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

Go Elevated or try for Underground?

  • Work with the province and go with the Elevated option

    Votes: 25 71.4%

  • Try another approach and go for Underground option

    Votes: 7 20.0%

  • Cancel it altogether

    Votes: 1 2.9%

  • Go with a BRT solution

    Votes: 2 5.7%
  • Total voters
    35
Since you guys seemed to like the last one, I spent a bit more time and put this together. Having the extra arch on each side made it look a bit obnoxious, but happy with this.

bridge.jpg
 
Wow that looks awesome.
 
In response to Druh's comment about the importance of the bridge's underbelly, and the overall design remaining simple and slender...etc, this concept of the Skuru bridge via Bjarke Ingels is pretty cool and perhaps can lend some aspects to the Green Line bridge;

skurubridge_BIG.JPG

Source

It could be a neat opportunity to create a green/multi-modal extension bridging Sunnyside Bank Park and Prince's Island Park... Of course height clearance of the span as it descends into downtown, limited budget, public safety etc.. may be limiting factors.

A man can dream though, right?! :)
 
MichaelS said:
While not surprising due to COVID-19, it is still yet another delay in this project's schedule:
calgaryherald.com

Council vote on Green Line's downtown path delayed due to COVID-19

City council’s final decision on the Green Line’s path through Calgary’s core is being pushed back yet again, with the vote moved to at least June as COVID-19 throw…
calgaryherald.com calgaryherald.com
Click to expand...

COVID-19 is a good and understandable excuse for delaying a decision on Stage 2 until engagement can be properly completed.

However, I call BS on the RFP for Stage 1 being released in July. This scope was originally intended for Q4 2018, then Q3 2019, then Q1 2020 ... and there is no change to that portion of the project since 2017. The far more likely explanation (confirmed by the audit reports) is that the owner’s team is a gong show.
 
When all the dust settles and there is a reckoning of additional monies spent as a result of COVID, lost revenues as a result of COVID & our perpetual O&G issues; I would not be surprised if this project was

1. Cancelled or postponed indefinitely
2. Significantly changed in scope or reduced budget

As much as the city needs, it is also looking more and more unaffordable.
 
Nah. The solution to not enough money circulating in an economy isn't to pull back even more monies. Economic crisis show even more how governments are not households - households can't borrow money on 100 year terms, print money, make money by spending money, etc.

Now, will we see the money coming from the same places -- that is the question. The federal government may take on a greater leadership role than we have seen in Canada on spending at the provincial and municipal level in ever.
 
While infrastructure spending needs to occur, spending on a project that will create a further $40 million operating loss may need to be looked at. With the decimation to the commercial real estate market this will likely cause (huge spike in vacancies), I can't imagine the City's operating budget will be in good shape. Look at what is happening in Vancouver:
vancouversun.com

COVID-19: City of Vancouver at risk of bankruptcy, says mayor

Records show the city’s overall financial position improved by $300.8 million in 2019 with accumulated surplus totalling $7.9 billion.
vancouversun.com vancouversun.com

Further burdening what will be an even more strained operating budget than today seems like a foolish choice. Might make more sense to spend the same amount of money to hire people to dig a ditch and then fill it back in, that way there is not an ongoing $40 million liability.
 
Yeah, I hate to admit it, but I think JonnyCanuck is right.

It's a shame. The project should have been started in 2018. The UCP wouldn't be able to pull the plug...or if they did, I'd like to think it would come with severe political ramifications. I kind of blame city council too. They never seemed to have a clear scope.
 
Social Justice said:
I kind of blame city council too. They never seemed to have a clear scope.
Click to expand...
I think the scope was clear, replace the overcrowded buses of the NC with cheaper operating trains and expand transit service into the deep SE. The problem was that the councilors got giddy when they thought it would only cost $4.5-$5B and forgot to keep tabs on the Green Line as it rapidly ballooned in cost over 2016-2017.
 
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