The future of Calgary’s Green Line LRT project remains mired in uncertainly and secrecy following the release of the provincial government’s newly-proposed alignment.
The new alignment, developed for the province by engineering firm AECOM, was made public on Friday, Dec. 13. It eliminates a downtown tunnel that was projected to cost more than $1 billion.
It eliminates a station at Eau Claire, adds five additional stops, takes an elevated path through downtown, and according to the province would result in 20,000 more riders a day on the first day of operations.
However, the other details of the report, 165 pages in all, remain secret.
At a news conference on Monday, called to discuss the province’s proposal, Mayor Jyoti Gondek, Councillor Peter Demong and Councilor Andre Chabot, refused to discuss any other details, saying their hands were tied because the provincial government has deemed the report to be confidential.
“This puts the city in a difficult position where we wish to be as transparent as possible with Calgarians about what has been proposed in terms of a new alignment as well as the financial summary, but we are not sure what we can share publicly,” said Gondek.
Despite the province’s announcement Friday morning that the Green Line was ‘back on track’, Gondek said councilors had to wait until late Friday evening before they were given a copy of the report by the province.
“We were a bit surprised to know that the province had it since Dec. 2. I don’t know what took 11 days to release it to us,” said Gondek.
“I would say that the grandstanding is interesting. It’s very easy to make claims and say that these are facts but not provide any of the evidence to support it.”
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“As it stands, we are basically being told, ‘Here’s the alignment, details to follow.’ But we want a yes or no,” said Coun. Andre Chabot. “It’s like we need to have a discussion around this before we can even consider yes or no.”
In a statement to Global News, Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen defended the secrecy of the report, saying, “The AECOM report will not be made public as its contents are integral to the upcoming bidding process for the proposed route.
“Releasing the report at this stage could compromise the fairness and competitiveness of the process, which is essential to ensuring the best outcome for taxpayers.”
Among the other concerns raised by the mayor and councillors are whether the province will assume the financial risk of its newly-proposed alignment, and who was consulted in the preparation of the report.
Reaction from the Beltline Neighbourhoods’ Association, representing communities through which the newly-designed Green Line would run, has been scathing.
The BNA calls the proposal ‘disastrous,’ and, “unlike the city’s Green Line alignment, which involved years of public engagement with Calgarians, the newly proposed alignment was created through a rushed, single-sourced contract using a non-transparent process with zero public consultation.”
In the absence of details or artists renderings from the province on what an elevated Green Line through downtown would look like, the organization has produced some rough renderings of its own.
It also raises concerns about a potential drastic increase in costs, further lengthy delays in the project and potential negative impacts on the communities, particularly surrounding the elevated part of the route, including:
- increased crime and reduce public safety;
- years of disruption for residents and businesses;
- a reduction in private sector investment in the area;
- increased property taxes; and,
- reduced accessibility to public transit.
The BNA accuses the provincial government of keeping details of its report secret so it could craft it “to deliver a potentially fictitious conclusion.”
It is calling on Alberta Transportation Minister, Devin Dreeshen, to visit Calgary to tour the area to better understand how the neighbourhoods would be affected.
It also wants the city to provide a detailed comparison of the two projects and to meet with community residents and businesses, including holding a public hearing on the project, before any decision is made on whether or not to proceed with the province’s newly-proposed alignment.
City council will have a chance to discuss the report, behind closed doors, on Tuesday, but judging by all the questions that remain to be answered, it’s unlikely there will be any quick decisions made.
“In short, there is a lot more information that’s needed and there are many more questions that need to be posed and further discussion and negotiation needs to take place before any decisions will be made,” said Gondek.
“We want to be transparent, we want to bring Calgarians along with us on this venture and make sure we have some level of agreement between all parties.”
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