On Above Ground Transit Corridors

So … the UCP wants the Green Line to be above ground as it passes through downtown.  The reasoning for this is ostensibly the “complexity” of dealing with water issues.  I call bullshit on this for a number of reasons.  

First, the original plan for the LRT was an underground line (yes, this goes back to the 1970s), and we ended up backing away from it “because of the costs”, and the result is the 7th Avenue “Transit Corridor” which has been a disaster from day one. 

Why do I call it a disaster?  For many of the same reasons that I consider the alignment of the original line with the railway lines running out of south Calgary.  First and foremost, it created a “people hostile” zone along 7th Avenue.  Some of the creepiest parts of downtown Calgary are along there because redevelopment along a transit corridor is hard - nobody wants to live there, and street level businesses get decimated because nobody actually wants to be along that chunk of real estate - lots of people “pass by”, but everybody is rushing to either get the next train / bus, or to get to some other part of downtown as quickly as possible. 

Then there is the ongoing problems of pedestrian and vehicle interactions with the train at crossings.  There is a regular stream of collisions with transit LRT vehicles along that corridor, and for all that officials keep reminding the public to be “careful around the trains”, it doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of difference.  

It has long been my opinion that the “7th Avenue Transit Corridor” should have been slammed underground on day one.  It wasn’t because Calgary is notoriously cheap about major infrastructure projects.  

As for “the difficulties of managing water table issues”, the more you look at it, the less sense this makes.  Every major city that has underground public transit has to deal with this issue.  They all seem to be able to do it successfully.  Arguing that it’s “too hard” with a relatively minor river the size of the Bow river in the vicinity.  Compare the Bow to the major rivers in other cities with underground infrastructure and the answer is “no, it’s not that hard to deal with”.   The Thames in London is much larger and more complex and subway infrastructure was being build under it back in the 1800s.  

I find it laughable that the UCP is arguing against an underground alignment for the Green Line on the basis of “cost”.  An above ground, or even elevated alignment is just going to carve Calgary up even further, and make it significantly harder to move around and through the areas where the LRT tracks exist - effectively isolating parts of downtown and inner city Calgary from each other.  

This isn’t about cost - it never was.  This is about a UCP government hell-bent on punishing Calgary for the perceived slight of having dared to vote NDP last election.  They’re going to try and cast this as being about Nenshi and wanting a “caviar and champagne” solution for transit, and in the process they are going to fuck over decades of complex urban planning work which will end up costing Calgarians even more in the long run. 

… and don’t get me started on so-called “PPP” options.  Those are never a “win” for the public.  NEVER.