Alberta Government announces disastrous proposal for elevated Green Line through Beltline and Downtown

Late last week, the Alberta Minister for Transportation Devin Dreeshen (MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake) released a single image of a map revealing a proposed new elevated, above-ground alignment for the Green Line through the Beltline and Downtown Calgary. But 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. 

The Minister has stated he has no plans to publicly release their report on the alignment and is now demanding that City Council and Calgarians accept the new proposal without any public consultation.

The Alberta Government is refusing to release the full taxpayer funded report on their proposed new elevated alignment through the Beltline and Downtown. (Image source: CBC News Calgary)

Elevated Green Line would be disastrous for Beltline and Downtown

In the absence of any details from the Alberta Government, the BNA has generated renderings of the proposed alignment along 10th Avenue in the Beltline using precedent imagery from Calgary’s elevated West LRT line to demonstrate just how badly this proposal could impact Beltline/Downtown resident and business communities.

Concerns with proposed elevated alignment

The Beltline Neighbourhoods Association has compiled a non-exhaustive list of concerns with the proposed elevated Green Line through the Beltline and Downtown:

Potential Negative Impacts to Beltline/Downtown:

• Crime and public safety: The proposed above grade alignment would create permanent conditions detrimental to street activity, leading to reduced public safety at a time when all orders of government are struggling to improve public safety downtown.
• Greater disruption during construction: The proposed elevated alignment would result in years of intense disruption to residents and businesses adjacent the line to an extent far worse than tunneling below ground.
• Lost private development investment: Poor public realm created by elevated trains and stations high above the street would disincentivize private sector investment and development of adjacent properties sterilizing large areas spanning nine blocks through the Beltline and ten blocks Downtown.
• Property tax increases: According to industry (NAIOP, BOMA, and BILD Calgary), an elevated Green Line alignment would negatively impact the tax valuations of adjacent properties on the order of billions of dollars worth of assets, creating a massive hole in the City’s property tax base, which would ultimately have to be shouldered by the rest of Calgarians.
• Reduced accessibility: A 10th Avenue alignment would be further away than the City’s 11th Avenue underground alignment for the majority of Beltline residents and businesses, which are primarily located further south in the Beltline.

Overall concerns:

• Lack of transparency / public consultation:  The proposal was created under a rushed, single-sourced contract using a non-transparent process with zero public engagement. Why won’t the Alberta Government release the full AECOM report and let the proposal stand on its own merit if it truly is the "best alignment" as claimed by the Minister?
• Cost uncertainty and risk: The Alberta Government has not indicated what class of cost estimate has been provided for this new alignment. Two months of work is unlikely to be sufficient to compile even a Class 5 estimate, which can be off by as much as 100%.
• More costly delays: Scrapping the City’s plans and starting over from scratch would further delay completion of the project by years during a period of intense capital cost escalation. Delays incurred by previous Provincial Governments have already taken a toll on the project’s budget and reduced construction industry confidence in working in Alberta.

Scope of AECOM report excludes major cost drivers

While the Alberta Government's Green Line report remains secret, the scope of work handed to the report's authors has been publicly leaked, revealing how the Alberta Government has carefully crafted the report to deliver a potentially fictitious conclusion. The scope of work provided to AEMCOM explicitly excludes numerous cost drivers, which could potentially drastically increase the cost of the proposed elevated option, including:

• Potential litigation;
• Termination of contracts;
• Utility re-re-locations;
• Stranded / sunk costs
• Engineering delays.

Alberta Government's scope of work for secret AEMCOM report on proposed new Green Line alignment carefully excludes major cost drivers that could drastically increase the cost of an elevated alignment. (Image source: The Breakdown)

Calgarians demand transparency and consultation

As the largest infrastructure project in Alberta’s history, all orders of government must be fully transparent with the public and commit to full consultation on major changes to the Green Line alignment such as those proposed. 

📣 The Beltline Neighbourhoods Association is calling on Calgary City Council for:

• A detailed comparison: Produce a robust cost/impact analysis comparing the proposed new alignment with the City’s alignment that can be shared with all Calgarians to review.
• Meet with community residents and businesses: We invite City Council members to join us for a tour of the West LRT adjacent the CPKC tracks in Sunalta to see first hand what the Alberta Government’s proposal for Beltline and Downtown would look like.
• Public hearing: City Council must hold a public hearing on the proposed new elevated alignment through the Beltline and Downtown before any decisions are made to proceed with these proposed major changes to the alignment.

📣 The Beltline Neighbourhoods Association is calling on Minister Dreeshen for:

• Full transparency: We call on Minister Dreeshen to publicly release the full contents of the taxpayer-funded AECOM report on this proposed new alignment.
• Visit Calgary: We invite Minister Dreeshen to visit Calgary to take a tour of the West LRT adjacent the CPKC tracks in Sunalta to see first hand what the proposed elevated Green Line would look like.

🚇 The BNA will continue to advocate for the Green Line underground alignment approved by successive municipal, provincial and federal governments.

📣Take Action!

✉️ 1) Email Calgary City Council

Ask City Council for a robust analysis of the proposed new elevated alignment and a public hearing so that they can properly listen to both residents and businesses in Beltline and Downtown communities.

✉️ 2) Email the Alberta Government

Ask Minister Devin Dreeshen to release the secret AECOM report on his new elevated Green Line alignment and visit Calgary to see first hand how disastrous elevated tracks and stations through the Beltline and Downtown will be for residents and businesses.

📣 3) Help spread the word

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