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

I get their point, it's a lot of money at a time the city should be tightening the purse strings significantly. That being said, delaying it more will actually cost us money as it will only get more expensive to build. Also, we have secured funding from 3 levels of government, so time to get the shovels in the ground and end the debate.
 
Mountain Man said:
So there is a group of businessmen urging council to pause or completely cancel the green line. I think the city needs to look at cost cutting for sure, but this project has been delayed for so long that we can't wait anymore.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/loca...ssmen-ask-council-to-pause-green-line-project
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This is alarmist BS put forward by the same people who were pushing to spend billions on the Olympics. The fact that a few old rich white guys can barge into council to express their personal opinions (and then get written up in the herald) is beyond belief. They should be ignored. They should have never been given this platform. They bring no expertise at all to this issue. They presented no new facts. Economic downturns are exactly when government should be putting money toward long-term investments that will create jobs and inject money into the economy.
 
Unfortunately it wasn't just the Herald. That said, I won't touch any Postmedia product anymore. The fact that they're lobbying to get involved in the UCP's media "war room" has exposed the fact that the entire Postmedia operation is just being kept afloat to promote the political ideals of their ownership. The few actual reporters left on staff are mostly just there to maintain the facade that it's still a legitimate news operation. It's unfortunate that they bought up and dragged down half the newspapers in Canada with them.
 
Engineers swap Bow River tunnel for bridge to get Green Line into downtown Calgary
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Technical challenges mean major change in plans for CTrain project

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/green-line-tunnel-bridge-1.5195297



FFS. While not devastatingly disappointing, this shows to me the lack of vision our city has (at times). They knew that tunneling would be the best long term plan, despite it's cost. I wonder how much of this had to do with those business owners last week - or if it was actually determined by the engineers that it would be even costlier than predicted. Best we can hope for now is that budget difference applied to extending North of 16 Ave, and maybe a 9 Ave Station comeback....
 
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As long as there aren't any 'At-grade' crossings I'm okay with it.

We might even be able to get a sweet multi-use pathway along the bridge. Plus, I'd be kind of cool when the train emerges from the bluff and passengers get a brief view of downtown.
 
Social Justice said:
As long as there aren't any 'At-grade' crossings I'm okay with it.

We might even be able to get a sweet multi-use pathway along the bridge. Plus, I'd be kind of cool when the train emerges from the bluff and passengers get a brief view of downtown.
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My worry is the next shoe to drop will be terminating the Phase 1 build-out at Eau Claire with the bridge and Crescent Heights section left for Phase 2. I hope I am wrong but the northern section will no longer be materially cheaper to build as part of Phase 1 if the alignment daylights downtown.

Agree that getting a 9th Ave station would be a nice feature of this approach, that section of Crescent Height has a lot more urban potential than the 6 lane monstrosity that is 16th Ave.
 
Sounds like an issue with bad soil there or something, definitely not a unique problem here. As long as it's a new bridge (and not centre street) and there are no at grade crossings, it's fine, having the train elevated on it's way into downtown from the north might make for some spectacular views of the city.
 
My way of thinking as well. I don't care how it gets across the Bow River as long as it's a separate path. The issue might be how to do it at the Eau Claire area. Having it come out of the ground at Eau Claire would be a disruption to a great riverpath system unless they can get it out of the ground and raised above the river pathway.
Mountain Man said:
Sounds like an issue with bad soil there or something, definitely not a unique problem here. As long as it's a new bridge (and not centre street) and there are no at grade crossings, it's fine, having the train elevated on it's way into downtown from the north might make for some spectacular views of the city.
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Zoom said:
My way of thinking as well. I don't care how it gets across the Bow River as long as it's a separate path. The issue might be how to do it at the Eau Claire area. Having it come out of the ground at Eau Claire would be a disruption to a great riverpath system unless they can get it out of the ground and raised above the river pathway.
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The original 2015 option assessment of a new LRT bridge from Eau Claire to Crescent Heights said that "for this option to reach an at- grade station at 2 Avenue a 150 metre tangent would be required. In order to have enough space for the 2 Avenue station the LRT will cross the bow river pathway at-grade before transitioning to the bridge."

They also said that "design considerations can be given to providing walking and cycling space along the new bridge over the Bow River, which would improve the pedestrian and cycling network," so that offsets that impact to some extent.

Most notably, the new bridge option was estimated at $540 million cheaper than the all-tunnel option that was selected. And that was assuming good geological conditions for tunneling, which don't seem to exist upon further geotechnical investigation.
 
Here's the bridge option from the 2015 report that @zagox linked to.

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That section of 2nd Street is extremely tight! I have no idea how they're going to land the bridge there, run the LRT at surface, include a station, and then dive into a tunnel. Maybe this can be somehow coordinated with the demolition of Eau Claire market. There's a lot of potential to combine the Eau Claire redevelopment with the design of 2nd ave station to create a transit mall.

That terrible gated townhouse complex to the north also seems like it will be a problem. The entrance to their parking garage is right where the bridge would have to land. Would expropriation be an option for that property?
 
The bridge option has some good points. If there was a way to have it even 10' higher at the river pathway that would be fine by me. Either that or literally have a flat at grade crossing at the pathway, and from a shade point of view, that option might even be better. The only inconvenience would be having to stop to let the train go by. As someone who cycles and walks down that path the odd time. I could live with it.
 
Surrealplaces said:
The bridge option has some good points. If there was a way to have it even 10' higher at the river pathway that would be fine by me. Either that or literally have a flat at grade crossing at the pathway, and from a shade point of view, that option might even be better. The only inconvenience would be having to stop to let the train go by. As someone who cycles and walks down that path the odd time. I could live with it.
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Another bike/ped bridge could be built to the east connecting Sien Lok park to Prince's Island, with an 'express' cycle track going under the LRT once it starts to climb on Prince's Island, then reconnecting to the main pathway at 3rd ave via a new Jaipur bridge (which is due for replacement anyway). There could be a flat at grade crossing at 2nd ave oriented towards pedestrians and 'local' bike traffic going into Eau Claire. That would probably be an improvement in cycling compared to the current setup with cyclists and pedestrians sharing the same area.
 
Silence&Motion said:
Here's the bridge option from the 2015 report that @zagox linked to.

That section of 2nd Street is extremely tight! I have no idea how they're going to land the bridge there, run the LRT at surface, include a station, and then dive into a tunnel. Maybe this can be somehow coordinated with the demolition of Eau Claire market. There's a lot of potential to combine the Eau Claire redevelopment with the design of 2nd ave station to create a transit mall.

That terrible gated townhouse complex to the north also seems like it will be a problem. The entrance to their parking garage is right where the bridge would have to land. Would expropriation be an option for that property?
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Expropriation is always an option. Not needed though. There is plenty of room there. probably easier and cheaper to just tear down ECM anyways and compensate for the lost land and having to redo planning if there is an insurmountable obstacle.
 
Is there enough room though? 2nd street It doesn't look wide enough to have bidirectional tracks, and also an access road to the underground parkade. Or are you referring to the Eau Claire Mall? I believe @Silence&Motion is referring top the small cluster of townhomes.
darwink said:
Expropriation is always an option. Not needed though. There is plenty of room there. probably easier and cheaper to just tear down ECM anyways and compensate for the lost land and having to redo planning if there is an insurmountable obstacle.
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