ahuch
Active Member
I think it's because we use mega transit projects to justify every day upgrades to places that are lacking. But we leave them lacking otherwise. So not directly related but I get the link.
Green Line LRT | ?m | ?s | Calgary Transit
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
lemongrab
Active Member
Firstly, you're suggesting a 270 meter detour, half of which is poorly lit with no sidewalk at all and requires you to walk right beside the curb if you want it to be remotely flat. And then you have to hope that the beg button actually works and that drivers still see you.
It's relevant because transit creates a lot of pedestrians who have to walk to/from stations...Let's look at walking from Highfield Station:
East-north = 200 meters before sidewalks disappear entirely
East-east = 150 meters
East-south = sidewalk is contiguous after you cross twice at a signalled intersection, where the fairly new ramps don't actually align with the crosswalks
The other option is to head southwest with a decent MUP up a steep hill, that also branches onto 12th St. But off the main drags you're very likely to run out of infrastructure:
First opportunity to turn north has a 100m gap with no sidewalk. First chance to turn south has no sidewalks at all. No sidewalks or crosswalks if you want to head east off 12th St to any of the 25+ employers in a big crescent there.
There is risk every time active modes interact with vehicles, even with the best possible infrastructure design. We know the risk is way higher in these industrial areas. GL means more spins of the roulette wheel. It's not a reason to not build it, but its worthy of discussion.
A question I have is: would the increase in pedestrians in these areas legitimately bump it higher in the priorities queue for mobility upgrades? Depends on the criteria. It should definitely be a priority to add ~270 meters of sidewalk (crossing 5 driveways and needing 2 ramps at 34 Ave) to connect the existing sidewalks on Ogden Rd between Highfield and 34 Ave. But there are also still hundreds of straight curbs at intersections/amenity access points in post-war neighbourhoods that are being gradually chipped away at. Could we do a dozen more for the same cost as the Ogden Rd project? Which offers better value? I'm probably an enigmatic anecdote, but the state of sidewalks was a major factor for me to purchase a house on the low density west side of Sarcee Tr instead of a higher density infill to the east.
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
This is when you do the LRT. When there's a blue and green line to bridge. The timeline for that is anyone's guess.
MichaelS
Senior Member
City, province agree to restart work on Calgary Green Line
"Productive discussions" between the city and province over the past few weeks have led to the decision to resume Green Line Construction.
calgary.citynews.ca
Gazyyc
New Member
And the Province gets to ride in as the white knight, saving the Green Line.....although they cancelled their funding with zero thought to ongoing contracts/works or future impacts their 'review' would result in.
They should get zero praise for this continuing.
Good work on the city side for pressuring the Prov to see what a cluster they had created and getting them to the table to continue this section.
Just shambolic that any of this needed to happen. The city and Prov could have completed all this behind closed doors without the circus of the last month and made the same damned announcement.
Just another example of the Prov making decisions depending on what side of the bed they woke up on and then seeing the trouble it's going to cause, immediately flip flopping ...just an utter travesty.
If I'm a contractor on the 4th to Sheppard section, money up front please..in full.
They should get zero praise for this continuing.
Good work on the city side for pressuring the Prov to see what a cluster they had created and getting them to the table to continue this section.
Just shambolic that any of this needed to happen. The city and Prov could have completed all this behind closed doors without the circus of the last month and made the same damned announcement.
Just another example of the Prov making decisions depending on what side of the bed they woke up on and then seeing the trouble it's going to cause, immediately flip flopping ...just an utter travesty.
If I'm a contractor on the 4th to Sheppard section, money up front please..in full.
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CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
Is it confirmed that the 4th Street is at-grade between the Remington Land and the CPKC Tracks?
I guess we don't know if 4th is at 11th or here.
Green Line website says this
Old underground was actually between 5th and 6th.
I guess we don't know if 4th is at 11th or here.
Green Line website says this
Old underground was actually between 5th and 6th.
HudsonA08
New Member
Honestly at this point this is the best we could have hoped for. Now everyone can fight about how to get through downtown while construction proceeds on the 'easy' stretch. But I am sure the risk cost will increase greatly.
thecivilengineer
New Member
But the thing is that there wont be tunnel no more. so i hope they go elevated and not at grade.
YYCguy
Active Member
So the decision to wind down the project has been reversed and the money is now available again as construction funding? 
And the province is suddenly copasetic with the project again?
And the province is suddenly copasetic with the project again?
lemongrab
Active Member
One could argue that this is where things should have landed in late July (if not much earlier)...but that would have required an admission that the deep bore tunnel was not in fact the only possible option.
thecivilengineer
New Member
can someone confirm if the line gonna run to shepherd and not millican? which was earlier got shortened from eau claire to millican. I think its win win, as the line will go to all the way SE from arena. While construction will continue they can figure out the north alignment too with potential of airport line!
The article above says 4 St SE to Shepard.
zzkwilliamcanada
Active Member
one thing i am worry is the EAU CLAIR area, what they gonna do for that area. such a nice location , if we just left those empty condo and market there for 5-10 years?
zenkz
New Member
I actually like the decision they made on building the "easy" portion of the Green Line.
After the province announced revoking the funding and some analysis it looks like if we need to build a tunnel through Core, then maybe investing in busier Red Line makes more sense rather than doing it for Green Line.
Building the "easy" part will allow to bring people to/from Downtown (minus the last mile within the downtown which can be temporarily compensated with a BRT/Shuttle service and open it up for further extension into SE where the need for good transit is especially big due to many factors
In terms of the future of the Green Line in downtown core I see several options:
- do not bring it to downtown at all and just do a beltline in Beltline. As our downtown is much bigger west to east rather than north to south it will allow it to catch a lot of transit users in a walking distance from stations
- utilize the CPR right of way (already grade separated + also goes east to west to catch most of transit users + future integration with commuters trains and Airport-to-Banff link
- use 3rd St NE to go through downtown, cross the river and use the bluff along Memorial drive to climb to Centre street (pros: connection with a red/blue lines and can be extended north, much easier to cross the river and no impact to Price Island park. cons: much less catchment area in downtown and an almost brand new Platform Calgary parkade may need to come down)
Not really a big fan of going above grade in downtown unless it is a short stretch to go above the 7th ave
After the province announced revoking the funding and some analysis it looks like if we need to build a tunnel through Core, then maybe investing in busier Red Line makes more sense rather than doing it for Green Line.
Building the "easy" part will allow to bring people to/from Downtown (minus the last mile within the downtown which can be temporarily compensated with a BRT/Shuttle service and open it up for further extension into SE where the need for good transit is especially big due to many factors
In terms of the future of the Green Line in downtown core I see several options:
- do not bring it to downtown at all and just do a beltline in Beltline. As our downtown is much bigger west to east rather than north to south it will allow it to catch a lot of transit users in a walking distance from stations
- utilize the CPR right of way (already grade separated + also goes east to west to catch most of transit users + future integration with commuters trains and Airport-to-Banff link
- use 3rd St NE to go through downtown, cross the river and use the bluff along Memorial drive to climb to Centre street (pros: connection with a red/blue lines and can be extended north, much easier to cross the river and no impact to Price Island park. cons: much less catchment area in downtown and an almost brand new Platform Calgary parkade may need to come down)
Not really a big fan of going above grade in downtown unless it is a short stretch to go above the 7th ave
CBBarnett
Senior Member
That's the part I don't get - why did the Province commit to the on the July revised scope of Downtown to Millican?
If they weren't happy about it to the point of pulling funding, they should have been working behind closed doors at that point so the actual announcement was a revised scope being "4th to Shepard and we will revisit downtown through a rescoping exercise led by the Province".
Why was any of this drama public and all the contractual damage and risk increased? All this could have just been sorted in July without any of us knowing.