't be expensive enough to secure the 1.5B x 3. But I haven't heard them delve into the staging strategy yet

 

[darwink]

On the political side, Calgary confederation was a liberal target seat (the centre north), and having it go through liberal target seats, was very important to the CPC.

 

[badc0ffee]

Another important point here is that fed funding was always contingent on matching dollars from the city/prov

I had forgotten about that.

Here's the fed announcement from 9 years back: https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2015/07/harper-government-invests-get-calgary-moving.html